Regional Scientific Conference on Lake Victoria Basin

22nd – 23rd October, 2012

Imperial Botanical Garden Hotel, Entebbe, Uganda

The Lake Victoria Basin Commission (LVBC) has organised a Regional Scientific Conference for the Lake Victoria Basin in fulfillment of Article 3 (j) of the Protocol for Sustainable Development of Lake Victoria, which calls for the promotion of research, capacity building and information exchange” as an area of cooperation related to conservation and sustainable utilization of the resources in the Basin.

The overall theme of the conference will be “Harnessing Research for Sustainable Development of the Lake Victoria Basin”

Purpose

This conference will bring together and synthesize information from research in the Basin with a view to establish “state-of-knowledge” and future research priorities, while bridging the gap between research and policy.

Key outputs:

i)     An edited conference proceedings volume and synthesis papers

ii)   Publication of selected papers in refereed journals

iii)  Policy briefs on key issues arising from the papers

Target Beneficiaries:

i)     Policy makers, Governments, Local authorities, Regional bodies, Private Sector and Civil Society Groups concerned with sustainable development in the Lake Victoria Basin;

ii)   National collaborators will benefit from capacity building through students’ research, workshops and dissemination of relevant research output and other information to feed into policy level decision making;

iii)  Rural communities, whose livelihoods crucially depend on natural resources in the Basin.

Conference Sub themes:

i) Water Resources Management and Development

• Integrated Watershed management
• Water Quality and Quantity
• Governance of water resources
• Exploration and assessment of fresh water potential

ii) Biodiversity, Wildlife management and Tourism

• Biodiversity in the Lake Victoria Basin
• Forestry and related sciences
• Tourism, Ecotourism
• Wildlife Management,
• Investment in tourism sector

iii) Public health, water and Sanitation

• Public Health issues
• Water supply
• Sanitation

iv) Policy and stakeholder participation

• Policy interventions in the above themes
• Public Private Partnerships
• Community participation
• Financing sustainable development

v) Special Focus on Mara River Basin Ecosystem

This theme will focus on studies, research done in the Mara River Basin Ecosystem and will focus on Water resources, transboundary ecosystem management, biodiversity, forestry, wildlife management, community participation. This theme is jointly convened by LVBC, UNESCO-IHE, WWF-ESARPO and Florida International University (GLOWS) and USAID/EA.

Special call for Students:

Students currently undertaking research in the Lake Victoria Basin/Mara River Basin are encouraged to participate and present their work including on going work (preliminary findings)

Guidelines for Abstracts

The abstract should be in English and structured as follows:

(i)       Abstract should not be more than 500 words in MS Word, Aerial font 12 and spacing 1.5, and a maximum of 7 key words.

(ii)      The heading should be in Arial font size 14 and bold.

The abstract should outline aims, methodology, key results, discussion and recommendations. It should include the title, the name(s) of the author(s), affiliation, mailing address, e-mail and telephone number. In addition, authors should state the sub-theme and indicate their preference for oral presentation or a poster

Submission guidelines

Those wishing to present papers or posters under any of the above sub-themes should send their abstracts to Mary Mwangi email address:   This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and copy This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Important Dates

• Submission of Abstracts on or before    : 21st September 2012
• Notification of acceptance of Abstracts : 28th September 2012
• Deadline for Full Paper Submission        : 12th October 2012

Venue
The Conference will be held in Entebbe, Uganda.

Accommodation and Dinner

Participants will pay for their own accommodation and dinner during the Conference.