The African Climate Week, one of the preparatory meetings for the 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27), opened on Monday 29 August 2022 in Libreville, Gabon. In the presence of a thousand representatives of governments, international organisations, NGOs and the private sector from all over the continent, the Egyptian Foreign Minister and President of COP27 denounced the climate injustice suffered by Africa. « There will be no reprieve or plan B at COP27, » warned Sameh Choukri.
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
The African Climate Week, one of the preparatory meetings for the 27th United Nations Climate Conference (COP27), opened on Monday 29 August 2022 in Libreville, Gabon. In the presence of a thousand representatives of governments, international organisations, NGOs and the private sector from all over the continent, the Egyptian Foreign Minister and President of COP27 denounced the climate injustice suffered by Africa. « There will be no reprieve or plan B at COP27, » warned Sameh Choukri.
Africa wants to get out of the climate injustice it has been suffering for years. This is the main objective of the African Climate Week, one of the preparatory meetings for the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), scheduled for November in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The aim of this week, which opened on 29 August 2022 in Libreville, Gabon, is to unite African negotiators at COP27 around a common plea.
« The time has come for us Africans to take our destiny into our own hands, » says Gabonese Head of State Ali Bongo Ondimba, deploring the climate situation in Africa in unison with all the speakers. The continent is responsible for less than 4% of global CO2 emissions, but pays the highest price for global warming.
« Africa is obliged, with limited resources and a very low level of support, to spend 3% of its annual GDP to adapt to these impacts », Sameh Choukri, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of COP27, added. He also denounced a « climate injustice » and blamed « many developed countries that have reneged on their commitments ». « There will be no reprieve or plan B at COP27, » warned the Egyptian diplomat.
100 million dollars per year is no longer enough
The pressure announced on the G20 countries by the COP27 negotiators is all the more relevant as the effects of climate change are expected to be more severe in Africa.
According to the latest analysis from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) regional climate prediction centre, the terrible drought in the Horn of Africa, the worst in 40 years, is likely to get even worse. The rainy season, which runs from October to December with almost 70% of the annual rainfall in some areas, such as eastern Kenya, will be late and with less rainfall, according to Igad.
For Tanguy Gahouma, the chairman of the African negotiating group at COP 26 in 2021 in Glasgow, « the $100 million per year that was promised is no longer relevant because it no longer corresponds to the current objectives. They were promised in Copenhagen (COP15 in 2009, editor’s note) and now we need to move on to new targets that are in line with the realities on the ground. The roadmap from the African Climate Week will be Africa’s common position at COP27.
Fanta Mabo
En prélude à la 27e conférence des Nations unies sur le climat (COP27), African Center for Advocacy publie un rapport sur deux communautés camerounaises situées en première ligne de la crise climatique. Le document présente les témoignages des habitants de Kakou et d’Ouro Garga. Deux localités du nord du Cameroun, où les effets du changement climatique ont considérablement affecté les moyens de subsistance des populations.
CAMEROUN: les peuples meurtris par le changement climatique, lèvent la voix vers la COP27
En prélude à la 27e conférence des Nations unies sur le climat (COP27), African Center for Advocacy publie un rapport sur deux communautés camerounaises situées en première ligne de la crise climatique. Le document présente les témoignages des habitants de Kakou et d’Ouro Garga. Deux localités du nord du Cameroun, où les effets du changement climatique ont considérablement affecté les moyens de subsistance des populations.
In Cameroon, three influential web actors have joined Greenpeace Africa and its partner Green Development Advocates (GDA) to lead an ecological campaign. Together, they are raising awareness about the fight against deforestation in Cameroon, as well as the protection of the rights of indigenous communities, the first victims of deforestation. This activity takes place just a few days after the celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on the theme « The role of indigenous women in the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge ».
At the invitation of Greenpeace Africa, three Cameroonian web influencers will be ambassadors for the defence of the rights of indigenous communities and the preservation of Cameroon’s forests for the next 30 days. These are Betatinz, Grand Lawrenzo and Future Milliardaire, well-known figures on the social media landscape in Cameroon, notably Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. The campaign was launched on Wednesday 17 August 2022 in Yaoundé at the offices of Green Development Advocate (GDA), a partner of Greenpeace Africa.
« This collaboration aims to amplify the voices of indigenous forest communities, whose rights are constantly violated by high-pressure activities on the forests, such as agro-industrial concessions, like the one awarded to Camvert, » explains Ranece Jovial Ndjeudja, the Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Africa.
Indigenous women, on the front line of the effects of deforestation
Indeed, for almost two years, Greenpeace Africa and GDA have been campaigning against Camvert, which has been granted a provisional concession of around 40,000 hectares, extendable to 60,000 hectares, to plant oil palm trees. And on the ground, the effects continue to plague local indigenous communities, particularly women, who are finding it increasingly difficult to contribute to the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge as the forest is gradually and alarmingly lost.
This is exactly what Marie Thérèse Anzouer, an indigenous Bagyeli woman, laments when she says, « the fine words have not yet succeeded in transforming our daily lives. The 2022 edition of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People, celebrated on 9 August, emphasised the crucial role that women play in transmitting traditional values, but on the ground, everything that constitutes the essence of these traditional values, namely the forest, is disappearing by the day.
To amplify their voice and their cry of alarm in the coming days, these influencers will raise awareness among their followers about environmental protection and the defence of the rights of indigenous communities. « We are all concerned about environmental issues. I am a woman and I know how difficult the economic situation is for me as a wife and housewife. I can’t imagine the ordeal that indigenous women go through because of the cutting of trees in the forest, their main source of income. That’s why I agreed to join this noble cause, » says Beta Tinz, a web influencer involved in the campaign.
Fanta Mabo
CAMEROON: Three web influencers defend pygmies and their forests
In Cameroon, three influential web actors have joined Greenpeace Africa and its partner Green Development Advocates (GDA) to lead an ecological campaign. Together, they are raising awareness about the fight against deforestation in Cameroon, as well as the protection of the rights of indigenous communities, the first victims of deforestation. This activity takes place just a few days after the celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People on the theme « The role of indigenous women in the preservation and transmission of traditional knowledge ».
According to a recent study, the area of cultivated land has increased from 1.14 billion hectares in the period 2000-2003 to 1.24 billion hectares in the period 2016-2019. That is an increase of 102 million hectares, 52% of which are recorded in Africa. Scientists warn against the rapid expansion of cultivated land in Africa. A threat to biodiversity and climate.
In a recent study using satellite data from the Landsat program of the U.S. Space Agency (NASA), researchers from the universities of Maryland and Texas in the United States of America question the rapid expansion of cultivated land in Africa. Over the past two decades (2000-2019), Africa has expanded its cultivated area by more than a third, accounting for 52% of the global increase, or 102 million hectares. The increase was particularly rapid in a small group of countries, including Angola, Ivory Coast.
Angola, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Mozambique, and Zambia.
This rapid expansion of arable land is mainly at the expense of forests and natural ecosystems. For example, the Ivory Coast has lost 90% of its forest in 60 years. And the phenomenon is not ready to stop. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that the continent will need about 120 million hectares of new arable land by 2050. To this must be added the expansion of pastures linked to the increased demand for dairy and meat products.
Focus on intensive and ecological agriculture
Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050 to 2.3 billion, according to United Nations projections. To feed this rapidly growing population, African farmers are encouraged to use intensive and ecological techniques to reduce their impact on the climate and natural environments.
The experts recommend, among other things, the transformation of agricultural production systems, the modification of eating habits as well as the reduction of losses and waste. « Contrary to what intuition suggests, food systems in Africa emit overall much more greenhouse gases than in Europe and the United States of America, due in particular to the low productivity of agriculture and the importance of deforestation, » says the study.
Fanta Mabo
AFRICA: Arable land increased by 52% in 20 years
According to a recent study, the area of cultivated land has increased from 1.14 billion hectares in the period 2000-2003 to 1.24 billion hectares in the period 2016-2019. That is an increase of 102 million hectares, 52% of which are recorded in Africa. Scientists warn against the rapid expansion of cultivated land in Africa. A threat to biodiversity and climate.
Minta, une commune située dans la région du Centre au Cameroun, bénéficie d’un projet de restauration forestière. Financé par le Japon et réalisé par Forêts et développement rural (Foder), le projet s’étend sur trois hectares d’une forêt communale, dégradée par l’agriculture mécanisée. La cérémonie de planting d’arbres a eu lieu le 29 juillet 2022 en présence du sous-préfet de Minta, Gervais Brice Meyé.
Minta, va servir de site d’expérimentation de la technique du biochar dans la restauration des sols et des forêts dégradées du Cameroun. Selon le délégué départemental du ministère camerounais en charge de l’environnement Armand Djomo Ambassa, si l’expérience de Minta est concluante, elle sera répliquée dans l’ensemble des forêts communales du domaine national au Cameroun.
Le projet mené par l’Association forêts et Développement Rural (FODER) s’inscrit dans le cadre de la gestion durable des écosystèmes forestiers à travers l’expérimentation des techniques innovantes de séquestration de carbone et de réduction de gaz à effet de serre.
Selon, les explications de Clovis Nzuta, assistant projet à FODER et responsable du processus de reboisement de la forêt communale de Minta, le biochar est un fertilisant qui est issu de la pyrolyse de la matière organique que l’on brûle à une certaine température pour obtenir une sorte de cendre appelée biochar qui va permettre de fertiliser le sol.
Le site objet de ce reboisement a servi pendant des années à la culture mécanisée du maïs. à en croire Clovis Nzuta le passage des tracteurs pour labourer le sol pendant de longues années casse le sol et laisse sur place une couche appelée ‘Semelle de labour » qui empêche à l’eau de s’infiltrer et le sol devient aride, d’où l’idée d’expérimenter le biochar pour fertiliser le sol.
Huit essences de bois ont été sélectionnées pour cette opération il s’agit principalement : du Moabi ( Baillonella Toxisperma), le Fraké (Terminalia Superbo), le Djansang ( Ricinodendron Heudoloti), la Mangue sauvage (Irvingia Gabonensis) entre autres. Ces espèces sont celles qui poussent déjà dans la localité en milieu naturel, leur choix a été privilégié à cause de leur double avantage à savoir celui de la collecte des matières génétiques pour la préparation de la pépinière et l’adaptation aux conditions climatiques de la localité. Ajouter à cela la croissance rapide de ces essences va à terme fournir d’autres bénéfices environnementaux.
Cette action participe de l’engagement du Cameroun dans la réalisation de l’initiative AFR 100, visant la restauration de 12 millions d’hectares de forêt.
Ebénizer Diki
CAMEROUN : Foder restaure la forêt communale de Minta dans la région du Centre
Minta, une commune située dans la région du Centre au Cameroun, bénéficie d’un projet de restauration forestière. Financé par le Japon et réalisé par Forêts et développement rural (Foder), le projet s’étend sur trois hectares d’une forêt communale, dégradée par l’agriculture mécanisée. La cérémonie de planting d’arbres a eu lieu le 29 juillet 2022 en présence du sous-préfet de Minta, Gervais Brice Meyé.