The North American Great Lakes region has some of the world’s leading experts on freshwater issues. A new nonprofit wants to share this expertise with researchers working with the Great Lakes across the Atlantic in Africa.
Ted Lawrence is executive director of the African Center for Aquatic Research and Education. He joined Stateside to talk about the similiarities between the North American and African Great Lakes, and what they can learn from each other.
The African Great Lakes, specifically, are plagued by issues of overfishing and pollution from deforestation, both of which harm the diversity of the lake’s ecosystem.
Lawrence said the North American Great Lakes have a strong collaborative process to address the problems in their region, and they hope to bring these processes to the African Great Lakes.
“Our goals are to train the next generation of freshwater experts over in Africa,” Lawrence said.
The group will begin by working with a few of their African colleagues to coordinate and harmonize research priorities on the African Great Lakes.
This post was written by Stateside production assistant Sophie Sherry.
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