The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has just released the results of several studies on mangrove forests in West Africa. The results show that Ivory Coast has lost its mangrove forest, the equivalent of 18,000 football fields. The main cause is the smoking of fish.
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has just released the results of several studies on mangrove forests in West Africa. The results show that Ivory Coast has lost its mangrove forest, the equivalent of 18,000 football fields. The main cause is the smoking of fish.
Smoked fish is very important in Ivory Coast, accounting for 65% (or 1 million kilograms) of all traded fish products, according to studies by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). According to the same source, fish smoking is mainly carried out by women in coastal fishing communities. This activity is a source of employment, providing 240,000 indirect jobs for women.
Nevertheless, this demand and dependence on fish smoking contributes to the degradation and disappearance of mangrove forests, not to mention the health risks associated with exposure to smoke. Indeed, the long branches and underwater roots of mangroves are cut and used as fuel in makeshift ovens. The colourful and durable red mangrove wood gives the fish a golden appearance and a smoky, pungent taste.
As a result, the area of mangroves in Ivory Coast, located mainly along the southern coast, has shrunk from about 20,000 hectares in 1990 to about 10,000 hectares today, a loss equivalent to 18,000 football fields, placed back to back.
The FAO IPC-AO project
The data on the regression of mangroves in Ivory Coast was presented in Niega in the department of Sassandra in the south of the country, by the FAO through the West Africa Coastal Fisheries Initiative (IPC-AO). This was on the occasion of the 2022 edition of the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem.
The IPC-WA project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) through the Abidjan Convention. Studies carried out by this project over the period 2000-2020 revealed that mangrove forests increased by 2.72% at the IPC-AO project sites in Senegal, while they decreased by 10% in Ivory Coast.
Fanta Mabo
Communities impacted and those under threat of water privatization across Africa have called on African governments to jettison water privatisation and return privatized water systems to localities for affordable and equitable management.
Local communities in Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Gabon, Uganda, and a host of other African countries are making this their focal demand as they mark the second edition of Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatization which holds from 11-14 October 2022 to coincide with annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
The communities, working in collaboration with civil society and labour groups under the aegis of the Our Water Our Right Africa Coalition will be holding townhall meetings, community engagements, press briefings, protest marches, meetings with policy makers and a host of engagements to press home their opposition to water privatization schemes and the commodification of water, promoted by the World bank and other International Financial Institutions, which continue to deprive communities their right to existence. In some communities, water has been priced out of the reach of locals, forcing women and young girls to go the extra mile, including exposing themselves to dangers to get water for basic needs.
The communities, working in concert with civil society and labour, insist that while water remains one of the most fundamental necessities for life, giant corporations like Veolia and Suez, backed by international financial institutions like the World Bank are exploiting this basic need by trying to privatise water across the African continent, threatening to leave millions of people in communities suffering without water.
Akinbode Oluwafemi, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), explaining the significance of the 2022 commemoration said:
“When communities are deprived of a basic right which guarantees their existence and the bond that has kept them connected to their culture and spirituality for generations, will ultimately cease to exist. That is why communities are leading resistance to what corporations like Veolia and institutions like the World Bank are marketing on the African continent. But the message is clear. We do not want our water systems privatized”
On the impacts of water privatisation on communities, Younoussa Abbosouka, Programme Officer at the African Center for Advocacy said:
« With water privatization, there is a monopoly over a resource that is not supposed to belong to anyone except for local communities to sustain their vital needs. These communities have effective alternatives centred on community-based water management, which promotes community interest and well-being. They are opposed to any idea of privatization of this basic social service! »
The inaugural Africa Week of Action Against Water Privatization which held from 11 -15 October 2021 was spearheaded by civil society and labour groups on the continent. The high point was the launch of a report – Africa Must Rise & Resist Water Privatisation – which details how privatisation has become the most potent threat to Africans’ human right to water. It cites water privatisation failures in the United States, Chile, and France as lessons for African governments being pressured by the World Bank and a host of multilateral financial institutions to toe the privatization path. The Portuguese and French versions of the report will be unveiled at a press briefing on October 11 where stories and realities of African communities will be showcased in videos to kickstart the week of action.
A key demand of the communities is that their governments halt privatization plans and instead, invest in public water systems that include meaningful public participation in water governance, with particular focus on the perspectives of those typically left out of decision-making processes, including but not limited to women, low-income people, and rural communities.
African Center for Advocacy
African Communities Raise their Voices Against Water Privatisation
Communities impacted and those under threat of water privatization across Africa have called on African governments to jettison water privatisation and return privatized water systems to localities for affordable and equitable management.
Environmentalists do not understand why Egypt, the host country of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), has chosen the beverage brand Coca-Cola as the event’s sponsor. The American company is said to be the world’s biggest plastic polluter, producing 120 billion disposable plastic bottles per year.
The 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27), which takes place from 6 to 18 November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. This major meeting for governments, businesses and environmental groups, which aims to stop global warming, is sponsored by the Coca-Cola brand. But for environmental activists, Coca-Cola’s sponsorship is « another example of corporate greenwashing ».
« Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of COP27 is pure greenwashing. Over four years, in our annual corporate surveys, we found that Coca-Cola was the world’s biggest plastic polluter. It is astonishing that a company with such strong ties to the fossil fuel industries is allowed to sponsor such a crucial climate meeting, » says Emma Priestland of Break Free From Plastic, an international organisation that fights plastic pollution.
Almost 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels
For the environmental organisation Greenpeace, Coca-Cola’s sponsorship of COP27 is « incomprehensible ». « Coca-Cola produces 120 billion disposable plastic bottles a year, and 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels, adding to the plastic and climate crisis. If Coca-Cola really wants to solve the plastic and climate crisis, it needs to turn off its plastic tap. End Coca-Cola’s reliance on single-use plastic, » says John Hocevar, Greenpeace USA’s Oceans Campaigner.
A petition to remove Coca-Cola from the list of COP27 sponsors has been launched by Georgia Elliott-Smith, a climate activist who attended COP26 in Glasgow. As of 8 October 2022, the petition had already been signed by 67,826 people, out of a target of 75,000.
This wave of anti-Coca-Cola protest began on 28 September 2022 when the Egyptian government announced the partnership with the brand, welcoming the « shared opportunities for communities and people around the world and in Egypt ». For its part, Coca-Cola says it wants to « do its part » to meet the challenge of « eliminating waste in the ocean ». And the American soft drink giant has been multiplying initiatives to fight plastic pollution in Africa in recent years. From Kisumu in Kenya to Lagos in Nigeria and the Ugandan capital Kampala, Coca-Cola supports initiatives to collect and recycle plastic waste through start-ups and local authorities.
Fanta Mabo
COP27: Coca-Cola, a divisive choice of sponsor
Environmentalists do not understand why Egypt, the host country of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), has chosen the beverage brand Coca-Cola as the event’s sponsor. The American company is said to be the world’s biggest plastic polluter, producing 120 billion disposable plastic bottles per year.
C’est tout le sens de l’atelier sur les changements climatiques et ses répercussions sur l’environnement tenu le 5 octobre 2022 à Yaoundé (Cameroun). l’USFE, entendez » United Voice to Serve Forest and Environment « , vient de bénéficier d’un accompagnement de l’ONG international Global water partnership. Cet atelier vise entre autres à fédérer les efforts de ses partenaires pour faire du Cameroun un pays émergent en 2035.
Compte tenu de l’ampleur des défis qui pèsent sur la biodiversité et l’environnement naturel, en raison des activités humaines, le monde est appelé à faire face aux conséquences des changements climatiques. Un phénomène qui menace les moyens de subsistance d’un milliard de personnes dans plus de 100 pays. Face à cette situation, des mesures urgentes sont à prendre pour sauvegarder et protéger la vie humaine. Et pour faire face à ces dangers sur l’humanité, le Programme Eau, Climat, Développement-Genre (Wacdep G) du GWP Cameroun, dans ses missions régaliennes se propose d’accompagner l’initiative de Tree for Hope dans sa mise en œuvre des investissements genre – transformateur dans le secteur de l’eau. C’est pour outiller les principaux bénéficiaires que sont les femmes et les enfants que Wacdep G a décidé d’accompagnement cet atelier.
En mettant en exergue l’approche Tree for Hope, il est également question de valoriser l’agroforesterie (qui associe la plantation des arbres et des arbustes), qui est une solution efficace à la lutte contre la faim et la pauvreté. C’est d’ailleurs dans cette logique qu’un site expérimental a vu le jour à Ahala Barrière en banlieue sud de Yaoundé.
Au sortir de cet atelier, il sera question de mettre sur pied un cadre de compréhension de l’encrage de l’initiative Tree for Hope dans le programme Wacdep G mais aussi d’informer et de susciter l’intérêt du grand public et des institutions gouvernementales.
Elie Nlend
CAMEROUN : le Global Water Partnership apporte sa contribution à la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique
C’est tout le sens de l’atelier sur les changements climatiques et ses répercussions sur l’environnement tenu le 5 octobre 2022 à Yaoundé (Cameroun). l’USFE, entendez » United Voice to Serve Forest and Environment « , vient de bénéficier d’un accompagnement de l’ONG international Global water partnership. Cet atelier vise entre autres à fédérer les efforts de ses partenaires pour faire du Cameroun un pays émergent en 2035.
The conditions that prompted Cameroon to privatise the public water service in 2008 are once again multiplying on the ground. Between untimely water cuts, deterioration of installations and bad management practices, the public company (Camwater) which produces and distributes drinking water, is struggling to provide the precious liquid in quantity and quality to an ever-growing population. Fearing a return to another privatisation of the public water service in Cameroon, the African Centre for Advocacy (ACA) calls on the government of Cameroon to take responsibility.
In Cameroon, public control of the water service is once again in jeopardy and activists are worried that history might repeat itself.
« The Cameroonian government must not repeat the mistake of 2008, when under the influence of the World Bank, it privatized the water sector, » says Younoussa Abbosouka, advocacy officer with the African Centre for Advocacy (ACA).
Back then, privatization was supposed to deliver improved infrastructure and lower prices — but neither materialized. Though water was renationalized in 2018, numerous shortcomings continue to hamper the provision of clean water to the population. « We suffer badly of water shortages. Now it’s at midnight or one o’clock that we get up to check if water is flowing from the tap, and most of the time nothing flows even at that time. On rare occasions when it does, you see coloured water coming out of the tap. We have no other choice than to fetch water at the natural water source, which is down the quarter.” Says Cedric Nouta, a Yaounde city dweller.
In a report published on 18 August 2022, Cameroon Water Utilities (Camwater), the public concessionaire of drinking water (production and commercialization) in Cameroon, confessed its role in the drinking water crisis that the city of Yaounde, the country’s capital, has been experiencing for several months. According to the public company, the episodic shortages observed in the capital are mainly linked to the numerous malfunctions of the Akomnyada water collection and treatment station, located 35 km east of the city.
“Today, the water problems we have in Cameroon are mainly related to technical problems at the various pumping stations. The state is currently solving these problems and everything will be back to normal by September 30, 2022.” explains Joseph Marie Bienvenue Eyafa, Camwater Regional Director of Yaounde
“It is out of consideration to go back to the privatization scheme of CAMWATER, this will demonstrate that Camwater is unable to ensure the management and distribution of water to Cameroonian citizens. No, Camwater is not superseded because Camwater is the state. We went through 10 years of privatization and it clearly didn’t work. We wouldn’t have these problems today if water management had not been privatized.” Eyafa said.
In 2009, the government invested nearly 4 billion CFA francs, or just over 6 million dollars, to rehabilitate and extend this infrastructure. « But since the work was completed in 2017, this station has never produced the expected volume (300,000 m3 per day). Its production oscillates between 120,000 and 150,000 m3 per day. However, the demography is galloping and the demand for water has become very alarming with the multiplication of new districts, » says the Camwater report. According to official figures, the demand for drinking water in Yaoundé and Mbalmayo, two towns supplied by the Akomnyada catchment station, is currently around 300,000 m3 per day.
For Camwater, the weakness of this station in the production of drinking water is explained, among other reasons, by the abnormal operation of the electric pump units; the failure of the automatic operation of the electric pump units; the difficulty of intervening on electrical problems; the discordance of the valves in the event of a power cut; the insufficient depth of laying of the suction pipes; the non-immobilization of the suction pipes at the bottom of the river; the small size of the suction strainers, etc.
Managerial failures and the uncivil behaviour of the population
Technical failures such as those recorded at the Akomnyada water station do not in themselves justify the drinking water crisis in Cameroon. On the 27 July 2022, the Central Regional Delegation of Camwater announced that it had been the victim of massive theft of water meters in the town of Mbalmoyo. According to the company, this phenomenon is the result of ill-intentioned individuals who sell their booty to weed cultivators.
Internal management problems at Camwater are also affecting the supply of drinking water. Earlier this year, in an open letter addressed to the Head of State, the National Union of Drinking Water Employees (Sneep) denounced the « chaotic management » of the public water service, marked by, among other things, « a massive mafia, peddling, lies, mismanagement, backbiting, swindling, cronyism, corruption and embezzlement of public funds ».
Sneep initially threatened and then postponed a strike after a crisis meeting held on 9 February 2022 in Douala (Cameroon’s economic capital) with Minister of Water and Energy Gaston Eloundou Essomba, who committed to obtaining the necessary resources to finance the functioning of Camwater.
The ACA takes up the cause
Faced with the state’s « inability » to effectively provide the public water service, Abbosouka and the ACA has increased lobbying, media advocacy as well as labour engagements to push for reduced taxes for any household that consumes less than 20 cubic meters of water per month. ACA has enjoined the national water distribution company, Camwater to establish water pricing by categorizing the price per cubic meter of water by the type of customer. This greatly increased the number of low-income households connected to the water system.
“The African Center for Advocacy is closely monitoring privatization threats in Cameroon and in other African countries. We believe that the fight against privatization, austerity, neoliberalism and corruption is intimately linked with the fight for the human right to water. This fight necessitates at national, regional and international level.’’ Explains Younoussa Abbosouka, ACA Program Officer.
Thus, in 2020, the not-for-profit organization pressed the government to invest 27.3 billion (close to 4.7 million dollars) on a rehabilitation project aimed at extending and increasing water supply capacity in other cities of the country like Edea and Bertoua by 56% and 88% respectively.
According to Abbosouka, privatizing the sector would lead to various disasters, such as tariff increases, lack of public accountability and transparency, higher operating costs, worse customer service and job losses. Others agree.
« Water privatisation enriches some government officials and multinationals and at the same time contributes to the spread of poverty among the majority of the population,” says Chief Ewoukem Godson, president of the National Autonomous Union of Energy, Water and Mining Workers of Cameroon (Synateec).
Renationalisation of the water service in 2018, the fight of the ACA
In 2008, when the Cameroonian government privatized the public water service to Cameroon Water Utilities (Camwater), it thought it had chosen the right solution. This was not the case. The promised infrastructure has not been built, the price of water has increased. Women, children, girls and people with disabilities were the most affected. This is when the ACA began to advocate for the state to take back control of the water sector.
Following successful examples from external partners like Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) in Nigeria, the ACA began to take action, taking into account the specificities of Cameroon. The organisation begun by asking the population if they knew that water is a human right. Statistics revealed that, a vast majority of the population is unaware of this right. Hence, awareness-raising campaigns followed on the field. Once this was done, the organization went on to identify different groups (trade unions, religious groups, civil society) and created a coalition to share a common idea, that of claiming the right to water.
One of the main difficulties in this process was to be heard at the state level, as the organization of marches was systematically forbidden, as such, the ACA opted to organize meetings with members of government, ones that included international partners. These actions contributed to the termination in October 2018 of the concession between the State of Cameroon and Cameroon Water Utilities, making Camwater the public company in charge of the production and distribution of drinking water in the country.
ACA’s prospects
On 13 October 2021 in Yaoundé, the ACA took part in a public demonstration to denounce the role of the World Bank in the privatisation of water management in Africa. Together with partners such as Corporate Accountability and Public Participation (Nigeria), Corporate Accountability (USA), Public Services International and End Water Poverty, the ACA rejects all forms of corporate control and privatisation of water services, including through Public-Private Partnerships.
The ACA will not give up its fight as long as the cloud of privatisation hangs over the water sector in Cameroon. « Our challenge today is to have the right to water recognized in the Cameroonian constitution, as is the case in Kenya, » Abbosouka says. This civil society actor remains vigilant in the face of suspicious manoeuvres, undertaken according to him by groups like Veolia and Suez. « The private sector is using a new technique by creating problems between the company that manages water and the minister in charge to come and present itself as a saviour, » he warns.
The African Center for Advocacy’s Keep Water in Public Hands project is one of twelve inspiring stories of local transformation shortlisted for the 2022 Transformative Cities People’s Choice Award. Transformative Cities is a global process to search and support transformative practices and responses that are tackling global crises at the local level. You can still vote for the initiative that you find deserves more attention and resources to scale up until the 6th of November at: https://transformativecities.org.
Fanta Mabo
CAMEROON: Activists fear public water service will be privatized again.
The conditions that prompted Cameroon to privatise the public water service in 2008 are once again multiplying on the ground. Between untimely water cuts, deterioration of installations and bad management practices, the public company (Camwater) which produces and distributes drinking water, is struggling to provide the precious liquid in quantity and quality to an ever-growing population. Fearing a return to another privatisation of the public water service in Cameroon, the African Centre for Advocacy (ACA) calls on the government of Cameroon to take responsibility.