Africa Conservation Center through the Development Corridors Partnership, which is a research collaboration funded by the UK government, will conduct a research on Sustainable Investment Projects along development corridors in Taita Taveta and counties cut by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
The Counties include Mombasa, Taita Taveta, Makueni and Machakos.
The programme, first of its kind in East Africa targets the SGR and LAPSSET Corridor Projects and will be carried out in a span of 3 years.
According to Dr. Tobias Nyumba of Africa Conservation Center and Institute for Climate Change at the University of Nairobi, the research is inspired by the great emphasis placed on economic impacts at the expense of environment and social impacts considerations while conducting the development projects.
"The research will involve biodiversity scoping, stakeholder engagement in key issues and communicating recommendations to all stakeholders to inform planning and management of some of the impacts and considerations," he said on Friday.
Speaking when hosting the researchers during a courtesy call to Taita Taveta County Governor's Office in Wundanyi, Lands, Mining, Environment and Natural Resources CeC Gertrude Shuwe said SGR project has had positive and negative impacts on social lives and the economy.
She said tourism and hospitality sector in the County had reported an increase in the number of tourists due to SGR while on the other hand, cases of human-wildlife conflict were on the rise since the establishment of the multi-billion transport project.
On his part, Taveta Environment officer Ben Mwadeghu said an assistance in the formulation of the Climate Change Policy will assist the department instill initiatives that will help curb the impacts of climate change.
Construction of the 120km Nairobi-Naivasha SGR is also on course.
The SGR project is expected to reduce the cost of transporting cargo upcountry.
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