YAOUNDE, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - In the face of multiple urban climate challenges with rising temperatures ,persistent floods , drought and other climate threats that are menacing Cameroon’s major cities , the government is multiplying efforts for a green city drive as the country prepares to host the 2019 African Nations Cup. Authorities say they have pledged to steer deforested cities from edge of climate disasters with a multi-facet urban city greening project."It is our responsibility to give our cities the much needed environmental facelift and make them safe now and in the future," says the minister of forestry and wildlife , Jules Doret Ndongo , at the launching of the 2018 tree planting season in Bertoua in the East region, May 4th. The Minister of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development in collaboration with WWF and partners, on May 28 2018, on his part mounted the first ever giant biodiversity poster in the 2 international airports in Cameroon to walk the green city talk.The event accordingly marked the end of 2018 biodiversity day celebrations and beginning of World Environment Day celebrations in Cameroon.Environment experts say Cameroon has multiplied investment efforts in recent years in line with the government’s drive towards economic emergence by 2035 ,triggering rapid disappearance of its forested areas with expanding urbanization and population surge in most cities."Cameroon is on the move with multiple investments as the country pushes towards economic emergence. Unfortunate this also means sacrificing huge forested areas where these projects are located," says Zachee Nzoh Ngandembou,CEO of the Centre for Environment and Rural Transformation,CERUT, an NGO that promotes rural development in Cameroon. A report by Global Forest Watch shows forest loss in Cameroon of 777,000 hectares between 2001 and 2015.Experts say the deforestation has since 2016 aggravated with heavy investment projects in cities following Cameroon’s preparation to host the 2019 African Cup of Nations Games. Many of these infrastructures in roads, stadia and other sports training grounds,hotels ,urban housing scheme etc have seen large portions of hitherto forest lands sacrificed exposing many cities to scorching heat and high temperatures and other climate extremes. "Forest losses not only hurt ecosystems and drive climate change but put the livelihood of millions of city dwellers in danger," says Paul Donfack, a consultant with the African Forest Forum.The environmental impact of forest loss is really immeasurable with extreme weather like rising city temperatures, heavy floods, droughts and water shortages thus putting the lives of vulnerable population at risk, he says. But the government is hoping the new urban greening forests project will help cities catch up with the loses."The new urban reforestation project will help boost the tree planting schemes launched by the government in 2017," says Bruno Mfou’ou Mfou’ou, director of forestry in the ministry of forestry and wildlife.The government in 2017 launched a project to restore 12 million hectares (30 million acres) of deforested land to redress the challenges of dwindling forests and help mitigate the effects of climate change, he said."The urban city greening scheme…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - This year’s World Environment Day (WED) comes when the ogre of corruption, threatening to tear apart the fabric of our society is dominating the national debate in Kenya. The World Environmental day celebrated on the 5th of June every year, seeks to raise consciousness and rally people across the world on the importance of a clean environment. Thousands of activities, including tree planting, clean-ups, workshops, conferences and rallies are held, depending on the context in various parts of the globe. The theme of this year’s WED, is “Beat plastics pollution”, and is being hosted by India. This year, we focus on the environmental challenges we face due to the piles of plastics produced and dumped on land and sea every hour, and their adverse effects on the beauty of the earth and the oceans. The global focus on this theme brings the issue of policy making and intervention to the centre-stage, with a view to “doing something” to arrest the problem. Thousands of trees will be planted during this day, while tons of plastics will be collected and piled at some safer place away from people and water. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) will join several partners, led by the City County of Nairobi, to plant trees at Kikuyu Springs, one of the main sources of the water we drink in the city, which is threatened by encroachment by private developers, illicit tree poachers and degradation. Planting trees and collecting garbage in front of cameras, as many leaders have done during this rainy season, is one commendable thing. And tending those trees to maturity and stopping garbage gettingpile-up should be a process rather than an event. These symbolic gestures by the top leadership should be followed by a more sustainable effort to harvest this goodwill by institutions entrusted to guard our environmental with preservation and protection. But due to the runaway corruption which has passed the red line, any effort to reverse the damage visited upon the environment will likely be futile. Indeed, the report of the taskforce appointed by Environment and Forestry Cabinet Secretary KeriakoTobiko exposed the rot in the Forestry department and recommended drastic action against forest officials who have plundered this important national resource. One of the chilling revelations of the report is the fact that a whooping two billion shillings earmarked for a school forestry programme, was misappropriated. This is in addition to thousands of tons of trees which were felled by unscrupulous merchants in collusion with people who were entrusted with the responsibility to keep watch over our forests across the country. It will therefore be a pointless attempt and narrow way of seeing things if we plant trees without minding whether the land on which we are planting will be a target by marauding land grabbers and speculators. It will also be waste of resources and valuable time if we collect all that garbage just for the camera, and when we go back home, we are the…

Bénin (PAMACC News) - Fita et kokohou sont deux villages du Bénin. Le premier est de la commune de Dassa, au centre du Bénin et l’autre, est une localité de la commune de Djougou dans le Nord du Bénin. Deux hameaux dont la vie des habitants a changé depuis quelques jours avec l’arrivée de l’électricité. Il s’agit de la mise en service de deuxmini-centrales solaires photovoltaïques résilientesqui alimentent kiosques et lampadaires solaires. Une solution alternative à la lutte contre les effets du climat.« Même dans mes rêves, je n’ai jamais imaginé voir un jour de mes propres yeux l’électricité dans mon village »disait un habitant de Fita, village de la commune de Dassa, situé à 15 kilomètres du centre-ville. « Ici, on était habitué à l’obscurité. Ce qui fait que le soir venu tout le monde se terre chez lui ». Et pourtant, ce n’est plus un rêve. L’électricité est belle et bien à Fita, depuis quelques jours, même si c’est une énergie hors-réseau. C’est d’ailleurs pour ça, que l’intéressé a passé de longues minutes à remercier non seulement ceux qui ont permis l’installation de cette mini-centrale mais aussi le ciel pour lui avoir offert de son vivant ce beau cadeau. Et pourtant, le cadeau dont il parle n’est pas du tout tombé du ciel. Il a fallu le Programme des Nations-Unies pour le Développement (PNUD) et le Fonds pour l’Environnement Mondial à travers le Projet de renforcement de la résilience du secteur de l’énergie aux impacts des changements climatiques au Bénin (PANA Energie) pour que l’électricité à Fita soit une réalité.Sa majesté, le roi de FitaGbèdozanKinmafli, sous l’autorité de laquelle est placée la cérémonie officielle de mise en service de la mini-centrale, a eu des mots très aimables à l’endroit du gouvernement pour avoir pensé à sa région. « L’arrivéede l’électricité va régler un problème fondamental, a indiqué le roi. Les élèves n’auront plus à étudier sous les lampions, les lanternes et les torches, forcément, ils auront de meilleurs résultats ». Il s’agit là, a fait remarquer le maire de la commune de Dassa, Nicaise Fagnon, « de la territorialisation de l’un des projets phares du gouvernement, celui d’améliorer les conditions de vie des populations ». Mise en service des lampadaires solaires résilients C’est au Ministre de l’énergie, Dona Jean-Claude, qu’il est revenu l’honneur d’allumer le premier lampadaire résilient. « Lalumière, c’est la vie, a-t-il souligné en s’adressant à la population enthousiaste. « Ce gouvernement vous doit et va vous donner plus, pour que vous soyez heureux, a-t-il ajouté ». Contrairement aux lampadaires solaires classiques, ceux de Fita sont des lampadaires solaires à éclairage puissant, constant puis dégressif, tout intégré, conçu de façon compact. Il jouit d’une durée minimum de six heures et une autonomie de trois jours. La plupart des lampadaires sont disposés dans des endroits stratégiques de façon à offrir à tout le village un éclairagepublic. C’est donc un système beaucoup plus amélioré qui n'a besoin que d’une faible quantité de rayons solaires pour produire une grande…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) – It is a rainy season in Kenya, and the environment in many parts of the country including dryland areas is generally green. But two months ago in Kyenire village, Mbeere Sub-county of Embu in Eastern Kenya, it was Venanzio Njiru’s two acre farm that stood out as the only green spot surrounded by environment with dry grass and shrubs with brown leaves running into the horizon. However, rainfall is for a short season in this part of the country because after it subsides towards the end of May as predicted by the Kenya Meteorological Department, residents may soon be subjected to another dry spell that may last between one and three years without the precious drops. “This is how it has always been, hence a reason why I had adopt a smart way of surviving,” said Njiru, who has now invested in Climate Smart Agriculture through permaculture.Using water piped from Thosi River some 10 kilometres away, the former street hawker in Mombasa has a mosaic of different types of crops that include cover crops, leguminous plants, fruit trees, among others intercropped with maize planted in zai-pits and even sugarcane. He also keeps cattle, indigenous chicken, goats, and despite of it being a dryland area, he keeps fish in his water storage ponds.“Using very simple techniques, Njiru is one of the very few residents in this area who have sufficient food to feed their families, and have more for the market despite the tough climatic conditions,” said Wanjiku Wanjohi of Ishiara Parish, a Catholic church in Embu County.The Parish is one of the faith based organisations on the ground, which have been interacting with residents especially smallholder farmers to identify best practices that could help in formulating a county climate change policy document that is responsive to the prevailing conditions.The first ever climate change policy drafting initiative at the county level in Kenya is driven by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) in collaboration with Trocaire, and with support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) where faith based organisations have been collaborating with community based groups and individuals to identify best practices at the grass roots level.“Clearly, Njiru together with a few others have demonstrated that with access to water for irrigation, residents can easily adapt to climate change, an idea that we thought was an important factor to be included in the county climate change policy,” said Wanjohi. Development of such policies dominated the annual summit on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Nairobi, where experts said that that was the only way of scaling up CSA, by moving from pilots to the implementation. “We already have enough ideas and innovations. What we lack in many African countries is the implementation framework,” said Dr Richard Mungang, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Africa Regional Climate Change Programme Coordinator.“We need policies to govern Climate Smart Agriculture, because without policies, there cannot be development,” he said.His sentiments were echoed by Richard Kamau the Executive Director…