ACRA, Ghana (PAMACC News) - Ghana is making significant gains in reducing greenhouse gas emissions through fuel substitution with improvements in the operational efficiency of the country’s electricity distribution system.Villages, towns and communities are gradually substituting the use of wood fuel with electricity, according to the Deputy Minister of Energy, William Owuraku Aidoo.This, he says, is the impact of grid expansion works carried out under the Ghana Energy Development and Access Project (GEDAP) as well as the Productive Uses of Electricity (PUE) activities initiated by the government.“I am happy to note that the project has also assisted this transition to a low-carbon economy through the development of renewable energy for the expansion of access to electricity, where economically justified,” he said at the launch of the GEDAP in Kumasi.Wood fuel is a very important energy source for Ghanaian, especially in rural households who depend on it for cooking and for small-scale processing activities.With an annual consumption of wood fuel estimated at 16million m3, forests and wildlife are under stress of illegal logging, charcoal burning, wildfire and unsustainable farming activities.These have climate change impacts that lead to the drying up of water bodies, land degradation and other environmental devastation.Mr. Owuraku Aidoo says the GEDAP has the global environmental objective of supporting Ghana’s transition to a low carbon economy through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).He noted the four project objectives of the project has significantly been met, including electricity access and renewable energy development, sector and institutional development, distribution improvement, and transmission system upgrade.The Project’s development objective is to improve the operational efficiency of the electricity distribution system and increase the population’s access to electricity.Implementation of the $210million project funded under the Global Environmental Facility started in 2007 and ends in 2019.

DOUALA, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - An initiative by a group of Cameroon youths to produce eco-friendly charcoal made from biodegradable household waste is not only helping to fight against mangrove deforestation in the coastal town of Douala, the economic capital, but has also reduced deadly floods and high youth unemployment.According to Kemit Ecology, a non-governmental organization run by young people, the group uses household waste such as maize husks, banana and plantain peelings, fish scales, sugar cane peels and other bio-degradable waste to produce and sell 100% eco-friendly charcoal that replaces the growing demand for wood for cooking or heating.“Producing charcoal from household waste to save the forest is an enriching experience for us,” Says Muller Tankeu Nandou, coordinator of Kemit Ecology. The organisation says it has a group of over 100 youths employed to collect household waste from homes, markets and street gutters.Some households supporting the idea also prefer to deposit their waste directly at the production site of the organisation.Apart from employing youths, the organisation supplies bio-degradable coal to thousands of women selling coal in different markets in Douala and other towns in the country thus keeping women who otherwise would have been idle active.“We work most with market women and housholds who are very collaborative,” Muller says.The material gathered is later sorted, dried, compacted and burned to make charcoal. The organisation says its efforts are already helping to protect the mangrove forest and reduce the rate of floods in some parts of the city.Environment experts say the coastal mangrove forest that has suffered over-exploitation and reduced by half over the last 20 years now have some respite since the project started some four years ago. “There have been overuse and often illegal use of the forest by the growing population in Douala. Saving especially the coastal mangrove forest has become crucial,” says Samuel Nguiffo CEO of Centre for Environment and Development, an NGO that defends the rights of forest people in Cameroon.With sensitization from the Douala city councils working in partnership with Kemit Ecology the fishing community and thousands of households in the over 3 million population in the city that hitherto used wood for drying fish and cooking are increasingly switching over to use eco-friendly coal, officials of Kemit Ecology say.The team says it has considerably expanded production since they started in 2014. In 2014, they manually produced 12 tonnes of charcoal. Now, they have machinery and a factory, and, by 2016, had increased to 37 tonnes produced and sold per year . They envisage producing over 200 tonnes of charcoal per year by 2020.A kilogram of eco-friendly charcoal sells at 300 fcfa, far lower than that of wood charcoal selling at 450 fcfa.“One can save up to 25% and 40% of the money spent on firewood and charcoal respectively and above 50%with gas and electricity,” says Abu Wilson, commercial manager of Kemit Ecology. Using eco-friendly charcoal saves the environment in two ways he says. “First, they are an alternative to firewood and charcoal. Secondly, the…

GULU, Uganda (PAMACC News) - Massive animal translocation is taking place in Northern Uganda as hundreds of nomadic pastoralists comply with a presidential decree evicting them from the region. On October 20th last year, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni directed the ministry of agriculture, animal industry and fisheries to evict the nomads from northern Uganda for among others interfering with food security of the people of northern Uganda. The President also wrote that the nomads threaten the peace of the north and the economy by practicing obsolete farming method. He tasked the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal industry and fisheries to introduce the nomads to sedentary forms of agriculture, paddocking and coffee growing. The presidential decree followed repeated calls for eviction by host communities who accused the nomads of grazing their livestock in their subsistence farms after failing to fence off their hired pieces of land. Other accusations include sexual harassment of women, engaging in illegal charcoal business, theft of animals and illegal possession of firearms as well as land grabbing amongst others. At least twenty trucks laden with cows belonging to the Balaalo leave the region for Central and South Western Uganda where the pastoralists initially lived with their animals since the ministry of agriculture started implementing the decree on March 22nd. The decree affects more than 40,000 herds of cattle in the hands of more than 30 groups of nomads estimated to number some 15,000 people. Edward Kamgaene, a pastoralist herding 200 cows in a rented area of Amuru district says government is not being fair to them by asking them to leave the north of the country within just few days.“Government has been shifting the goal post all along. Initially we were told to fence our grazing land and stay. But today, we are being told to process movement permits, vaccinate our animals and leave. This is totally a different thing we were told to do earlier. How can this possible within a short time we have been given?” Kamagaene said with anger in his face. Kamgaene says his livelihoods depend on pastoralism in which he fattens animals before selling them to abattoirs in Capital Kampala. He is worried that he will not be able to fend for his family without practicing pastoralism. Kamagaene is one of the thousands of nomads who fled acute shortage of pastures and water in 2016 from South Western Uganda migrating up north to fatten his livestock in vast open savannah grassland inhabited by the Acholi and Lango ethnic groups. He says he is stuck with his livestock after learning that his home district is under quarantine due to Foot and Mouth disease. “I have 100 cows in Nwoya district which I should move to Kyankwanzi district via the districts of Nakasongola and Nakaseke and yet these districts are under quarantine for Foot and Mouth disease. How can I go to these districts to pick movement permits without infecting my animals? How can I take my animals where there is a running quarantine?” Festus…

PAMACC News - 22 mars, elles ne connaissent pas. Ce qui les préoccupe surtout, c’est la corvée d’eau et celle du bois sans laquelle le repas n’est pas prêt le soir. Le risque que le père de famille se fâche si ça arrive est grand. Des préoccupations, bien loin des fronfrons de la fête de la Journée mondiale de l’eau, célébrée à Cotonou. Il est 17heures à Torio, un village de l’arrondissement de Bogobogo, dans la commune de Banikoara. C’est habituellement l’heure où il faut remplir les jarres d’eau pour l’usage le soir. Une partie des femmes de ce village, tous âges confondus ont rendez-vous pour la corvée journalière de l’eau. Réunies autour d’un puits à grand diamètre, elles sont une dizaine à se relayer pour aller chercher au fond le précieux liquide, qui présente l’aspect d’une eau potable. Deux seaux attachés à deux cordes différentes permettent de faire l’exercice. Le liquide, une fois retiré est versé dans des bassines immédiatement convoyés à la maison par les plus petites femmes. Elles font ce va-et-vient plusieurs fois de suite en fonction des besoins. Quid de la qualité de l’eau Nomma Abdul Wahab, le Chef d’étude à la Mairie de Banikoara, doute, quand-même de la qualité de cette eau. Pour l’intéressé, ces genres de puits à grand diamètre sont légions dans la commune mais pour chacun d’eux, aucune étude n’a été faite pour la potabilité de cette eau. Il déplore la résistance de certaines femmes à utiliser l’eau des forages dont il certifie la qualité parce que leur mise en fonction est précédée de quelques études techniques. Il y a aujourd’hui dans la commune de Banikoara quatre-vingt-quatre forages pour près de douze mille habitants. Pas de justice en matière d’eau Si les femmes, comme d’habitude, n’ont pas voulu s’exprimer, c’est Djibril Amidou, un garçon, la trentaine qui prend leur défense. Au forage, souligne-t-il, la bassine est à cinq (5) francs ou vous payez cent (100) francs pour tout le mois pour avoir accès à cette eau, de l’argent dont ne disposent pas ces femmes, explique Djibril. Or, au puits à grand diamètre, l’eau est gratuite.A une vingtaine de mètres du puits à grand diamètre, justement, se dresse un forage autour duquel est réunie l’autre partie des femmes, celles qui ont les cinq (5) FCFA pour la bassine d’eau. Ici, l’or bleu est pompé. C’est moins pénible que de l’autre côté du puits à grand diamètre, en plus, à ciel ouvert où le risque d’accident est souvent grand. Qui s’en plaindrait ?