Climate Change, Conservation and Empowerment
I bla bla bla, having fully understood the causes and impacts of climate change in the society hereby decide to train my society on climate change-adaptation-mitigation, engage them in transformative conservation and do my best to empower them.
No doubt at this age, everyone has felt the devastating impacts of climate change away from contributing to it. By now Africa is the continent hardest hit by climatic effects of climate change. This is true because of the systems that are climate-dependent, and if the climate change apocalypse continues without further adaptation and mitigation measures economies will collapse.
The strategic positioning of Africa along the tropics increases the vulnerability to rise in temperatures which further exacerbate droughts, land degradation and desertification. In 2013 for example, the world bank had an estimate that temperatures would rise by an annual average of 3-4 degrees by 2100.
Further IPCC predicted that by last year (2020) between 75 and 250million people in sub-saharan africa would face water crisis and a drop in production of rain-fed agriculture by 50%. Recent reports indicate that science and predictions made about climate change in particular are true and have come to pass. According to FAO, the rate of undernourishment increased by 45.6% since 2012.
What does the numbers mean to you? Do you feel goosebumps at the mention of climate change in Africa? It is certain that life will never be the same here. For a long time, we’ve ignored the fact that ANYTHING YOU DO OR DOES NOT DO WILL AFFECT THE CLIMATE. We all have the responsibility to react to climate change.
For example in the last three years at Towards Green Environment we did our little best in addressing the climate crisis. This was through climate change training, conservation and empowerment.
Training the society and local community about climate change is the ultimate goal of ensuring we have a knowledgeable citizenry that can take responsibility. Although it is hard to consolidate, interpret and pass information about climate change in a simple format. Working in an urban setting may seem to simplify the puzzle but that has not been the case. ‘Schedules for urban settlers have never been flexible, this is to mean it becomes hard to group local communities to undergo the training. People are justified to rush for livelihoods, food and health which all have been compromised by climate change. The digital space is a better strategy but not influential because of reaching only the unintended audience, (not all people have access to the media).
Conservation in the urban setting is one of the best strategies of creating sustainable communities and cities. In our case for example, Nairobi is on the witness of a sharp decline in urban green spaces as well as the green environment to grey development. The eastern Nairobi for example is a CONCRETE JUNGLE that means children are growing up in an environment where they can not play with trees and grasses. It is unfortunate because nothing is being done.
What we have done is to mobilise the community members to sacrifice a few metres of their compounds and those of institutions to plant trees, challenged by the fact that for that tree to thrive, it must be tendered to grow into maturity.
As simple as it may appear, conservation has a great implication in combating climate change and other factors such as the urban heat island.
Finally, empowerment is imperative for combating climate change through training and conservation. Communities need alternatives to their common challenges for them to accept the new introductions of a better way of life for example. If i have to become a vegan, i need a kitchen garden because food has been polluted in the market anyway. If i have to stop selling and using charcoal then provide a community biogas centre because trash from the market is available anyway. If I have to stop using transport unnecessarily then provide me with healthy foods that can help me walk and cycle.
Empowerment is a strong tool that can do wonders in adaptation and mitigation of climate change. Conservation is a naturalized alternative to combating climate change, let us plant those trees and watch them grow. Let us train the community to deal with the climate apocalypse.
Desperate times call for strong and strategic measures. Our three pillar focus has provided us evidence of the ability to transform the society with goodwill and resources provided. Sadly, resources may be limited but good will can be sought after with all conditions available.
It is optimal to have a hand in combating the climate crisis in Africa. It is the way of Towards Green Environment for self belief and sacrifice.