Name: Silvia F. Materu
Position: Project manager, PhD student

Background and interests

Silvia Materu has many years of experience as a scientific lecturer in the field of occupational health and safety and chemical safety at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania. Since winter 2011, Ms Materu has been doing her PhD at HAW Hamburg on the topic of “Ecotoxicological effects of pesticide applications in floodplains”. In the floodplain of Kilombero, a variety of different pesticides are used to achieve higher crop yields. In this situation, it is essential to develop awareness among local farmers of the risks to people and the environment from the use of pesticides in sugar and rice cultivation in floodplains. To enable an integrated assessment of the impact of industry on the ecologically highly relevant Ramsar region, Silvia’s study combines the development of a conceptual model of the region with field sampling and ecotoxicological and chemical analysis of water, soil and sediment samples from the Kilombero floodplain.

Research projects

• Assessment of potential impacts of pesticides from sugar and rice plantations on the ecological status of the Kilombero floodplain, Ramsar Region-Tanzania (HAW-Hamburg)
• Mitigation of environmental and health risks of heavy metals in Tanzania (ENVIROCARE-Tanzania)
• Identification of the Status of Hazardous Chemicals: Textile Industry in Tanzania (ENVIROCARE-Tanzania)
• Effects of sublethal concentrations of inorganic mercury in the diet on growth and haematological indices of freshwater fish (Master’s thesis, 2006-2007)- Dar es salaam University

Publication, Presentation and Poster

Assessment of Potential Effects of Agro-chemicals use in ecological status of Kilombero Flood Plain, Ramsar site –Tanzania: In SETAC world Congress, 20-24 may 2012, Berlin, Germany

Occupational Health and safety in Tanzania: Knowledge and gaps. Impacts of sub lethal dietary concentration of inorganic- mercury on growth and hematological indices of freshwater fish, Oreochromis urolepis.

Assessment and establishment of management system of E-Waste: A pilot project in Ilala Municipality in Dar es salaam, Tanzania.