L’Association pour l’égalité et le bien-être (ASEBE), procède en début du mois prochain, au lancement d’une vaste campagne de sensibilisation aux problèmes environnementaux dans la localité de Taro, dans le département du Mbam et Inoubou, région du centre. Il s’agira entre autres d’inviter les habitants de ce bassin de production agricole, à adopter des techniques durables. Pour en parler, Thiérry Ndimi, le président de l’Asebe répond aux questions de Boris Ngounou
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
L’Association pour l’égalité et le bien-être (ASEBE), procède en début du mois prochain, au lancement d’une vaste campagne de sensibilisation aux problèmes environnementaux dans la localité de Taro, dans le département du Mbam et Inoubou, région du centre. Il s’agira entre autres d’inviter les habitants de ce bassin de production agricole, à adopter des techniques durables. Pour en parler, Thiérry Ndimi, le président de l’Asebe répond aux questions de Boris Ngounou
Two West African crocodiles living in the Parc de la Tête d’Or in Lyon, France have just arrived in Morocco. The 49-year-old male and the 32-year-old female have been installed in the Agadir Crocoparc in order to reproduce. Their young will then be reintroduced into the wild, where the species has been extinct since the 1950s.
The announcement made on 5 July 2021 by Grégory Doucet, the mayor of Lyon in France, has now come true. In early September 2022, two West African crocodiles, a 49-year-old male and a 32-year-old female, arrived in Morocco from the Parc de la Tête d’Or in Lyon, France.
The two reptiles, born in a breeding farm in Chad, had arrived at the Zoo de la Tête d’Or in 1975. They will now live at the Crocoparc d’Agadir, the first crocodile zoological park in Morocco, which opened in May 2015 in the west of the kingdom, where an area has been specially designed for them. It is a pool of about thirty metres in length (larger than their pool in Lyon) with different water levels (between 20 cm and 1.60 m deep). The two crocodiles also have burrows for shelter, similar to what they have in the wild.
The pond in which these crocodiles live is especially suitable for their reproduction. Their arrival in Morocco is part of a programme to reintroduce the species. « My hope is to reintroduce generations from this pair of crocodiles into the gueltas in the south, near the Oued Draâ, where they used to live. A biology student (from the Faculty of Corte in Corsica) has been working on this subject for several months, trying to identify areas where these animals could still be reintroduced, » explains Luc Fougeirol, the director of Crocoparc.
The Moroccan crocodile
The Moroccan crocodile is thought to have disappeared in 1950 from the Guelta de Tanzida in the south of the Cherifian Kingdom, due to desertification and human pressure on natural habitats. « Crocodile skin was in fashion and there was an upsurge in hunting. As long as their presence is no longer of economic interest, wildlife populations unfortunately disappear. The populations living around their habitats really need to find an interest in them, » explains Luc Fougeirol.
The Moroccan crocodile, which is no more than two or two and a half metres long, is genetically identical to its West African counterpart (in Senegal or Ivory Coast). It would therefore have found itself, only a few thousand years ago, isolated in a few gueltas by the emergence and progression of the Sahara. However, it is genetically different from the more massive Nile crocodile, which can weigh more than a ton and lives in a large part of Africa, particularly in the Great Lakes region and in the Nile basin.
Fanta Mabo
MOROCCO: the reintroduction of the Moroccan crocodile, which disappeared 70 years ago
Two West African crocodiles living in the Parc de la Tête d’Or in Lyon, France have just arrived in Morocco. The 49-year-old male and the 32-year-old female have been installed in the Agadir Crocoparc in order to reproduce. Their young will then be reintroduced into the wild, where the species has been extinct since the 1950s.
In collaboration with the government of Zimbabwe, 61 solar-powered water systems have been installed in Harare by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The initiative will enable the capital’s residents to cope with extreme weather events.
With a component dedicated to combating the effects of climate change, the project launched in 2020 in Harare, Zimbabwe, by the government and its partners, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has relied on renewable energy to provide an alternative water supply system for vulnerable communities.
In a note published on 17 November 2022, the AfDB and UNICEF said that 61 solar-powered water systems had been deployed, 164 boreholes had been rehabilitated and 15 new water points had been dug, benefiting 854,975 people. As part of the project, 10,000 WASH kits were also distributed to beneficiaries, with priority given to people with disabilities or living with HIV/AIDS. And the health and hygiene messages delivered through the project have targeted more than 1.8 million people, according to the two organisations.
Persistent water shortages
The project by the Zimbabwean government and its partners comes against a backdrop of persistent water shortages in many areas in and around Harare, including the town of Chitungwiza. The combined production capacity of the two water treatment plants in the city (Morton Jaffray and Prince Edward) of 704 mega-litres/day cannot meet the demand of some 800 mega-litres/day to supply about 4.5 million people. In fact, current production is even lower, at 500 mega-litres/day. And the quality of the water has deteriorated, due to power cuts that affect the water treatment capacity.
In the absence of alternatives, many Harare residents have fallen back on unsafe water sources, exposing themselves to the risk of water-borne diseases (diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, etc.).
This water stress is mainly caused by global warming. As a result of prolonged droughts, the environment of the Chivero and Manyame watersheds, which supply the city’s two drinking water stations, has deteriorated (increased surface runoff, soil erosion, siltation of lakes, among others). According to the government, these water bodies have declined in volume by 6% and 10%, respectively, from their original capacities.
One of Oxfam’s latest reports, « Hunger in a Warming World », states that Zimbabwe is one of only seven of the 10 African countries identified as being most at risk from climate change worldwide. The southern African country ranks second in the Global Climate Risk Index 2021. And according to the latest projections, Zimbabwe is likely to continue warming by 2080 if nothing is done.
Fanta Mabo
ZIMBABWE: Solar pumps to address climate change in Harare
In collaboration with the government of Zimbabwe, 61 solar-powered water systems have been installed in Harare by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The initiative will enable the capital’s residents to cope with extreme weather events.
The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Bloom and Anticor have made revelations about the tuna fishing sector in Africa. After highlighting the irregularity of a case of transfer between the French public and private tuna fisheries, the two organisations point out the ecological impacts of this manoeuvre on Africa’s fisheries resources.
France could allow its vessels to plunder African waters. This is at least what is implied in a press release published on 14 November 2022 by Bloom, a French ocean protection organisation, and Anticor, a French anti-corruption association.
France is calling on Members of the European Parliament to adopt amendments that exponentially increase the tolerance for illegal catches by its vessels in African waters. The final negotiation of this request is scheduled to take place in Brussels (potentially on 22 November, if not by the end of 2022). For Bloom and Anticor, if France obtains the increase in the margin of tolerance on declared catches as planned, it will be able to kill two birds with one stone. It will be able to nip in the bud the legal proceedings initiated against it by the European Commission on 9 June 2021 for its complacency towards French vessels. And on the other hand, it will be able to legitimise years of abuse while institutionalising the destruction of Africa’s marine ecosystems.
Collusion between the State and the tuna fishing lobby
In their joint press release, Bloom and Anticor explain the origin of the French state’s open support for the tuna fishing lobby. They indicate that the person responsible within the administration for negotiating access to African tuna resources for French industrial fishing fleets was recruited by the largest tuna fishing lobby in France, Orthongel, a member of the European industrial lobby Europeche. This recruitment was carried out without respecting the three-year time limit provided for by law.
« This case of a defector (a person who renounces a group or a cause and goes over to the enemy’s camp), which could fall under the offence of illegal interest-taking provided for in Article 432-13 of the French Penal Code, contravenes the most elementary ethical rules consisting of not carrying out activities in the private sector that are linked to previous functions within the public administration, » the press release reads.
The affair revealed by Bloom and Anticor comes at a time when a global framework for the control of fishing fleets is being negotiated at European level. The tuna lobby, armed with former civil servants, is thus close to obtaining a tolerance on catch declarations allowing vessels to catch up to 50% more fish in certain cases.
Fanta Mabo
AFRICA: Would France like to institutionalise the plundering of the oceans?
The non-governmental organisations (NGOs) Bloom and Anticor have made revelations about the tuna fishing sector in Africa. After highlighting the irregularity of a case of transfer between the French public and private tuna fisheries, the two organisations point out the ecological impacts of this manoeuvre on Africa’s fisheries resources.
Les 09 et 10 novembre 2022, une trentaine de leaders des communautés affectées par le projet Camvert s’est réunie à Kribi dans le cadre d’un atelier organisé conjointement par Greenpeace Afrique et Green Development Advocates. Au sortir des travaux, ces leaders ont élaboré un plan d’action pour la réclamation d’une réelle et meilleure protection de leurs droits sur les terres et les ressources forestières dans le cadre du projet Camvert.
Pendant 48 heures de discussion, les chefs traditionnels et leaders communautaires se sont concertés pour voir quelles actions peuvent être menées pour sauvegarder leurs droits et intérêts dans le cadre de la mise en œuvre du projet Camvert. L’une des principales résolutions qui en est issue est la demande de l’élaboration d’un nouveau cahier de charges non seulement sur la base de la superficie réelle du projet qui est de 39923 hectares tel que mentionné dans le décret de concession provisoire signé par le président de la république mais en prenant effectivement en compte les droits et intérêts de toutes les communautés affectées par le projet.
La séance de travail a donné lieu au recensement des impacts du projet sur les communautés et la biodiversité. Entre autres, on note l’aggravation des conflits homme-faune, la perte sans compensation des services écosystémiques qui entraînera à la longue la perte des savoirs associés aux ressources et l’avancée du niveau de la mer accompagnés de vents violents et destructeurs.
“Greenpeace Afrique et GDA se sont engagés dans la campagne autour du projet Camvert depuis 2019 avec quelques résultats encourageants. Une concession provisoire de 5 ans a été signée octroyant près de 40 000 ha à la société, au lieu de 60 000 ha tel qu’initialement prévu. Il était donc question de présenter ces résultats aux communautés et d’explorer ensemble les nouvelles pistes et opportunités pour mener le combat afin qu’au bout des 5 ans la convention définitive ne soit pas signée.” déclare Carelle Mawamba, Chargée de projet à Green Development Advocates.
Par ailleurs, les leaders communautaires présents ont été informés et sensibilisés sur le contenu, les enjeux et les implications du décret de concession provisoire signé le Président Paul Biya. Sur le terrain, les communautés continuent de subir les effets de la déforestation massive accélérée par l’agro- industrie.
Chantaline Bopanga, Notable et représentante des femmes de la communauté Malaba “ J’ ai 10 ha de cacao. Mais parfois l’éléphant passe par là et bouscule tout sur son passage. J’avais également planté le Djansang et à moins de six mois de la récolte, un Éléphant m’a devancé et a tout dévasté. Je ne voudrais pas que Camvert s’installe. Ils abattent tous les arbres et nous avons de la peine à soigner les gens, or c’est delà que nous trouvons de quoi subvenir à nos besoins.”
Au sortir de ces travaux, les communautés ont également demandé l’annulation des ventes de coupes récemment attribuées par le MINFOF à l’entreprise. “Ces différentes doléances ont été rassemblées dans un plan d’action qui sera mis en oeuvre dans les jours à venir. », Rassure Stella Tchoukep, Chargée de la Campagne Forêt chez Greenpeace Afrique. À noter que quelques semaines plutôt, GDA en partenariat avec Greenpeace Afrique a rendu publique un rapport qui mettait en lumière justement les écarts juridiques dont s’est rendu coupable le Minfof dans le cadre de l’attribution des ventes de coupe à Camvert.
Greenpeace Afrique
CAMVERT: Les communautés riveraines demandent l’élaboration d’un nouveau cahier des charges
Les 09 et 10 novembre 2022, une trentaine de leaders des communautés affectées par le projet Camvert s’est réunie à Kribi dans le cadre d’un atelier organisé conjointement par Greenpeace Afrique et Green Development Advocates. Au sortir des travaux, ces leaders ont élaboré un plan d’action pour la réclamation d’une réelle et meilleure protection de leurs droits sur les terres et les ressources forestières dans le cadre du projet Camvert.