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Project

South Initiative (SI) : Tracing the status and impacts of terrestrial contamination in the coastal environments of Tanzania. (VLIR296)

Tanzania coastal area is made up of marine and estuarine ecosystems, wich are among the country's greatest assets. The Government of Tanzania stresses on the need for the protection, management and development of the marine and coastal environment. Contamination of the evironment, perticularly coastal and estuarine ecosystems, is heavily influenced by human activities. Studies conducted in Belgian universities through BTC and others have shown that marine pollution mainly originates from land-based sources which are primarily linked to various activities related to urban development. However, these studies were of preliminary nature and involved just a small part of the Tanzanian coastal area. Furthermore some emerging endoctrine contaminants of concern were not measured in the studied areas and their exposure to organisms can produce various adverse effects as responses. Currently, the Tanzanian coastal areas are under considerable pressure from human activities that present a potential risk of contamination and degradation to the hydroecosystems. it is then important to carry these research activities further so as to obtain more results, and in the process, train more staff and build institutional capacity through investing in analytical tools and strengthen the collaborations that were established. We aim at quantifying the levels of different endoctrine disrupting contaminants in sediments and relate them to land and/or marine based pollution sources.
Date:1 Sep 2014 →  31 Aug 2016
Keywords:Chemistry
Disciplines:Organic chemistry