Category Archives: ENVIRONMENT
World Habitat Day 2010 with Habitat for Humanity
[Photo credit: World Habitat Day]
Let us raise our voices and advocate for change to help those around the world who do not have a decent place to live. In December 1985, the United Nations General Assembly declared the first Monday of October to be World Habitat Day in recognition of the state of human settlements and the basic need for adequate shelter for all. World Habitat Day also serves as a reminder to the world of our collective responsibility for the future of the shelter for all of humanity.
Please support World Habitat Day on Oct 4 with Habitat for Humanity
On Oct. 4, 2010, in recognition of World Habitat Day, Habitat for Humanity will raise awareness of the need for improved shelter and highlight Habitat’s priorities: the worldwide connection between human health and housing, and, in the United States, neighborhood revitalization. These themes echo the United Nations’ chosen theme for 2010 for events in the host city of Shanghai, China and the rest of the world: “Better City, Better Life.â€
Every week, more than a million people are born in, or move to, cities in the developing world. As a result, the urban population of developing countries will double from 2 billion to 4 billion in the next 30 years. (Kissick, et al: 2006)
By the year 2030, an additional 3 billion people, about 40 percent of the world’s population, will need access to housing. This translates into a demand for 96,150 new affordable units every day and 4,000 every hour. (UN-HABITAT: 2005)
Habitat for Humanity hopes that by raising awareness and advocating for universal decent housing we can dismantle and alter the systems that allow for poverty housing and make an affordable, decent place to live a reality for all.
Habitat for Humanity World Habitat Day events
Around the world, many Habitat for Humanity local offices have organized World Habitat Day events. Habitat for Humanity’s 27th annual Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project is a World Habitat Day event this year. It will be held Oct. 4 – 8 in six cities in the United States. Held in a different location each year, Habitat’s Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project is an annual, internationally-recognized week of building that brings attention to the need for simple, decent and affordable housing. This year, the Carters will work alongside volunteers in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore and Annapolis, Md.; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.; and Birmingham, Ala. to build, rehabilitate and improve 86 homes.
Health and housing
Habitat’s World Habitat Day efforts will focus on the link between housing and health, for example, through the release of the 2011 Shelter Report, which focuses on the need for more research on the connections between healthy homes and healthy families around the world.
Neighbourhood revitalization
In the United States, Habitat for Humanity will also focus on neighborhood revitalization. In a broad effort to help communities fulfill their aspirations, Habitat will expand its housing programs to include repairing more homes, rehabbing more vacant homes, and improving the energy-efficiency of homes. Habitat will work with partners to provide holistic improvements in a community.
What can you do for World Habitat Day?
Ask leaders in Washington: What will you build?
In recognition of World Habitat Day, Habitat for Humanity is collecting photos to display in a Photo Wall.
Submit your photo to remind decision makers in Washington, D.C., to make housing a priority.
Getting involved is easy. All supporters need to do is:
1. Write “What will you build?†on a piece of paper.
2. Take a photo holding the message.
3. Upload the picture to Habitat’s Photo Wall.
4. Share the photo with friends and family.
To participate or learn more, click here. Questions can be sent to worldhabitatday@habitat.org.
The most important thing you can do is take action!
Below are three common ways that people take action in their community.
Advocate
In addition to building homes in partnership with people in need, Habitat advocates to address the causes of poverty housing. Advocacy activities always include a specific request, such as asking supporters to sign a petition, send a message to an elected official or take part in a rally.
Fundraise
World Habitat Day is a great way to raise funds for Habitat in your area. A fundraiser can help educate the public and generate publicity for nonprofit organizations like Habitat for Humanity.
Educate
Organize a public awareness event for World Habitat Day 2010 that not only highlights the need for affordable housing in your own community, but also discusses the need for improved shelter for billions of people around the world.
For some ideas on how you can take action in your community, click here.
Donate
Did you know that your gift does much more than help families escape from unsafe, unhealthy living conditions?
You’re helping families to break the cycle of poverty and build long-term financial security. Habitat’s affordable, no-profit house payments free up money for food, child care, medicine and other necessities. And research has shown that decent housing improves health, increases children’s educational achievement and strengthens community ties.
Thanks to your support, Habitat is transforming the lives of more than 1 million people around the world!
Click here to donate now
About Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976. As a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry, the organization seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. To accomplish these goals, Habitat for Humanity invites people of all backgrounds, races and religions to build houses together through volunteer labor and donations in partnership with families in need. Today, they have built over 350,000 houses worldwide and have provided more than 1.75 million people in 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter.
Visit the Habitat for Humanity Web site
African trees and lost knowledge
The following post appeared on H-AfrArts as part of a discussion on African tree rings. I find this comment by Professor Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie very poignant and quite distressing. So much more than ‘just’ trees are being lost.
Village trees in Nigeria
I spent my teenage years farming in my hometown. It was at this time quite a village, with no running water or electricity but with massive groves of old growth trees, many dating back to before the founding of the town in the 15th century. We practiced slash and burn agriculture on a land-rotation basis, with land left fallow for five years between each rotation, which meant that clearing our patches of farmland involved cutting down many trees (this system fell apart in 1987 when the collapsing Nigerian economy forced many of my kinsmen back to the village and caused a massive stampede for available land. What was once the most fertile land in West Africa was then farmed into exhaustion, but that’s another story).
I basically saw the destruction of the old-growth forests and the fall of great trees that were as much part of the town’s pantheon of ancestral figures: trees that had their own names and titles, and received their own formal salutations: *Agbono Abo*, *Oke Osisi*, *Alusi Ogodo*. I was initially baffled when, on the way to the farms in the morning, I saw people saluting the trees. I understood later they were very much part of the population of the village. At the center of the village, our main square Abo-Ano* (four heaths) where the four lineage paths met, there were four great trees, giant old growth trees towering over the town. Of this ancient grove, only one tree remains, the King’s tree (*Abo-Obi*): cutting it down would imply the demise of the throne and this is why it survives.
I am saying in essence that I have seen a huge number of trees cut down in my time and nearly all the trees I have seen cut down had tree rings in them. The density and clarity of the rings vary from tree to tree although some trees (silk cotton trees especially) didn’t seem to have them. When the silk cotton tree in front of our house was cut down, it’s trunk lay there for four rainy seasons until it turned to mush: it became waterlogged and then literally disintegrated into the soil. When the main grove at Abo Ano was cut down, the trunks lay there for a full season before they were hauled away. I remember clearly walking by these trunks and noting that they had rings on them. I noticed this because each tree in the grove was a different type of tree: there were two Iroko trees (*Chlorofora Excelsia*), one giant silk cotton tree (*Ceiba Petandra*) and the king’s tree, which still stands, was an ebony tree. It is still the largest tree I have seen anywhere.
The ancient groves are gone now, and the last time I visited my home, the town was naked. All the large trees were gone except for *Abo-Obi*, the King’s tree, which now stands alone where there used to be four great trees. The trees in the forest are also gone, logged off for sale to Chinese merchants who prowl the rural areas buying up whole tracts of land and deforesting them. (A sculptor friend complained to me that she could no longer find ebony for sale in local wood markets: it was her preferred wood for sculpture but Chinese merchants have bought up the entire supply for export).
Since tree rings are evidence of significant life of these trees, the deforestation and very young age of the remaining trees will soon probably render the question moot. As for asking the local people for their oral histories of these trees, don’t bother. Those who know this history, i.e. those who actually lived in an era when these histories was required learning, hence people like my kinsmen who saluted the great trees and saw them as custodians of knowledge, most of them are dead and long forgotten.
The tragedy of African knowledge is that most of what was painstakingly accumulated through sustained engagement with the forest over the centuries was lost in contemporary times when that knowledge was defined as useless. When I retuned to the village, it took me ten years to even begin to crack the facade of this knowledge and I wouldn’t have learned any of it if my cousins didn’t rally around to teach me. With the forest gone, there is no way to teach any of my kinsmen of this generation about what the forest meant and how to speak to the trees.
On my last visit home, I went to visit *Abo-Ano* for what might very well be the last time. I sat under the King’s tree for a while and listened to the rustle of his great branches. I’m still here, he said, the throne still stands, earth abides. I sat awhile and then stood and left the village. It is true you really can’t go back home again.
Prof. Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie
History of Art & Architecture
University of California, Santa BarbaraH-AfrArts
H-Net Network for African Expressive Culture
E -Mail:Â H-AFRARTS@H-NET.MSU.EDU
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~artsweb/
Suggested Books
- Wangari’s Trees of Peace: A True Story from Africa
- The Baobab and the Mango Tree: Africa, the Asian Tigers and the Developing World
Other Africa environment books
Africa Paper: Accra 2008 – the bumpy road to aid effectiveness in agriculture
Working in the field. Ghana. Photo: © Curt Carnemark / World Bank
[Photo credit: World Bank Photo Collection]
About the paper
Accra 2008 – the bumpy road to aid effectiveness in agriculture, Cabral,L. ,Overseas Development Institute [ES] (2008)
The 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness was reviewed at the Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Accra in September 2008. The Paris Declaration established operating principles for donors and recipient governments to improve the effectiveness of aid. In the agricultural sector development cooperation struggled to comply with the Paris principles. This short paper sets out areas requiring focused attention in the run-up to Accra 2008.
The following issues are raised:
- the bulk of the activity in agriculture takes place within the private sector
- the dominance of space and sheer diversity of agricultural production systems require context-tailored solutions
- ownership, alignment and harmonisation considered from an agricultural perspective.
The author highlights how the Accra Forum will provide an opportunity to rethink the adequacy of the current aid effectiveness framework. In relation to agriculture, this paper suggests that there are gaps to fill, biases to correct and outstanding challenges to discuss in Accra. These include:
- moving beyond the present focus on governments and public expenditure
- redefining and strengthening coordination
- addressing the challenge of donor division of labour and synchronised complementarity of interventions.
How to get a copy
Download a pdf copy of Accra 2008 – the bumpy road to aid effectiveness in agriculture
Suggested books
Other Africa development books
Bio Energy and Poverty in Kenya: Attitude, Actors and Activities Report
Bioenergy in Kenya
A new Kenyan bioenergy report, Bio Energy and Poverty in Kenya: Attitude, Actors and Activities,  is published by PISCES which is a five year initiative funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DfID). It is working in partnership with Kenya, India, Sri Lanka and Tanzania to provide policy makers with new information and approaches that they can apply to unlock the potential of bioenergy to improve energy access and livelihoods in poor communities. One of PISCES main objectives is information dissemination on issues related to biofuels and bioenergy and the impacts these have in different communities.
This report, presents the findings of socio-economic baseline surveys carried out in the Eastern Africa office of Practical Action Consulting in Kenya in 2008. The report was part of a broader baseline study carried out across the respective PISCES countries to help provide a better understanding of the current issues relating to bioenergy use, access and delivery at the community level. The discussions looked at the key interrelated issues of food, water and energy security in relation to bioenergy at the household level.
At the end of the report are a number of recommendations. Here is the general statement:
The research findings strongly indicate that drought leading to scarcity of food, waterand fuel is a major problem in the research regions. This means that however wellintended, any intervention that does not take into consideration peoples’ basic needsespecially food, is unlikely to succeed. In regions such as Mandera, for example,where scarcity of food and famine is a constant threat to the survival of families, theresearchers found that interventions in bioenergy can only be relevant if they go hand in hand with other basic unmet needs such as food and water.
You can download a pdf of the Bio Energy and Poverty in Kenya: Attitude, Actors and Activities report.
Suggested Books
- Bioenergy Options for a Cleaner Environment: in Developed and Developing Countries
- Bioenergy Development: Issues and Impacts for Poverty and Natural Resource Management (Agriculture and Rural Development)
Other Africa environment books
Africa : Improving Farmer Livelihoods and Wildlife Conservation
Guest Post by Danielle Nierenberg
In Botswana, the Mokolodi Wildlife Reserve helps draw the connection between the importance of environmentally sustainable agriculture practices and the conservation of wildlife. (Photo: Bernard Pollack)
Improving Farmer Livelihoods and Wildlife Conservation
Earlier this month, we highlighted Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed in the New York Times about Gabon, a country in West-Central Africa where the rights of farmers are frequently in conflict with wildlife conservation efforts. One young village chief and farmer, Evelyn Kinga explained that she doesn’t like elephants because they eat her cassava plants—a crop her livelihood depends on—because she doesn’t benefit from rich foreigners who come to Gabon for eco-tourism. But it doesn’t have to be this way, says Raoul du Toit, Director of the Rhino Conservation Trust in Zimbabwe. His organization works closely with farmers on the ground to help communities realize that protecting wildlife can be in their own best interest.du Toit promotes “landscape-level planning†that takes into account the needs of wildlife, the environment, and farming communities. Rather than relying on development agencies and governments to decide where cattle fences should go or where farmers should plant their crops, local communities and stakeholders need to be part of the process. Development aid, says du Toit, should follow what local stakeholders need and perceive, not the other way around. Additionally, the Rhino Conservation Trust provides classroom materials for schools so that students may learn the connections between sustainable agriculture and wildlife conservation at an early age. (See also Helping Farmers Benefit Economically from Wildlife Conservation) And du Toit is not alone in his effort to improve the lives of farmers, as well as protect wildlife. In Tanzania, the Jane Goodall Instutite (JGI) started as a center to research and protect wild chimpanzee populations in what is now, thanks to their efforts, Gombe National Park. But by the early 1990’s the organization realized that in order to be successful it would have to start addressing the needs of the communities surrounding the park. JGI was planting trees to rebuild the forest but members of the community were chopping them down—not because they wanted to damage the work but because they needed them for fuel and to make charcoal. In response, JGI started working with communities to develop government- mandated land use plans, helping them develop soil erosion prevention practices, agroforestry, and production of value-added products, such as coffee and palm oil. “These are services,†says Pancras Ngalason Executive Director of JGI Tanzania, “people require in order to appreciate the environment,†and that will ultimately help not only protect the chimps and other wildlife, but also to build healthy and economically viable communities. (See also: Rebuilding Roots in Environmental Education)
In Botswana, the Mokolodi Wildlife Reserve is doing more than just teaching students and the community about conserving and protecting wildlife and the environment, they’re also educating students about permaculture. By growing indigenous vegetables, recycling water for irrigation, and using organic fertilizers—including elephant dung—the Reserve’s Education Center is demonstrating how to grow nutritious food with very little water or chemical inputs. When school groups come to learn about the animals, the reserve also teaches them about sustainable agriculture. Using the garden as a classroom in which to teach students about composting, intercropping, water harvesting, and organic agriculture practices, the Wildlife Reserve helps draw the connection between the importance of environmentally sustainable agriculture practices and the conservation of elephants, giraffes, impala, and various other animals and birds living in the area.(See also: Cultivating an Interest in Agriculture Conservation) To read more about innovative ways to protect agriculture and the surrounding wildlife, read: From Alligator to Zebra: Wild Animals Find Sanctuary in the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Kigoma, Tanzania, Protecting Wildlife While Improving Food Security, Health, and Livelihoods, Helping Conserve Wildlife–and Agriculture–in Mozambique, Honoring the Farmers that Nourish their Communities and the Planet, and Investing in Projects that Protect Both Agriculture and Wildlife
Nourishing the Planet: Evaluating Environmentally Sustainable Solutions to Reduce Global Hunger and Rural Poverty
Agricultural Distortions in Sub-Saharan Africa 1961 to 2004
This paper is a World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5344 (Jun. 2010). Â It analyses trade and welfare effects of agricultural policy distortions to producer and consumer prices over the past half-century in sub-Saharan Africa.
Agricultural Distortions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Trade and Welfare Indicators, 1961 to 2004 Johanna Croser and Kym Anderson World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5344 (Jun. 2010) For decades, agricultural price and trade policies in Sub-Saharan Africa have hampered farmers’ contributions to economic growth and poverty reduction. Although there has been much policy reform over the past two decades, the injections of agricultural development funding, together with ongoing regional and global trade negotiations, have brought distortionary policies under the spotlight once again. A key question asked of those policies is: How much are they still reducing national economic welfare and trade? Economy-wide models are able to address that question, but they are not available for many poor countries. Even where they are, typically they apply to just one particular previous year and so are unable to provide trends in effects over time. This paper provides a partial-equilibrium alternative to economy-wide modeling, by drawing on a modification of so-called trade restrictiveness indexes to provide theoretically precise indicators of the trade and welfare effects of agricultural policy distortions to producer and consumer prices over the past half-century. The authors generate time series of country-level indexes, as well as Africa-wide aggregates. They also provide annual commodity market indexes for the region, and a sense of the relative importance of the key policy instruments used.
Web:Â http://econ.worldbank.org/research |
Email: research@worldbank.org
Suggested Books (US)
- Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Africa (World Bank Trade and Development Series)
- African Agriculture and The World Bank: Development or Impoverishment?
Beekeeping and Poverty Alleviation in Africa
The following programme would be a good opportunity for candidates with a first degree who are already working with NGOs in the African countries listed. You need to read the advert carefully and if you meet their criteria apply directly to the University through the links in the information section below. (I can’t pass on details for you).
The information below comes from http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/ghent
Training programme at Ghent University, Belgium
The Laboratory of Zoophysiology of the Ghent University organizes the International Training Programme ‘Beekeeping for Poverty Alleviation’ with the support of the Belgium Government and VLIR-UOS.
In 2010 we have again the opportunity to invite 16 candidates to come to Belgium to follow a four-month intensive training course that addresses all aspects involved in developing beekeeping into a powerful factor of rural development.
Only residents and nationals of a selected group of countries are eligible for this VLIR-UOS scholarship. In the past years we had none or only a few candidates from certain countries listed below.
Africa
Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, DR Congo, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, ZambiaWe aim at candidates that are holders of a bachelor’s degree with experience in beekeeping that wish to implement beekeeping for rural development purposes. They should have a good written and spoken command in English. Candidates meeting any of the following profiles are preferred:
- Researchers connected to local universities or research institutes, preferably with a clear link to extension;
- Staff members of extension centers, NGOs or other institutions actively involved in rural development and with some (applied) research facilities;
- People who have recently completed their studies and have a firm intention to commit themselves to rural development.
More Information
More information and the application procedure can be found at the Belgium VLIR-UOS website:Â www.scholarships.vliruos.be. Please look for the Training Programme ‘Beekeeping for Poverty Alleviation’ at the University of Ghent.
If you have any questions, please email: Â Inge.Roman@Ugent.be
Suggested Books (US)
(2010)Border Jumpers : A few words about Mauritius
Guest Post By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, www.borderjumpers.org
Full disclosure: We had never heard of the Republic of Mauritius until the day we bought a ticket to go there.
When we arrived people seemed shocked to meet two people from the United States—hotel clerks, cab drivers, and vendors who’ve worked on the island for years said they never met Americans before. Yet, this is clearly America’s loss because sitting in the middle of the Indian Ocean is one of the most incredible countries we’ve ever visited.
We always try to reduce our carbon footprint by traveling via public buses, but in this case a boat didn’t seem like a good option and flights from Johannesburg were extremely cheap. We resisted the temptation to splurge on an all-inclusive beach holiday and opted for the more budget hostel, pay-as-you-go experience.
“It’s not like most places in Africa,” a cab driver told us. “You can walk anywhere at night. You can leave your stuff unattended. We don’t have much crime here, people will help you—not bother you—and it’s very rare that they will steal anything from you.”
Another person I met, named Marie, said that Mauritius lacked the government corruption of most African countries, citing it as the reason people visit there over nearby islands such as Madagascar and Comoros. “We have a real democracy,” she said.
We drove across the Island learning more about the country’s agriculture, which, next to tourism, is their biggest source of income. Sugar cane is the largest export, and the plots of land growing them stretched for miles. We were told that this crop accounted for a quarter of all exports from the country. We also saw lots of pineapple and coffee being grown.
Yet, an industry that surprised us was the booming hi-tech sector. We certainly didn’t expect coast-to-coast wireless internet (3G) when we arrived (it covers 60 of the island and is affordable and widely assessable).
We also played like tourists and visited Triolet Shivala, the biggest Hindu temple on the island. The temple is dedicated to the Gods Shiva, Krishna, Vishnu, Muruga, Brahma and Ganesha. This place is also the longest village on the island.
We also saw the “Coloured Earths of Chamarel,” among the oddest sites of the island. There are seven-colored dunes at Chamarel, the result from the weathering of volcanic rocks. And just a short drive away, we relaxed, eating spicy pineapple, by the breathtaking Chamarel waterfalls. And we admit it, we visited the beaches as well.
As we boarded the plane to leave, we looked at each other, and agreed that we both hope to visit this magical island again.
Border Jumper Mauritius
Suggested Books
- Mauritius Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs)
- Mauritius: Its Creole Language: The Ultimate Creole Phrase Book and Dictionary
Border Jumpers : A few words about Madagascar
Guest Post by By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
Sometimes it’s good to be cautious–and other times it’s better to go with your gut.
People told us not to visit Madagascar, that political conflict made the country unsafe for tourists.
But we decided to go anyway because if we had listened to those voices, we’d never have gone to Nairobi, Kampala, or Kigali.
We are cautious when we travel, but aware that our best and most eye-opening experiences are places well off the beaten path.
And, Anantanrivo, Madagascar’s capital city, is a place we fell in love with.
The narrow streets, alleyways, cobblestone roads, and historic buildings remind you, at times, of parts of Western Europe. At the same time the markets, the noise, the traffic, the energy, the goats and livestock walking along the highways, were all quintessentially African.
Our journey started as we did a field visit to RTM. RTM is an Italian NGO, working with farmers to provide alternatives to slash and burn agriculture–which is practiced in many rural areas as a way to provide nutrients to the soil. Unfortunately, the nutrients don’t last more than a season or two, forcing farmers to burn more forest.
Afterwards we met with Xavier Rakotonjanahary, Rice Breeding Coordinator, National Center of Applied Research for Rural Development. Xavier works with rural rice farmers, helping develop different breeds of rice that will help reduce labor, fertilizer, and other inputs.
Madagascar: Boy Working in Rice Fields Outside AnatanarivoÂ
 [Photo credit: Nourishing the Planet used with permission
We spent Danielle's birthday trekking in the rainforest in search of lemurs in the national rainforest of Antanarivo. Lemurs are only found in Madagascar (with the exception of the island of Comoros) largely because their ancestors were displaced everywhere else due to monkeys and apes.
Danielle & Bernie in Antasibe Mantadia National Park, MadagascarÂ
[Photo credit: Nourishing the Planet used with permission]
In Madagascar, 90 percent of the country’s original forest has been destroyed and lemurs are presently endangered due to deforestation and hunting. Additionally several species of lemurs are extinct, especially the larger species. The smaller lemurs are nocturnal and all we could see was their amazing red eyes on a night trek. We also saw large chameleons, turtles and giant snails.
During the day we saw lemurs playing (they travel as families) and eating flowers, leaves and fruits. In our video below you will see them playing, and can listen to a brief explanation about lemurs from our tour guide. They are pretty incredible animals with deposable thumbs and long tails that they use to balance themselves between trees.
In summary, if you are considering a visit to Madagascar, go. You won’t regret it!
Video: Walking in the rainforest in Madagascar
Suggested Books
- Freshwater Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment (World Wildlife Fund Ecoregion Assessments)
- Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment (World Wildlife Fund Ecoregion Assessments)
- Madagascar, 9th (Bradt Travel Guide)
- Generic Tree Flora of Madagascar (English)
Sahel Region : The hungry season starts
An aerial view of the inland Niger delta and surrounding farmlands, Mali. Image via Wikipedia
A warning
Back in the days when I lived in The Gambia we used to call this time of year ‘hungry season’. There was little available to eat in the villages and people were reliant on stored groundnuts and millet. The September harvest seems a looong time away. Today there is a warning from the World Food Programme that the situation this year is bad, really bad. Migration from villages to towns has already started as people seek to feed their families.
The following press release gives you an overview.
WFP WARNS OF GROWING CHALLENGES AS Â DROUGHT-STRICKEN SAHEL ENTERS HUNGER SEASON
DAKAR – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned of growing needs in the Eastern Sahel region of West Africa, where some 10 million people are facing a challenging season of hunger before the next harvest is due in September.
“The Sahel is one of the most destitute regions in the world and the spectre of hunger is pushing increasing numbers of people from the countryside and into cities where they are searching for food to feed their families,†said Thomas Yanga, WFP Regional Director for West Africa. “People have lost crops, livestock, and the ability to cope on their own, and the levels of malnutrition among women and children have already risen to very high levels.â€
Yanga said despite efforts by governments and humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations, the situation in Sahel regions of eastern Mali, northern Cameroon, Chad and Niger is critical and more contributions are urgently needed to ease the suffering of the 3.6 million drought victims WFP is planning to assist.
NIGER: Â A government-led food security survey this month has confirmed the critical situation, finding nearly half of the population to be food insecure — 3.3 million people highly food insecure and 3.8 million moderately food insecure. So far, the World Food Programme is planning to provide assistance to save lives and boost the nutrition of some 2.3 million people in the worst-affected areas. To do so, WFP needs US$125 million to scale up feeding from May to December 2010.
CHAD: Â 2 million people require assistance due to poor harvests and unusually high rates of acute malnutrition are reported. WFP has launched an emergency operation to assist more than 700,000 people hit by drought in western and central regions.
CAMEROON:  the 2009 cereal harvest in the North was 10 percent below the five-year average and 19 percent below the previous year’s production. Flooded valleys that are usually watering points for cattle dried up earlier than usual. WFP has responded with an emergency operation to feed 339,000 vulnerable people from June 2010 to 30 April 2011.
MALI: Â late and erratic rains in the Northeast during the last two crop seasons led to poor agro-pastoral production, resulting in more than 20 municipalities being declared highly food insecure. An estimated 258,000 people most at risk are currently receiving emergency food assistance from the government, WFP and humanitarian partners.
# Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â # Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â #WFP is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.
WFP now provides RSS feeds to help journalists keep up with the latest press releases, videos and photos as they are published on WFP.org. For more details see:Â http://www.wfp.org/rss
Suggested Books (US)
- Sahel: The End of the Road (Series in Contemporary Photography
- Eaters of the Dry Season: Circular Labor Migration in the West African Sahel
Border Jumpers : A few words about Mozambique
Guest Post by By Danielle Nierenberg and Bernard Pollack, BorderJumpers.org
We love the energy of Maputo. It is vibrant, entrepreneurial, positive, and alive. Though Mozambique is not without its problems, its capital city is clearly on the move, transforming itself and melding some of the best parts of its rich and diverse cultures.
We spent the first day visiting a workshop organized by Prolinnova, the Spanish NGO Centro de Iniciativas para la Cooperación/Batá, and the National Farmers Union of Mozambique, UNAC. The workshop brought farmers together from across the country to share with each other the different innovations each farmer practices in her or his community. The farmers led the meeting, drove the discussion, and presented their own findings. It was really refreshing to hear from the people who know best what is working and what needs to be scaled-up across the country.
The next day we spent an awe-inspiring couple of hours with Dr. Rosa Costa at International Rural Poultry Center of the Kyeema Foundation in Mozambique. Newcastle disease, which can wipe out entire flocks of chickens and easily spread from farm to farm, is especially devastating for rural farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Today, however, thanks to the work of the Kyeema foundation, villages in Mozambique have access not only to vaccines, but also to locally trained community vaccinators (or para-vets) who can help spot and treat Newcastle and other poultry diseases before they spread.
We also visited with Madyo Couto who works under the Mozambique Ministry of Tourism to help manage the country’s Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs). These areas were initially established to help conserve and protect wildlife, but they’re now evolving to include other uses of land that aren’t specifically for conservation. In addition to linking the communities that live near or in conservation areas to the private sector to build lodges and other services for tourists, they’re also helping farmers establish honey projects to generate income.
Finally we met with Jessica Milgroom, an American graduate student working with farming communities living inside Limpopo National Park, in southern Mozambique. When the park was established in 2001, it was essentially “parked on top of 27,000 people,†says Jessica. Some 7,000 of the residents needed to be resettled to other areas, including within the park, which reduced their access to food and farmland. Jessica’s job is to see what can be done to improve resettlement food security. But rather than simply recommending intensified agriculture in the park to make better use of less land, Jessica worked with the local community to collect and identify local seed varieties, creating a more affordable and diverse set of crop options for local farmers.
After only five days in Maputo, we already plan to come back for another visit. Mozambique is so vast and incredible with loads of amazing projects to visit that our brief trip simply wasn’t enough time.
Border Jumping in Mozambique
Meeting with farmers in Mozambique
Suggested Books (US)
Border jumpers : A few words about Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe orphanage
- Zimbabwe: HIV/AIDS Orphanage Project Visit with the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Associations in Harare
[Photo credit: Nourishing the Planet used with permission]
Visiting community projects in Zimbabwe
The bus ride from Lusaka, Zambia to Harare, Zimbabwe lasted four hours longer than it should have (total trip was nearly 12 hours). We spent four hours at the border crossing, where everyone’s belongings were examined, less for security and more to squeeze as much money as possible from undeclared goods. Baboons outnumbered travellers at the crossing and, having mastered the art of swiping food from unaware passengers, they seemed to want to be near the humans most afraid of them (ie. me).
We started our first day in Zimbabwe with a meeting with Raol DuToit, who has spent twenty years with the World Wildlife Fund and now works directly for rhino conversation. Raoul is an encyclopaedia on every major conservation issue relating to Southern Africa.
Following that meeting, we visited an Italian restaurant called Leonardo’s to break bread with a true hero of ours: Wellington Chibebe, Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Despite having been jailed numerous times, badly beaten, and under constant surveillance—this brilliant, mild-mannered man spent a few hours passionately telling us about the struggle to bring change to his country, the heroic role the labor movement plays in the movement for democracy, and the spirit of people to overcome fear.
Afterwards we visited the editor of The Worker, Ben Madzimure. This newspaper, sponsored by ZCTU and supported by the Solidarity Center, is one of the five independent print media sources not controlled by the government, and one of its most important watchdogs.
Additionally, we were given the opportunity to visit two community projects coordinated by the informal workers association with President Beauty Mugijima and program coordinator Elijah Mutemeri.
The first project was a village where the union is working with the local community to build a school in an area where hundreds of people were forced to relocate during “Operation Restore Order.” As part of a de-urbanization program under Mugabe, nearly 2 million workers were forcibly removed from their homes in cities, stripped of their belongings, and forced to live in rural areas, without any agriculture skills or training.
At the second project we visited we were greeted by children singing, clapping, and rushing to offer hugs and high fives. Most of these hundreds of kids lost their parents to HIV/AIDS, and the union supported orphanage provides not only a place to go to learn and go to school, but also gives the children a family.
- Zimbabwe: Visiting a School Project With the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Associations in Harare
[Photo credit: Nourishing the Planet used with permission]
ZCIEA AIDS/HIV Orphanage Project in Harare, Zimbabwe (used with permission)
Wellington Chibebe, Secretary General, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (Used with permission)
Suggested Books
The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe In Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series)
Zimbabwe (Bradt Travel Guide) (new edition pre-order)