11 Oct 2022

Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) has launched the Africa-Japan collaborative project as an addition to the institution’s different research activities that aim to address problems of the society.

The project launched in Palapye on Monday titled: Sustainable well-being through rapid detection, remediation and stakeholder awareness of contaminants in environments impacted by mining activities is a collaboration between scientists from BIUST, South Africa and Japan.

Officially launching the project, BIUST Deputy Vice-Chancellor; Research Development and Innovation Professor Abraham Ogwu said the project was a good example of research activities conducted by BIUST staff. 

He said the project aimed at solving environmental problems especially that it would focus on provision of heavy metal-free water and food to communities impacted by mining activities in Botswana. 

“Mining activities are often associated with environmental pollution and scientists are actively involved in monitoring the level of pollution and in the development of methods for the rehabilitation of polluted habitats,” he said.

Professor Ogwu assured BIUST partners from Japan and South Africa and the funders of the project that they would give all the support to ensure its successful completion. He urged all their partners to visit laboratories and engage with other researchers within the Faculty of Sciences and BIUST during their stay. 

Professor Ogwu said the academic staff at the Faculty of Sciences came from different countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia representing over 20 different countries who brought with them varied skills and experience relevant to teaching and research. 

“Currently staff at the Faculty of Sciences are actively engaged in different research activities both basic research that aims at pushing the frontiers of knowledge and applied research”, he said.

He further said in terms of applied research, many of the research activities addressed problems related to mining, climate change, environmental sustainability, health, agriculture, and industry. 

Professor Ogwu said the success of these research activities was largely dependent on support from government and different external funding agencies backed up by the modest research infrastructure the Faculty of Science had acquired. 

He said in all their research activities postgraduate students were also actively involved and this allowed them to carry out their research activities more effectively hence skill transfer across generations.

“At the Faculty of Sciences, we strongly believe that our research could be a lot more productive in generating new knowledge and in addressing societal problems through collaboration. As a result, our scientists extensively collaborate with their peers within Botswana and internationally,” he said. 

Professor Venecio Ultra from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at BIUST said mining activities generated many environmental problems that spread across the ecosystem among pollution of soil, water and air by heavy metals and sulphur dioxides. 

He said these pollutions caused various diseases due to the consumption of contaminated water and food and in addition, microplastics loaded with heavy metals caused penetration of the metals into the food chain.   

He said the project would work on the contamination of soil and water with heavy metals in mining locations in Botswana in order to ensure clean water and safe food/farming in the regions impacted by mining activities. ends