Wednesday 30 November 2011

HEARINGS: INNOVATIVE WOMEN IN NIGERIA SPEAK UP

Africa Storytelling Project


Princess Caroline Usikpedo Omoniye is a force for change in Nigeria. Founder and National President of the Niger Delta’s Women’s Movement of Peace and Development, she has empowered and mobilized hundreds of women to promote peace and take action on issues like climate change.

Speaking at the “Strengthening Voices: Search for Solutions” 2011 Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice in Nigeria, Caroline emphasized the importance of having women, who are the primary farmers in the region, share their stories.

“The aim of the Climate Justice Hearings is to up-scale local solutions and bring the voices of those most affected – women and traditionally excluded groups – to influence negotiations and plans of action on climate change at the national as well as the international level during COP17 and Rio+20”, says Caroline. “The testimonies will explore the relationship between individual experiences with the manifestations of climate change and the action taken at the local or regional level to address the climate change issues faced by women.”

A number of impacts are of key concern to women in the Niger Delta. With 70% of the country’s population residing in rural areas and engaged in agriculture production, changes in rainfall patterns have dramatically reduced crop yields. Crops in the Delta are highly dependent on rainfall with cultivation rarely practiced. In addition, four decades of continual gas flares have made Nigeria one of the highest emitters of greenhouse gases in Africa. Oil spills, seismic blasts and discharges of untreated effluents have also deeply degraded water and soil quality and destroyed the coastal mangrove ecosystem.

“The climate is a fundamental element of the environment and a change in the climate affects other elements of the environment. Solutions should not only be made visible, they must be seen as evident and resourceful in the lives of our women, who are undoubtedly the base of any environment that yearns for growth and development”, says Caroline.

As Nigeria moves forward in the face of climate change, Caroline emphasizes the need to achieve socio-economic development in the region by managing resources in a sustainable way. She calls for authorities to hear the stories collected through the tribunal of women’s experiences of climate change and to use them as guidelines to draft necessary actions and initiatives that would work to reduce poverty and respect environmental rights.

“Policies and innovations to enhance adaptation to climate change cannot be viewed in isolation from current development priorities: indeed many key stakeholders recognize the need to focus on ‘climate resilient’ policies and innovations that address both current development priorities as well as providing greater livelihood resilience in the face of future climate change”, says Caroline.

For more information Caroline’s story and to learn more about the Women’s Tribunals on Gender and Climate Justice visit: http://cllimatejusticetribunals.blogspot.com/2011/10/nigeria.html

Tuesday 29 November 2011

TANZANIA: ENGAGING COMMUNITIES IN FOREST PROTECTION

Africa Storytelling Project

 
Ms. Rahima Njaidi is the Executive Director of The Community Forest Network of Tanzania (MJUMITA), an organization of approximately 500 community forest groups in 420 Tanzanian villages.  Rahima is dedicated to ensuring that innovative forestry initiatives in the region benefit not only the climate but communities as well.

MJUMITA’s 6,000 individual members are mostly small farmers or beekeepers and other forest users living close to government-owned Tanzanian forests. Since 2009 and with support through Southern Voices, MJUMITA has engaged its members through training workshops and community radio about the impacts of climate change. Known as a powerful network on the ground, MJUMITA plays a central role in Tanzania's policy of Participatory Forest Management (PFM).

"The key task for MJUMITA is to act as an advocacy platform for the communities living near the forest, on issues like forest management and governance", says Rahima.

One mechanism of Participatory Forest Management where MJUMITA plays a large role is through Joint Forest Management (JFM) practices. Through JFM, communities are asked to help protect government owned forests from illegal logging and other illegal activities. In return for patrolling and protecting the forest and acting as forest guards, communities receive 40% of the income from the sale of forest products.

"But that is not happening, so communities have actually been protecting the forest for nothing, as volunteers. Now that ‘REDD’ mechanisms - or ways to fight climate change by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation - are being introduced in Tanzania, MJUMITA must ensure that the forest users are involved", explains Rahima.

REDD mechanisms have been introduced in the country as a set of steps designed to use market or financial incentives to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation.

"The key objective in our advocacy is to ensure that forest communities receive a fair share of the benefits from the forests", says Rahima. "We are asking for representation on the national task force on REDD."

In addition to advocacy at a national level, MJUMITA has also been engaged in promoting REDD through international climate negotiations.

"We have joined forces with likeminded organizations in the Accra Caucus", explained Rahima. “The Accra Caucus is a loose network of Southern and Northern NGOs working on forest issues and REDD in the climate negotiations. It is important that REDD rules will commit governments and other actors to respect the rights of the people living off the forest", says Rahima.

For more information about Rahmia’s story visit: http://climatecapacity.org/news/newsletter/55


YOUTH CLIMATE ACTION IN SENEGAL: ONE TREE AT A TIME

Africa Storytelling Project


Mbemba Doucouré lives in Senegal, West Africa. Mbemba began his work as an environmental activist in 1992, driven by the need to address issues such as climate change in order to leave behind a healthy planet for future generations.

As with many countries in Africa, Senegal has been severely hit by the adverse effects of climate change. “Vulnerability is due not only to the level of climate disruption but also to the sensitivity of the affected communities and their ability to adapt or deal with these disturbances”, says Mbemba.

Agriculture employs approximately 70% of the workforce in Senegal, contributing 10% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Up to 96% of the agriculture in the region is made up of rain reliant crops. The variations in climate and rainfall have had immediate consequences for communities in the region, including declining crop yields and food insecurity.
“Faced with this situation and refusing to be amorphous spectators, my friends and I have opted for participation in local community development with concrete actions in the field”, says Mbemba.
In 2004, along with a group of young people, Mbemba created a local group named Union des Jeunes pour le Développement Durable de la région de Tambacounda (UJDT). Tambacounda is lush vegetative area in the eastern part of Senegal, located about 470 km from Niokolo Koba National Park, the largest forest reserve in the country and a UNESCO World Heritage Centre now considered to be endangered.

Since 2004, UJDT has successfully launched a vast campaign of reforestation, education and advocacy in Tambacounda and Dakar. The organization has planted 2000 trees in the Colibantang Maka, Malema and Sinthiou Dialacoto communities surrounding Tambacounda. 
In 2010, a year marked by strong climate change awareness campaigns for local communities and schools in Senegal, Mbemba joined the 350.org movement. Working with others, he helped successfully organize the Global Work Party on 10/10/10, planting 200 trees and engaging students of Gouye College in the town Tambacounda about issues surrounding climate change. Mbemba organized a similar activity coupled with a sit-in to celebrate Moving Planet this September and engaged more than two hundred students in the fight against climate change. 
“We had invited Colonel Mbemba Amsatou Niang, focal point of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) as main speaker. According to him ‘the underestimation of the impacts of climate change are now a threat to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.’ This event was a great step in the goal we set for ourselves to prepare for a healthy and sustainable environment for future generations”, says Mbemba.



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