YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - Ongoing land reforms in many African nations like Liberia and Cameroon have yet to incorporate any special protection for vulnerable groups, who struggle to claim ownership of natural resources, activists say.
But civil society organisations and other activists are intensifying their efforts to push governments to speed up land reform processes and establish clear legislation securing the rights of vulnerable groups to own, access and control land and other natural resources.
In Liberia for example the International Land Coalition (ILC) Africa, has added its voice to that of the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Working Group on Land Rights Reform in that country to demand for a people-centred land bill on land rights.
In a statement issued by ILC Africa’s Chair, Shadrack Omondi, on April 17 2018, the platform called on President George Weah and the Senate to review the Land Rights Act to ensure it responded to the needs of vulnerable communities.
"Liberia’s shared and sustained economic growthdepends on secured land rights for communities
and vulnerable groups," the statement noted.
It points out that the Land Rights Act (LRA) in Liberia as passed in August 2017 does not offer adequate protection for community land rights and thus risks plunging the the country into another circle of conflict.
Research suggests land disputes continue to fuel resource based conflicts in Africa. Such disputes mostly arise from weak land and natural resource tenure,which causes power imbalances and pushes different groups to their limits.
"Conflicts break out as communities seek for extra judicial solutions to secure their lives and livelihoods. Liberia’s Land Rights Act is a unique opening to ensure secure access to landrights and improved livelihoods for all, especially women, youth and Indigenous Peoples," the statement notes.
It called on the President and the Senate to seize the opportunity to build a strong,peaceful, just and equitable Liberia-and ensure that it can attract investments for development that is sustainable and the benefits from which are equally distributed.
A similar call was made in Cameroon recently by women landrights activist for African leaders to institute landreforms that include legal safeguards to protect women’s rights to land ownership.
The African Women's Network for Community Management of Forests,RECAFOF, an international NGO, believes only reforms that include legal safeguards giving women equal say in decisions made by customary and state authorities on managing land and forest resources will boost gender equality on the continent.
“We know that wherever land rights are being ignored, women are indisputably the most affected. Banding together and raising awareness of these issues is the first step toward ensuring all women’s rights are recognised,” Cécile Ndjebet, president of REFACOF, said in a statement.
KEY TO DEVELOPMENT
Ongoing land reforms in African nations such as Liberia,Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Senegal have yet to incorporate any special protection for women and other vulnerable communities according to ILC and REFACOF.
“Globally, people are starting to understand the contributions women make to development. The importance of securing land rights for women in achieving development can therefore not be over-emphasised,” said Ndjebet.
The ILC statement on its part called on the inclusion of all stakeholders, and especially communities, in finalising the land Bill, for Liberia to move to truly people-centred land governance and improve the lives of 85% of its population living in rural areas and depending on land for their shelter and livelihoods.
" We call upon all stakeholders to intensify their efforts towards promoting dialogue. We hope consensus can be built on how to strengthen the Bill and use it as a tool for promoting unity, wealth creation and sustainable peace," ILC Africa’s chair, Shadrack Omondi said.
It should be recalled that in 2014, former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf presented the Land
Rights Act (LRA) and in 2017, the Lower House of Parliament of Liberia voted the bill. However, with some newly added and amended provisions, Omondi
fears the bill could undermine community land rights and create future tensions.
Liberia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper notes that women are major players in the agricultural sector, making up the majority of small-holder producers and the agricultural labour force.
Women produce some 60 percent of agricultural goods and carry out 80 percent of trading activities in rural areas, but they have less access to productive inputs than men, including land, skills training, basic tools and technology, the strategy says.
The situation is similar in many developing countries,espacially in Africa. In Western and Central Africa, generally less than 10 percent of landholders are women, according to data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Toutes les civilisations ont leurs modèles d’interprétation fondés sur l’observation de la nature. Ce sont en fait des corpus au travers desquels nos ancêtres prévoyaient les saisons à partir des indicateurs tels que la chaleur, la rosée, l’harmattan, l’apparition des feuilles de certains arbres, de certains oiseaux, bref, des stratégies inspirées de nos us et coutumes. Comment alors capitaliser ces savoirs traditionnels dans certains pays africains, particulièrement, le Bénin, berceau du vodoun, confronté lui aussi aux effets des changements climatiques ?
Savoirs ethno-climatique : la contextualisation du concept
Le Woutoutou, de son nom en fon, le Centropus Senegalensis, de son nom scientifique ou le Coucal du Sénégal, comme on l’appelle communément, est une espèce dont l’apparition, selon les savoirs endogènes, annonce une pluie imminente. De même, l’apparition des oiseaux migrateurs comme l’épervier, la floraison de certains arbres comme l’iroko ou l’apparition de l’arc-en-ciel, sont-là, des repères empiriques qui permettent aux populations de bien pratiquer les activités agricoles et de se protéger de l’incertitude climatique. C’est ainsi que le concept « savoirs ethno-climatologiques » a été forgé en 1986 par l’Universitaire, Professeur Eustache Bokono Ganta, au point d’en faire une science. Pour son confrère Michel Boko, considéré au Bénin comme le père de la climatologie, membre du GIEC (Groupe Intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat), il s’agit en fait de l’anthropologie culturelle appliquée à la climatologie. Dans un cas comme dans l’autre, le concept « savoirs ethno-climatologiques » a connu du succès aussi bien au Bénin qu’en Afrique.
Un champ d’étude pour les scientifiques
D’ailleurs AkibouAbanitchéAkindélé, Chef Département de Géographie et d’Aménagement du Territoire au Centre Universitaire d’Adjarra, y a consacré sa thèse sous le thème : « Savoirs ethno-climatologiques en pays Wémè et Holi : fondements et implications économiques et socio-culturelles ». « Il y a plusieurs travaux qui ont été réalisés sur le climat au Bénin et la plupart de ces travaux ont utilisé des approches essentiellement statistiques, souligne Monsieur Akibou ». « Mais avant que l’on ait les instruments qui ont permis de faire ces mesures, c’est-à-dire, les pluviomètres, les thermomètres, enfin, tout ce qui est scientifiquement admis, nos ancêtres avaient déjà l’habitude de faire de l’agriculture », indique le Docteur Akindélé. On peut alors se poser des questions sur comment nos aïeux ont pu faire face aux effets du climat.
Comment capitaliser ces savoirs endogènes
Au Bénin et tout comme dans certains pays africains, les croyances sont encore très fortes car ces pays se réfèrent à la cosmogonie et à l’imaginaire pour expliquer le dérèglement climatique. Mieux, le savoir traditionnel, les connaissances et les pratiques des populations
PAMACC, Berlin-GERMANY: African winners of the media fellowship to the 2018 Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue have underscored the urgency of deploying innovative solutions and technologies to fast-track the transition to clean energy in Africa.
Speaking on the pervasive level of energy poverty on the continent, the four media fellows drawn from Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia all pledged their commitment to putting ‘energiewende’ (energy transition) on the front burner of national discourse in their respective countries.
Africa’s energy poverty leaves about 600 million people in darkness with no access to energy. According to McKinsey’s projection, Africa requires $490bn investment by 2040 to turn the tide in its quest for energy efficiency.
A bit disappointed by the low level of her country’s representation at the global energy talks which attracted high-ranking delegations from 40 countries and around 2,000 delegates from 95 countries, Meriam Khadraoui from Tunis Afrique Press (TAP) expressed her determination to deploy the unique hands-on experiences and innovative concepts she came across during the fellowship in pushing Tunisia to the next frontier of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
“Germany’s pioneering role in energy transition remains a model which my country should adopt in view of the abundant renewable energy sources that we have,” Khadraoui said.
For Ayoola Kassim of Channels TV and Atâyi Babs Opaluwah of Climate Reporters, both from Nigeria, a country endowed with abundant renewable energy resources like large and small hydro, solar, biomass, tidal and ocean waves as well as geothermal, energy transition is not just an option but a key to unlocking Nigeria’s full potential.
“With the right regulatory frameworks and policies in place, energiewende will leapfrog Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) by unleashing the unbreakable Nigerian spirit through renewables,” says Opaluwah.
That Nigeria still reels under pervasive energy poverty with her per capita electricity use remaining very low despite amazing wealth of fossil and renewable energy resources, the fellows say, is enough justification for her to toe the German path to energy efficiency.
According to Opaluwah, “there is an urgent need to create a low carbon energy future that meets the sustainable development needs of all people in Nigeria, West Africa and and indeed the whole of Africa.” That is where our experiences in Berlin, the hotspot of global energy transformation, comes in handy as we hope to influence policies and frameworks while shifting focus to energy transition through our works,” he added.
Lebo Tshangela of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) finds it worrying that South Africa meets 77% of its energy needs through coal and only 16% through renewable energy.
“This is disturbing as before us is a bold plan to reduce emissions by below two degrees celsius as stated in our nationally determined contributions to the Paris Accord,” he said.
“It is my hope that this fellowship will help me in working to change perceptions of government, private sector and individuals as well as raise awareness on the danger of our continued reliance on fossil fuels for our energy needs in South Africa, Lebo added.
Put in place by the German Federal Office, the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue fellowship programme brings together selected journalists from across the world to report on global energy transition imperatives and to raise awareness on the opportunities in the renewable energy sector as well as its contributions to meeting the targets of the Paris Agreement.
PAMACC in Berlin - Germany: Experts at a panel discussion on off-grid systems at the 2018 Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue (BETD) have identified off-grid systems as the way out Africa’s rural electrification challenges.
This is coming on the heels of the report that about 40% of new connections required to achieve universal energy access will come from off-grid solutions with 35% being mini-grid solutions and 5% as standalone systems
The panel, which comprised Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, Commissioner for infrastructure, energy, ICT and tourism at the African Union Commission agreed that off-grid power generation can take place in Africa in various forms starting from the simplest systems consisting of a PV-panel and a battery to high installed power isolated grids.
“With off-grid systems, Africa stands a better chance of leapfrogging other regions of the world in Energiewende (Energy Transition),” Dr Abou-Zeid said.
Other panellists which included Seleshi Bekele Awulachew, Ethiopian water, irrigation and electricity minister, and Mamisoa Rakotoarimanana, executive secretary of the Rural Electrification Agency in Madagascar, Thomas Duveau, Molly Webb, and Eckard Wolf, however cautioned that for off-grid systems to succeed in Africa, it is essential to have a good regulatory framework that can anticipate and accommodate various implementation structures including business operation models that encourage private sector investment.
It is important, panellists say, for Africa to deploy innovative methods in addressing the persistent challenges in the region’s energy sector.
Acknowledging Africa’s lack of strong institutional capacity as a major drawback of the region’s aspirations for clean energy transition, the energy commissioner declared AU’s readiness to provide member states “with policy solutions including regulations and standards towards an affordable, faster and more beneficial transition across all sectors of our economies.”
“We are committed to a cleaner, more secure and sustainable energy supply. Realizing this would require joint effort with all our partners in coordinating initiatives and sharing best practices to realise decisive and effective steps towards energy transition,” Dr Abou-Zeid added
Peter Altmeier, German energy minister at the dialogue said “It is possible to create prosperity, peace and security through Energiewende.” “Energy transition can provide more opportunities to this end for Africa and other regions of the world.
African non-state actors were not left out of the global energy meet as they underlined the need for the Berlin dialogue to recognise and apply the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) in their quest to liberate Africa from energy poverty.
The CBDR principle recognises historical differences in the contribution of developed and developing states to global environmental problems as well as differences in their respective economic and technical capacity to tackle these problems.
Augustine B Njamnshi, Coordinator, of the African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access (ACSEA) called on the German government and other developed countries “to draw parallel between those who have the luxury and option of transitioning from fossil-based energy to clean energy and those who do not have access to any form of energy at all and are in urgent need of energy.”
“For Energiewende to succeed in Africa, developed countries must recognise their historic responsibility and prioritise Africa’s needs through innovative financing and technology,” Njamshi added.
