India Musokotwane Environment Resource Centre For Southern Africa (IMERCSA), SARDC
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India Musokotwane Environment Resource Centre For Southern Africa (IMERCSA), SARDC
15 Downie Ave Belgravia
Box 5690 Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: 263-4-791141
Fax: 263-4-791271
Email: sardc@sardc.net
Website: http://www.sardc.net/Imercsa/Environment.htm
Description
India Musokotwane Environment Resource Centre for Southern Africa (IMERCSA) is a unit of the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre (SARDC) founded as an independent institution in 1987. It has regional offices in Harare, Maputo and Dar es Salaam all established in 1994.
The environment resource centre is named in honour of the late IUCN regional director for southern Africa, India Musokotwane, a Zambian specialist in environment and development who inspired the founding of a visionary regional partnership of government and non-government sectors through the Communicating the Environment Program (CEP). Under his guidance, the CEP partnership produced the first regional State of the Environment (SOE) report in 1994, and has since produced a number of thematic updates and other books and publications, including a guide to environmental indicators and SOE reporting. CEP seeks to inform, motivate and empower people at all levels of environmental decision-making in the southern African region, from the individual and NGOs to the private sector and governments, to take positive actions to counter environmental degradation and move towards sustainable development paths by providing them with clear, objective and meaningful information on the environment.
The IMERCSA plays several important functions that include among others collection of information, updating the SOE, undertaking environmental projects and running the SARDC resource centre (IRC).
Track Record
IMERCSA´s core track record is the establishment of the environment resource centre which has thematic updates, books and publications on Water Resources Management, Biodiversity of Indigenous Forests and Woodlands, disaster information management and rapid Environmental Appraisals.
IMERCSA collects and documents environment, water and disaster management information with particular focus on the member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The collected materials have been catalogued and processed into a bibliographic database, which has more than 7,000 records. Besides that, the organization has a separate contacts and experts database which lists individual experts and organizations involved in environment, water and disaster management issues in the SADC region. This database, with more than a thousand entries, is available online hence can easily be accessed by policy planners, researchers, diplomats, journalists and others through a library reading room and internet search facilities.
Moreover, the organization has made a significant contribution to State of the Environment (SOE) reporting in southern Africa and beyond through a partnership in Communicating the Environment Program (CEP) with the SADC Environment and Land Management Sector (ELMS), SADC Water Sector, Zambezi River Authority, and IUCN-The World Conservation Union. The CEP partners have published a wide-range of supportive state of the environment materials, including: fact sheets; posters; policy briefs; newsletters; a media guide; a state of the environment reporting guide; and, an environmental indicators’ guide.
On the other hand, IMERCSA provides in-house training for young documentalists and natural resources scientists with an interest in environmental assessment and reporting. Key areas of training include database development using CDS ISIS software, as well as integrated environmental assessment and reporting and scenario building.
Since its creation in 1994, IMERCSA could not have gained such significant milestones were it not for its strong links with various governmental departments and non-governmental institutions throughout the SADC region and beyond. Much of IMERCSA's work revolves around CEP, a partnership established through a memorandum of understanding with SADC ELMS and IUCN.
IMERCSA is one of the four African organizations selected by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) as among 30 collaborating centres worldwide involved in the Global Environmental Outlook (GEO). GEO is a global environmental reporting series through a global state of the environment report is published every two years beginning 1999. IMERCSA's role in the GEO series is to carry out research and reviews on issues pertaining to southern Africa. With UNEP and the other three African centres of excellence, IMERCSA is involved in the research, writing and review of the Africa Environment Outlook (AEO) series. Other key partners in IMERCSA’s work include the SADC, DATX, ZERO, IIED, USAID and NEPAD.
Challenges
IMERSCA undertakes important projects and programs, most of which are environmental in nature and revolve around SADC member countries. Occasionally, IMERSCA has continental interaction as is the case with the AOE, and this implies that its a growing institution. The challenge for IMERSCA therefore is how to manage the wide range of project portfolios and the resultant large number of project donors and partners.
Additionally, as a resource centre with many volumes including periodicals, it is important that it builds the capacity of institutions within SADC for utilization of the documented material. This definitely includes expanding the telecommunication technology base that will utilize the internet as well as online access of the library.
IMERSCA, as an independent institution of SARDC that provides in-house training for young documentalists and journalists, does not carry out primary research on environment. It, however, responds to information requests from researchers. It is therefore apparent that through the media, demand for more research information will increase, and IMERSCA must prepare to serve the region’s information needs.
Although it is well grounded with a strong partners network, IMERSCA needs to strengthen its capacity in handling water management related issues ´necessitated by the existence of river basins that traverse several SADC countries.
Opportunities
IMERSCA has indeed made a serious attempt at availing information to the SADC wider communities. With its resource centre going virtual, this creates great opportunities for governments and the private sector in terms of advancing and expanding IT and IT related services. But without wider internet accessibility by the population, the ideals of the resource centre will remain unachievable.
Improvement and further transformation of IMERSCA into an institution that carries out primary research on environment presents opportunities to respond to the demands of end users.
Given its track and delivery record, IMERSCA will require additional funding and collaboration in order to sustain its programs and expand into new horizons.
