Seaweed cultivation ushers waves of change in the Sundarbans

Oishanee Ghosh, India

In Bengal's mangrove forests, the effects of climate change are forcing men to leave their families in search of work. But now, seaweed farming is offering the women left behind financial stability and empowerment.

At sunset, Kanchan Mondal would set off every evening to find odd jobs, leaving her children at home. Like many women in her village in Sundarbans of Bengal, her husband left to find work in the city, forced away by the ever-encroaching seawater that has left their farmlands barren.

"Now, I am also their father," 35-year-old Mondal said, as she hurriedly ladled out potato broth for her 6-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. "If I don't leave for work, I don't earn enough to feed them. When I come back I have to cook dinner, and sometimes it gets late."

Cocooned by the tidal rivers and the mangrove forests of the southeast Sundarbans, Mondal's village of Saatjelia, alongside two other villages Kumirmari and Jhorkhali, have been plagued by coastal erosion, repeated cyclones and floods - thanks to climate change. As much as 200 meters of coastline is disappearing annually, according to a 2013 Zoological Society of London study.

This has spelled disaster for rice farming - the main occupation in the region. Some paddy fields are submerged under 2 feet of brackish water throughout the year, and increasing salinity is poisoning the soil - meaning nothing can grow there.

And as men migrate further west to the city of Kolkata in search of work, their wives and children are left behind to fend for themselves in this dangerous terrain.

To make ends meet, many women have taken up the dangerous job of crab fishing, which entails setting off into the estuaries on boats, sometimes for days on end where they are at the mercy of the region's unpredictable tides - and tigers.

But now, Mondal and the other women of Saatjelia, Jhorkhali and Kumirmari are being trained in a sustainable, safe and empowering alternative to taking to the treacherous waters.

Seaweed solutions

The Asia Pacific Network-Global Change Research and the South Asian Forum for Environment, a civil society organization working throughout the Indian subcontinent, are promoting algaculture in fields covered by seawater.

The project, which launched in 2012 with around 100 beneficiaries, involves farming commercially viable algae like Ulva intestinalis and Ulva lactuca.

"The ability of women to be major algae producers and collectors cannot be ignored," Dipayan Dey, a project leader, told Deutsche Welle. "We conducted series of capacity building workshops at all three project sites. Women in groups were taught about harvesting, identification of the algal species, pond preparation and cultivation management."

Algae cultivation requires little technical know-how and almost no startup costs, so it is relatively easy to implement. And the product is in demand in India as a raw material for products such as soaps and shampoo.

Such algae can fetch around 35 rupees (0.50 euro) per kilogram on the domestic market and 70 rupees (1 euro) internationally if marketed properly, added Dey.

That's compared to around 1,300 rupees (18 euros) per 100 kilograms of rice - but prices vary with production and rainfall. Paddy prices depend on the monsoon.

The green seaweed is also a promising source of biofuel, according to a 2010 United Nations Food and Agriculture report. And many farmers are using it as an organic fertilizer for crops.

"Usually, I prepare my soil with urea and potash - but I used the algae fertilizer this time," said Diganta, a farmer from Jhorkhali who recently switched over. "I was initially worried - but the plants are healthy."

Empowerment and improvement

Climate adaptation measures such as the algaculture project have improved transport, education and communications in this part of Sundarban, say local officials. And the lives of women have been transformed.

For instance, Mondal's son was able to return to school, having dropped out to help out with the chores and look after his sister after his father left. Mondal's daughter has started primary education. The mother has also built a solid kitchen, to replace the one made of mud and thatch that would collapse every monsoon.

"A couple of years back I would wake up and be worried about what to cook for my children at night. My husband would bring me some money every four months - but that was barely enough," relates Mondal.

After starting in algaculture in 2013, Mondal says she is now able to save money for a rainy day. She now also no longer has to do odd jobs and leave her children at home alone.

Green seed

It's been an empowering experience for many women. Mondal holds meetings every other evening at her house. Issues discussed range from cooperative banking, to building an unpaved road through the village post-monsoon.

The women in Satjelia have started manufacturing non-timber forest products like honey and neem oil - a vegetable oil pressed from the fruit and seeds of the neem tree. This in turn helps to preserve forest.

Many men who left their ancestral homes are now coming back to join algaculture movement and their families. That includes Kanchan Mondal's husband.

"I always thought algae were some kind of nuisance growing on pond," says Bhabasindhu Mondal, back from Kolkata. "I had to see with my own eyes to believe that it can be grown like a crop."

"I was used to our green paddy fields - and now I come back to a different kind of greenery."

This story was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to Jennifer Collins from Deutsche Welle. 

Limiter les risques climatiques au Bénin

Hippolyte Agossou, Bénin

«Je me souviens, quand j’avais entre 10 et 13 ans, les greniers de mes parents étaient toujours pleins. A l’orée des nouvelles récoltes, mon père partageait une partie de ses réserves par solidarité villageoise… Mais au fur et à mesure que je prenais de l’âge, cette solidarité disparaissait. Les pluies devenaient incertaines et nos récoltes se réduisaient progressivement, » raconte Ali Hamza, un septuagénaire de Guéné, village de la vallée du Niger au nord du Bénin.

L’agriculteur décrit les différentes phases du changement de climat qu’il a pu observer au long de son parcours de cultivateur : « Pendant que mon épouse attendait notre quatrième enfant, la pluie n’est presque pas tombée et je n’ai pas récolté le quart de ce dont j’avais l’habitude. Pour couvrir les frais d’hospitalisation, j’ai dû travailler comme cordonnier ambulant pendant plusieurs jours, » ajoute-t-il.

Le Bénin, à l'instar d'autres pays d'Afrique, se voit confronté à des modifications de climat dévastatrices et de plus en plus fréquentes : inondation, sécheresse, élévation du niveau de la mer, vents forts, érosion côtière, et... Comme en témoignent les inondations de 2010 qui ont fait près de 700 000 sinistrés et entraîné des dommages estimés à 127 milliards de FCFA (soit 250 millions de dollars), les dégâts causés par les perturbations climatiques sont énormes, alors que les mécanismes de prévention de ces risques sont presque inexistants.

« Nous sommes obligés de nous reconvertir car l’eau déborde de son lit et envahit nos terres. Depuis 2011, je suis devenu conducteur de taxi-moto », dit Abdou, un agriculteur victime d’inondation.

Au centre des efforts de prévention et d’adaptation du pays figure le projet SAP (Système d'Alerte Précoce), co-financé par le PNUD, le Fonds pour l'environnement mondial (FEM) et le gouvernement.  

Lancé en janvier 2014, le projet s’étend sur une période de 4 ans et comprend deux volets : améliorer l'information climatique et rendre le dispositif d'alerte plus performant. Il servira à anticiper les catastrophes et assurera donc une meilleure gestion des risques.

Sur un total de 40 prévus, 25 stations hydrométriques automatiques ont déjà été installées pour mesurer les variations des niveaux des cours d’eau et alerter les populations en cas d’inondation ou de sécheresse.
Par ailleurs, les services météorologiques et hydrologiques nationaux élaborent des avis et conseils ciblés, tenant compte des prévisions climatiques saisonnières. Cette année 2015, des messages diffusés sur les chaînes de radios et la télévision nationale conseillaient aux agriculteurs de privilégier les variétés à cycle court résistantes à la sécheresse pour pallier aux pluies tardives et irrégulières.

Ce projet s'inspire d’une initiative déjà mise en place au Kénya et aussi de l'expérience des Pays-Bas. C’est ainsi que 6 ingénieurs ont été formés sur l’analyse, la modélisation et la prévision des données et informations météorologiques, hydrologiques et océanologiques.

Sur le long terme, l'objectif du SAP est de planifier l'adaptation au changement climatique au Bénin.
Autre initiative lancée en 2013 avec l’appui du PNUD, le projet de reboisement “dix millions d’âmes, dix millions d’arbres” incite chaque Béninois à planter et à entretenir au moins un arbre chaque année pendant cinq ans, pour obtenir un nombre de nouveaux arbres égal à l’effectif de la population, estimé à environ 10 millions d’habitants.

Pour Issiaka Asso, sage de village et ancien exploitant forestier, la modification observée au niveau du climat est la résultante de nos comportements : « Pendant près de trente ans, je suis passé de localité en localité pour couper illégalement des portions de forêt que je détruisais, convoyant les bois vers la capitale économique pour la vente. Je n’étais pas seul, poursuit-il, et la plupart des espèces végétales qui se trouvaient dans nos forêts ont été abattues sans alternative. »

Désormais, une instance décisionnelle couronne l'ensemble des mesures prises. La «Commission de modélisation économique des impacts et de l'intégration des changements climatiques dans le budget de l'État » témoigne de la volonté politique du Bénin de s’atteler aux mesures d’adaptation aux effets du changement climatique. « Le meilleur outil est l'instrument budgétaire. Les experts béninois seront amenés à quantifier le coût de l'inaction en matière de changement climatique et ce qu'on gagnerait en investissant dans les mesures d'adaptation », explique Isidore Agbokou, Team Leader de l’Unité Développement Durable et Croissance Inclusive au PNUD Bénin.


Cette histoire a été concue par Hippolyte Agossou dans le cadre du concours de reportage #Voices2Paris du PNUD.

Hunger heralds climate change’s arrival in Botswana

Baboki Kayawe, Botswana

A perfect storm of lower rainfall and a growing population beckons for Botswana. But others find climate change is already in the fields and paddocks. “As climate change ushers in more stress on the water sector, it is increasingly a concern that losses in rangeland productivity will result in food insecurity, especially in rural areas,” a country analysis report unveiled recently on Botswana states.  

Far from the airy conference rooms where such reports are typically shared, are thousands of subsistence farmers - growing crops mainly to feed their families - for whom these words come to life in the fields and the paddocks of Botswana every harvest season. For these farmers, the national ideals of poverty eradication and sustainable development are slipping ever further out of reach. Bathalefhi Seoroka, 65, is a subsistence farmer in Boteti, one of Botswana’s drier areas located in the central region.  She mostly grows maize, sorghum, beans and melons on her six-hectare field. 

Seoroka has noticed her crops have been failing because of declining rainfall since 2010. “Weather patterns have drastically changed," she says. "I don’t know how we will be able to survive under such dry conditions.”

Another farmer, Kgasane Tsele accuses the government of responding too slowly to the 2014-2015 drought, which was declared early in June. “This is really scary for us as farmers and we eagerly wait to see how government will respond," he says. "By now government should have announced how it is going to help farmers in alleviating the impact of this drought. The response team must always be on alert and respond early.”

The Department of Meteorological Services predicts the southeastern part of Botswana – which is already suffering from drought and water shortages – is poised to experience its driest season in 34 years.

To cope with food shortage risks, the Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board (BAMB) ordered 1,000 tons of yellow maize from South Africa, and an additional 10,000 tons of white maize is due to arrive soon. BAMB spokesperson, Kushata Modiakgotla says strategic grain reserves currently stand at 30,000 tons of sorghum and 3,000 tons of cowpeas left, but there is no maize. “BAMB has started the process of buying 5,000 tons of white maize from Zambia and it is exploring other avenues to import an additional 5,000 tons if necessary,” she states.

Imports from both nations would help meet supply as local reserves are under threat, while yellow maize is used to produce animal feed. The government insists consumers are not in any danger of going hungry as more than 90 percent of the maize consumed in Botswana is sourced by local millers from South Africa. But despite the supply contracts, consumers will have to pay more for maize meal the longer drought persists.

Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) chief executive Akolang Tombale says climate risks also present challenges to beef production and exports. “We are just emerging from a very dry season and if another drought is forecast it is a problematic state as production will be reduced,” he explains. Grasslands and pasture are an important resource for Batswana who derive most of their livelihood from livestock. The majority of the BMC’s throughput starts at natural pastures, before being prepared with feedstock. Tombale is holding out hope for showers to replenish pastures around the country, but he acknowledges this may not be a long-term solution.

BMC has been receiving higher rates of deliveries than usual this year, since the Ministry of Agriculture advised farmers to destock as means of cutting their losses. However, this is a short-lived gain because if the situation persists in the next raining cycle, beef revenues would be badly affected. The BMC is now urging farmers to change their approach from quantity to quality-based cattle production.

President Ian Khama recently urged farmers to adopt more innovative approaches to their work in order to cope with the impacts of climate change. Speaking at the 2015 National Agricultural Show ‘Practicing Smart Agriculture to Combat the Effect of Climate Change’, he pointed to Israel, where farmers have harnessed new technologies in order to maintain production in highly water stressed environments.

“This ravaging drought we are currently experiencing is an opportunity to be innovative and resort to new methods and technologies to produce under such conditions. It is for this reason that farming methods such as conservation agriculture are promoted,” he said.

Recommendations include using improved crop varieties that are drought tolerant and high yielding, investing in breeds that can withstand the current climate, as well as adoption of proper crop husbandry practices though agricultural infrastructure. Lare Sisay, United Nations Development Programme’s deputy resident representative, predicts water shortages will lead to an increase in undesirable types of grass species.

“This has a far-reaching impact on social and economic sectors, and this has not yet been quantified and factored into the country’s economic projections,” he says. He predicts this could derail Botswana’s efforts to break through its middle-income country status.

Parliamentarians – many of whose constituents are rural and peri-urban populations involved in communal farming – are expected to tackle the climate change policy, once it appears in the National Assembly. The policy is due in the November sitting and already momentum is gathering from activists to ensure robust debate and urgent approval.

This story was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to Jessica Shankleman from @BusinessGreen.

Airtel 'Touching Lives' adjudged Best Community Relations Programme of the Year at IPR Excellence Awards

Airtel Touching Lives, a sustainable CSR television programme initiated to recognise and celebrate unsung heroes, acknowledging the difference they have made to the lives of others in the society has been awarded for the third year running as the Best Community Relations Programme of the Year at the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) Excellence Awards.

Airtel Touching Lives offers a platform to celebrate humanity whilst inspiring hope and enhancing people’s quality of life. The show which identifies extraordinary men and women from all walks of life with dire needs enable them to change their lives with Airtel’s support geared towards ensuring a sustainable livelihood and long term change in the status of their lives.

The concept of Touching Lives involves the creation of an opportunity for Ghanaians to nominate people they know who are going an extra mile to make a difference in the lives of others in their families and communities.

Since the commencement of Airtel Touching Lives in 2010, Ghanaians have been inspired by the heroic deeds of people like Dr. David Fuseini Abdulai who has single-handedly decided to treat and fend for sick and mentally ill people in his community and  subsequently won international recognition by winning the 2012 Martin Luther King Prize for Peace and Social Justice. 

Kwabena Danso (Bambike) since his appearance on Touching Lives has since received National Youth Achiever in 2012 and 2012 World Business and Development Awards (WBDA) for his efforts to improve living standards in some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities and many more other beneficiaries. More recently Touching Lives, Beneficiary Winifred Selby also won the World of Children Award.

Airtel Ghana was recently recognised for its meritorious role in the promotion and improvement of education and infrastructural developments across the country as the Best CSR Company of the Year for Education. Airtel Touching Lives over the last few years won CIMG TV Programme of the Year, CSR Company of the Year 2013- Ghana Telecoms Awards, IPR Best Community Program for the Year on three consecutive occasions, AGI Best CSR Company of the Year and Bharti Change Marker Award (Gold Category) in 2014.

Dhaka: Climate refugees and a collapsing city

Sohara Mehroze Shachi, Bangladesh

With multiplying impacts of climate change - increasing floods, cyclones, and drought - thousands of climate refugees are migrating to Dhaka. And the city, well beyond its carrying capacity, is bursting at the seams.

The word most often associated with Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is perhaps, "overpopulated." Supporting more than 14 million people on less than 325 square kilometers (125 square miles) of land, the city's drainage, waste management and transportation infrastructure is on the brink of collapse.

Against that backdrop, it is hardly surprising to find the Bangladesh capital among the worst cities to live in on the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2015 ranking.

To delve beneath the apparent reasons - overpopulation, water-logging and congestion - is to reveal a major underlying cause: unsustainable levels of climate-induced displacement and migration.

And the problems are washing up along Bangladesh's 700 kilometers of low-lying coast. Rising sea levels and cyclones heighten the risk of flooding, while riverbank erosion and seawater intrusion are set to have a devastating impact on the nation's population.

"Over the next two to three decades millions of people will no longer be able to live and earn their livelihoods from farming and fishing as they are now," said Saleemul Huq, a senior fellow with the Climate Change Group of the International Institute for Environment and Development.

Conversely, prolonged droughts are affecting arable land by causing soil erosion and damaging crops that depend on predictable monsoon patterns.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates 20 million people will be displaced in Bangladesh in the coming five years. That is more than the cumulative populations of Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City. And this should be very worrying.

Even now, many of the half-a-million-plus people who move their families - along with their hopes - to Dhaka, are driven there by the effects of climate change.

No streets paved with gold

But the Bangladeshi capital, which teeters on less than 1 percent of the country's overall landmass, is far from being the promised land. The combination of explosive population growth and land scarcity has sent its property and rental prices through the roof.

And given that most climate refugees come from humble financial backgrounds, they are left with little alternative but to join the estimated 3.4 million people who already live without gas or electricity in cramped and substandard squatter settlements, known as bosti.

Even in their new homes, they cannot escape the environmental disasters that drove them to seek shelter in the flimsy shack-like houses in this low-lying city on the banks of the Buriganga river.

The incidence of flooding in Dhaka is increasing, and the lack of water and sanitation facilities means waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and typhoid are widespread.

But health and pollution are not the only problems bosti-dwelling climate migrants face. Rahmat Ali, a resident of Dhaka's biggest slum Korail, moved to the city when saltwater logged his farmland. Once an agricultural worker, he now scrapes out a living as a rickshaw puller.

"It is very hard work for little money. But there are few options for the likes of us, who have lost our lands and homes, and now have nothing left to go back to."

Slow response to an urgent problem

With ubiquitous bostis and climate refugees dominating the cityscape, more affluent Dhaka residents are becoming increasingly desensitized and apathetic to their plight, and are coming to accept it as the norm.

This apathy is reflected in the country's policy sphere. "People are migrating to cities because the nation is not responding to their risks," says Aminul Islam, a member of the National Displacement Strategy Working Group under the Ministry of Disaster Management.

While Bangladesh has developed a solid strategic framework for tackling climate change - including its National Action Plan for Adaptation and the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan - it has not yet prescribed any adaptation programs specifically addressing climate-induced internal displacement.

And that, thinks Islam, is a failing.

"The country needs a long-term vision and adaptation plan for reducing displacement," Islam said. "The provision of climate resilient habitat, livelihood opportunities and civil facilities for the vulnerable will reduce incentives to migrate to cities."

Dhaka, precursor for catastrophe?

Even if Bangladesh were to increase its adaptation efforts 100-fold, it can only go so far in protecting its people. From a Bangladeshi point of view, what it desperately needs are mitigation efforts by major carbon-emitting nations.

At the end of November, the world's leaders will congregate in Paris to try and achieve a universal, binding agreement for combating climate change. And for the millions of people living in vulnerable countries such as Bangladesh, their success at the negotiating table is crucial.

The situation in Dhaka illustrates how climate change is neither something that affects only polar bears, nor a problem only for future generations. Many fear that failure to act now will render the Bangladeshi capital a precursor for wholesale climate catastrophe.

This story was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to Tamsin Walker and @DeutscheWelle.

Youth unemployment; greatest threat to national security

The alarming statistics of Ghanaian youths who remain unemployed poses a danger to the country’s security if no immediate attempts are made to create avenues for young people to become self-employed, Dr. Ernest Kwarko, a public interest advocate, has said.

He said ‘when people can’t find jobs and are left with no hope to make a living, they become explosive,’ particularly young people, who have too much energy and ideas may turn to other means if they cannot find any rightful avenue to channel them.

He observed that too many young people in the country are desperate for jobs, and will not mind doing anything for small money.

He reckoned that as the trend continues, a time will come where ‘young people will rise against authorities because they feel that they owe them the right to provide them with jobs.’

Dr. Kwarko, a medical doctor by profession, who also doubles as a motivational speaker, who said this in an interview with the B&FT at the backdrop of a career seminar, in Kumasi, also joined calls for the country’s educational curriculum to be revised towards entrepreneurship.

He also asked that governments commit to promises to create employment for the youth while also creating an opportunity for them to become self-reliant rather than ‘betting’ their hopes on politicians to always offer them remedies.

The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, in the 2016 budget statement in Parliament announced plans to create jobs for 100, 000 youths under the ‘Community Improvement Programme,’ against some growing concerns that about 250,000 young people join the labor force annually.’ It is against this background that some youth advocates have described as woefully inadequate the pronounced initiative by the Minister to address youth unemployment in the country.

The career fair which was organized by Career Blueprint under the theme “Creating wealth through IT,” attracted a massive turnout of youths many of who were in search of answers to become self-employed.

Evelyn Dela Dogbatse, a member of the organizers of the fair, said “Career Blueprint believes that empowering the youth with hands-on IT skills training is the surest and most feasible way to build and develop Ghana into a state we all will be proud of.”

“So we decided to organize this ‘Career Fair’ to expose, educate and inform the youth and stakeholders as to how we all could champion the growth of Ghana through IT.”

She contended that one cannot be in doubt about the fact that the youth of today are faced with a major challenge of growing joblessness with its attendant economic insecurity.

Source: B&FT

L'île Cap Cameroun en voie de disparition

Madeleine Ngeunga, Cameroun

Dix kilomètres au large de la partie continentale de l’île de Cap Cameroun se dresse une antenne relais de communication. Installée sur l’île il y a douze ans, elle est aujourd’hui envahie par les eaux.  

L’île figure depuis plus de 10 ans parmi les zones côtières les plus menacées. En 2007, le Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat (GIEC) notait une grande variation locale du niveau de la mer sur les côtes du Cameroun (entre 0 et 5 cm). En 2008, le Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (PNUD) constatait une augmentation des précipitations, particulièrement dans le nord du pays (- 6 % à + 26 % en septembre, octobre et novembre) ainsi qu’une élévation du niveau de la mer.

La situation de l’île est particulière. Le bois de la mangrove est utilisé par les pêcheurs pour fumer et conserver le poisson. « Avec la fonte glacière, le niveau d’eau augmente et ne peut plus être contrôlé. Les populations ont détruit de façon abusive le bois de la mangrove censé briser la puissance des vagues et freiner la progression des eaux vers la terre ferme. Aucun obstacle ne retient plus les vagues », affirme l'environnementaliste Eugène Manga.

Steve, un jeune habitant de l’île, explique l’attitude de la population : « nous sommes conscients que notre activité affecte la situation de cette île. Mais nous sommes obligés de couper le bois de la mangrove pour construire les maisons et pour fumer le poisson. »  

Le sous-préfet du 6^e arrondissement de Douala, Armstrong Voh Buikame, rappelle fréquemment ses habitants à l'ordre. « Même les petites tiges de bois de la mangrove ne doivent plus être coupées. Elles offrent des possibilités d’aménagement car, à long terme, il faudra reboiser », explique-t-il.

En effet, la superficie des mangroves camerounaises diminue au fil des années. En 2005, le Ministère de l’Environnement évaluait la perte des terres liée aux inondations à environ 4959 hectares pour une élévation de 20 cm du niveau de la mer, soit 4,5 % de la surface totale des mangroves.

Dans ses travaux publiés en 2011, l’OCDE (Organisation For Economic Cooperation and Development) précisait que le Cameroun était très vulnérable aux conséquences des changements climatiques.
Pour sa part, l’Institut National de la Statistique du Cameroun (INSC) affirmait, à la même époque que les inondations dans les régions côtières constituaient une menace sérieuse pour la production des céréales. Selon les experts, l’évapotranspiration pourrait causer la diminution des réserves d’eau de surface et la détérioration de la qualité des eaux souterraines. À la recherche d’eau et de terres cultivables, les populations migrent vers d’autres parties du pays, comme l’île de Manoka.

Bien que la montée des eaux provoque aussi l’érosion des côtes sur l’île de Manoka, située à quelques kilomètres de Cap Cameroun, divers projets sont mis en place pour éviter un problème écologique. Depuis trois ans, par exemple, le projet « Forêts communautaires de Mangrove » de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’Alimentation et l’Agriculture (FAO) est expérimenté. Il consiste en une forêt conventionnée en zone humide, d’une superficie comprise entre 1000 et 5000 hectares, où l’État et la communauté locale développent ensemble des activités agricoles ou l’élevage.

Pour éviter un problème écologique, la FAO a envisagé d’amener les populations à se tourner vers la conservation de la mangrove en développant des activités alternatives comme le projet « Forêt communautaire de Mangrove de Manoka. »

Ce projet dirigé par Eugène Manga a démarré en 2013. Une forêt de 2 700 hectares, composée d’un milieu humide et d’un espace sur la terre ferme, a pour double objectif la conservation et la gestion durable des ressources halieutiques et forestières. « Avec les populations, nous envisageons d’y développer des activités alternatives telles que l’aquaculture, la pisciculture, l’agriculture et l’écotourisme. Les populations pourront donc développer l’emploi tout en préservant l’environnement », explique Eugène Manga.

Le combat est loin d’être gagné car, selon une étude de l’association « La Mangrove », la mer avance chaque mois de 53 centimètres sur les côtes de l’île de Manoka.

Remerciements à Catherine Fiankan, journaliste freelance pour @France24 et à @LaCité pour le suivi et le développement de l'article de Madeleine Ngeunga.

Entrepreneurial-based education; only way to end graduate unemployment

A section of the newly admitted students of CSUC taking their matriculation oath

The President of the Christian Service University College (CSUC), in Kumasi, Prof Samuel Afrane, has said the provision of entrepreneurial-centered education, which offers students with the requisite knowledge, skills and competence to become job creators rather than being job seekers, is indispensable in addressing the rising unemployment situation in the country.

He lamented the escalating situation of ‘graduate joblessness’ is an indictment on university education, and said the CSUC is poised to provide answer to this problem as its offers programmes that introduces students to the basic principles of entrepreneurship.

“We believe this is the only way you can make meaningful entry after graduation into the job market without having to wait months and years looking for a job,” he said.

The successful pursuit of these programmes, according to Prof. Afrane, would facilitate CSUC graduates’ drive and confidence to start their own businesses on completing school.

Prof. Afrane, who said these at the 40^th matriculation ceremony of CSUC to officially welcome 126 newly admitted students to pursue various programmes of studies, and also disclosed plans to start E-learning and Distance education platforms.

He said this would enable prospective students to pursue programmes without necessarily coming to the campus regularly for lectures.

In addition to this would also be the introduction of some new courses in Teacher Education and Masters Programmes in Finance and Accounting, Corporate Planning and Project Monitoring and Evaluation.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and guest speaker at the ceremony, Prof. Samuel Nii Odai, advised students to be attentive to challenges within their environment and contribute to address them.

He asked students to attach all the seriousness to the pursuit of their academic goals in order that they can acquire the needed skills and knowledge to become problem solvers.

In all about 126 students were admitted into the CSUC to undertake various academic prorgammes of studies.

The 40^th matriculation ceremony was held under the theme “the opportunities and challenges of university education in the 21^st century – implications for first year students.”

Sinking into Paradise: Climate Change Worsening Coastal Erosion in Trinidad

                                                                                Rajiv Jalim, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad

As unusually heavy rainfall battered Trinidad's east coast a year ago, a lagoon here was overwhelmed, flooding a major access road to the island’s south-eastern communities. As the flood waters poured over Manzanilla beach, they washed sand away, caved in sections of road and collapsed a seawall at a tourist beach facility. Further damages were also incurred with the flooding of homes and agricultural plots.

The coastline of Trinidad is under threat as seas rise, storms grow heavier, and as sand is washed away. As iconic coconut trees are lapped by an encroaching sea, some of the dangers of climate change are becoming clear.

Seas in the region have been rising by more than 2 millimeters every year — though scientists are still trying to pinpoint the role of climate change in accelerating local beach erosion.

“On Manzanilla beach the sea is definitely getting closer to the land, but the primary reason may not be land deformation or sea level rise,” said Keith Miller, a senior lecturer and researcher at the University of West Indies.

“The Atlantic swell causes long-shore drift and beach sediments move southward,” Miller said. “Research has been done to suggest that the sediment source has dried up to some extent, so material is being moved along the beach, but there is less material available to replace it.”

In addition to the problems on the east coast, Trinidad’s south-western peninsula is experiencing rapid erosion. Despite being sheltered from the open ocean, satellite images have shown large portions of it being lost to the Gulf of Paria.

According to the World Bank publication Turn Down the Heat, Earth is locked into at least a 1.5°C rise in temperature compared with pre-industrial times. Rising seas caused by rising temperatures, coupled with projected increases in the intensity and frequency of storms and hurricanes, which also affect wave energy, are expected to accelerate coastal erosion. Such effects are of grave concern for small island developing states (SIDS).

With Trinidad’s east coast sustaining several developing communities, through income from tourism, agriculture and fishing, management of the coastline — which is also a nesting site for endangered leather-back turtles — is of utmost importance.

Subsequent to reports of the extensive damage at Manzanilla, emergency services responded through a coordinated effort between government agencies and ministries to bring relief to those affected.

Disaster management and response units, including the local Risk Reduction Management Centre, assisted residents by providing basic supplies to flood victims, while personnel from the University of the West Indies conducted site visits to assess the damage and collect data. The Ministry of Works was involved in trying to reconnect the main access route to the south-eastern community.

At an estimated cost of US$5.8 million, the rehabilitation work combined the expertise of academics and researchers with coastal management organizations and engineering firms, both local and international.

One year later, key learning's are still being generated from data collected after the event. It is from these analyses that gaps in the coastal management plans and developmental strategies for the east coast can be identified.

Perhaps the most significant gap has been the lack of sufficient hydrological and maritime data for the island, which could be used to develop models and improve the predictive power for rare disasters.

Extraordinary events such as the Manzanilla flood occur infrequently, but they can cause significant and expensive damage when they do occur. Predicting and preparing for such events based on scientific knowledge can reduce not only their impacts, but also the recovery time.

Looking beyond Trinidad to the wider Caribbean region, and to other islands across the world, coastal erosion linked to climate change can be extremely dangerous.

Experts say long-term strategies should go beyond revetment and seawall repairs, and consider policy support, planning strategies and contingency mapping. Additionally, there is a need for increased public-private partnerships across the globe, where resources, creativity, expertise and innovation can be expanded and exchanged to deal with coastal management in a sustainable manner.

"I'm more on the side of investing in state-of-the-art, long-term monitoring and innovative research,” said Christopher Daly, lecturer in the Civil & Environmental Engineering department of the University of the West Indies.

“There is no real profit to be made from this so it's difficult to get private investment,” Daly said. “This has to be funded through a national or regional science board that has the long-term interest of society at heart. It also has to have full government support but be independent of political influence."

Developed countries have pledged to begin providing $100 billion a year through the United Nations to help developing countries slow and adapt to climate change by 2020. During climate negotiations in Paris later this year, developing countries will ask wealthier ones to produce a roadmap for raising and providing those funds.

SIDS have also been calling during the United Nations climate negotiations for a “loss-and-damage mechanism,” which could help poorer countries cope with flooding and other impacts of climate change. The concept was first proposed more than two decades ago, but the wealthier countries that would be expected to provide the funding have opposed it.

In the meantime, the hastily built seawall, boardwalk and main road on the Manzanilla beach will again have to stand the test of the Atlantic and the effects of climate change. Only time will tell if feats of engineering can withstand the changing environment, or if the island of Trinidad will be left to slowly erode into rising seas.

This story was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to John Upton and @ClimateCentral.

The Challenge of Climate Change: an Indian perspective

                                                                              By Arnab Jyoti Das, India

Few countries in the world are as vulnerable to the effects of climate change as India is with its vast population that is dependent on the growth of its agrarian economy, its expansive coastal areas and the Himalayan region and islands. In 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) in its Ambient Air Pollution (AAP) database, revealed that thirteen of top 20 dirtiest cities were Indian. Delhi topped the list followed by Patna, Gwalior and Raipur.

Realizing the problem, the government formulated a policy for abatement of pollution providing multi-pronged strategies in the form of regulations, legislations, agreements, fiscal incentives etc. Over time, the thrust has shifted from curative to preventive measures through adoption of clean technology, reuse and recycling, natural resource accounting, environmental audit to bring about sustainable development.

A recent example is the Rs 2,315 crore Hubli-Ankola railway line cutting across the Western Ghats in Karnataka which has been shown a red signal by the Supreme Court of India’s panel on forest and wildlife, which said that the project’s “huge and irreparable” ecological impact would “far outweigh” its actual tangible benefits.

Mobile enforcement teams have also been deployed on regular basis at various locations for prosecution of polluting vehicles and not having Pollution under control (PUC) certificates. The broad policy framework on environment and climate change has been laid down by the National Environment Policy (NEP) 2006, which promotes sustainable development along with respect for ecological constraints and the imperatives of social justice.

The country has a definite plan of action for clean energy, energy efficiency in various sectors of industries, steps to achieve lower emission intensity in the automobile and transport sector, a major thrust to non-fossil based electricity generation and a building sector based on energy conservation. Wind energy has been the predominant contributor to the renewable energy growth in India accounting for 23.76 GW (65.2%) of the renewable installed capacity, making India the 5th largest wind power producer in the world.

Solar power is poised to grow significantly with solar mission as a major initiative of the Government of India. Solar power installed capacity has increased from only 3.7 MW in 2005 to about 4060 MW in 2015, with a CAGR of more than 100% over the decade. The ambitious solar expansion programme seeks to enhance the capacity to 100 GW by 2022, which is expected to be scaled up further thereafter.

India's investment in climate change appears to be ramping up domestically as well. People are very particular in buying any vehicle or electrical equipment, they look for fuel economy and power savings guide certified by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). The best way forward is by making investments in leapfrog technologies such as ‘100% renewable energy’.

Dharnai in Bihar (India), is a shining example. The village faces extreme poverty, and high illiteracy rates. But life in Dharnai has transformed in the 10 months since an affordable solar grid arrived, the first village in India where all aspects of life are powered by solar energy. Battery backup ensures power is available around the clock and solar water pumps has improved the access of farmers to fresh water resources.

The story of Dharnai ‘solar-powered micro-grid’ could be an exemplary model for bringing clean energy to all and combat climate change. People argue that renewable sources of power are not financially viable, especially for developing economies but they need to realize that any prototype of any model is always the most expensive to build.

It is through constant improvement that we reach an optimized process; this is a cornerstone upon which industry has been built and it is through this principle that I believe we can make our transition to a new era in sustainable development.

This story was sourced through the Voices2Paris UNDP storytelling contest on climate change and developed thanks to Urmi Goswami and @timesofindia.