Founded in 1983 as Pakistan’s first private university, the Aga Khan University (AKU) is a not-for-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN). Starting in 2000, the University has expanded to Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom. 

The Aga Khan University’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the developing world and beyond through world-class teaching, research and health-care delivery. The University educates students about local and global leadership, generates new knowledge to solve problems that affect millions of people, and raises standards and aspirations in the countries in which it works. 

AKU recently established Arusha Climate and Environmental Research Centre (ACER) on its nearly four thousand acres of ecologically important land on the outskirts of Arusha, Tanzania. As a flagship project of the University, and with the support of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), ACER will leverage the extraordinary importance of the site in terms of research opportunities in environmental science – including atmospheric sciences, sustainable agriculture and ecology, environmental chemistry, geosciences, and social sciences.

The overarching objectives of the Arusha Climate and Environmental Research Centre include advancing academic research leading to results for stakeholders and achieving increased visibility on the importance of environmental field sites that explicitly set out to build capacity. Designating the site as a climate and environmental centre protects the land for these purposes as a living laboratory. 

 

Based on the characteristics of the site, restorative land management activities will continue.  To date, there has been a focus on reforestation; floodplain restoration; flood risk reduction; improving drainage systems; recharging the regional aquifer; and managing extraction from the water table for plants, trees, and seasonal wetlands. Going forward, more attention is required to examine the risks of climate-induced human health and geophysical hazards and other threats. We aim to design research activities which will investigate the impact of climate change on human health, agriculture – diving deep into specific climate change impact on crop nutrition and livestock, impact of climate change on water and environment at large.

• Ensure increased reforestation of the Arusha land through growing saplings in the nursery and scheduling and monitoring planting of trees. This includes the replacement of exotic and invasive species with indigenous trees and the reforestation of all seven hills on the farm.
• Maximize the quality and impact of the Demo Plots showcasing technologies that are adapted to the context and replicable. 
• Co-design research experimental sites and plots in collaboration with ACER researchers and other partner universities’ researchers
• Train the staff and workers in regenerative agriculture practices.
• Ensure increase in farming activities and crop production by providing direction on optimal plant and animal production.
• Ensure efficient management, planning, and maintenance of farm equipment and machinery 
• Overseeing landscaping and maintenance of the campus recreational areas, including the football field.
• Collaborating with the coffee and avocado farm teams and provide guidance on tree replacement, regeneration, and maintenance.
• Manage scheduling of tree stumping and adequate pruning.
• Lead harvesting and post-harvest operations.
• Support the sales of harvest at best price.
• Collect and share all farming and experimental field data with the research team for analysis and processing