ACCRA, Ghana (PAMACC News) - Ghana’s Centre for Climate Change and Food Security (CCCFS) has launched a project to help minimize the misuse and waste of food among the populace. Dubbed "Campaign Against Food Waste and Overeating", the project is to encourage Ghanaians to make judicious use of available food at their disposal. Though there is no readily available statistics, it is believed that most Ghanaians waste more food than they consume. The two key components of the project are to reduce food waste and over-eating which contribute to about 20 percent of the world food being lost. At the launch of the project, Executive Director of CCCFS, Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen, enjoined the citizenry to eat less animal products, and help reduce the global growing trend of food insecurity. He said students particularly have a pivotal role to play in the prevention of food waste to help prevent damage to the environment. "If we continue to throw away food and litter around, then we are just preparing a dangerous environment for the future generations," he said. The project is also part of efforts to reduce the billions of tonnes of food lost to ensure everyone has access to a safe, affordable and nutritious diet. According to scientists at the University of Edinburgh, the world population consumes around 10 per cent more food than it needs, while almost nine per cent is thrown away or left to spoil. The researchers at the University examined ten key stages in the global food system including food consumption as well as the growing and harvesting of crops to quantify the extent of losses. According to the research, almost half of harvested crops or 2.1 billion tonnes are lost through over-consumption, consumer waste and inefficiencies in production processes. They found out that, almost 20 per cent of the food made available to consumers is lost through over-eating or waste. Livestock production is the least efficient process, with losses of 78 per cent or 840 million tonnes, the team found. Some 1.08 billion tonnes of harvested crops are used to produce 240 million tonnes of edible animal products including meat, milk and eggs. This stage alone accounts for 40 per cent of all losses of harvested crops, researchers say. Dr. Peter Alexander, of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences and Scotland's Rural College, who led the study, said: "Reducing losses from the global food system would improve food security and help prevent environmental harm. Until now, it was not known how over-eating impacts on the system. Not only is it harmful to health, we found that over-eating is bad for the environment and impairs food security." The Centre for Climate Change and Food Security has therefore taken upon itself to educate young Ghanaians, especially students, on the need to avoid food waste and overeating. The project was launched as part of the Centre's seminar on the theme: "Today's Climate, Who Should Be Concerned?" held at the University for Development Studies UDS, Wa campus in the Upper…

BIMBIA-BONADIKOMBO, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - Stepping into the Bimbia-Bonadikombo community forest in Cameroon, the chatter and hooting from the people and cars in neighboring villages gives way to silence.A guide and hunter Charles Mokwe, slashes through the thick canopy, slowly making his way along a trail of grass and bush marked with tracks of cutting grass and porcupine. One could hear shrieks from both far and near. “Those are probably the sounds of animals,” Mokwe says. “Though human encroachment has scared many animals to far distances, we still find some during our hunting expeditions.”The Mount Cameroon forest project that includes the Bimbia -Bonadikombo community forest (BBCF)measuring 3.735 hectares, situated on the west flanks of Mt.Cameroon looks an ideal biodiversity conservation project in readiness for the country’s REDD+( reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and carbon sequestration) ambition.The community forest is a biodiversity hotspot under a three way partnership between the local communities, the government, the Mount Cameroon Project [MCP] the coordinating body in Fako division of Cameroon’s South West region. The project government says is a biodiversity conservation strategy implemented through participatory land-use plan with mapped out areas for settlements, agriculture, community forests including a national park that has contributed significantly to the socio-economic development of the forest community in the area.“The project is a people oriented conservation programme geared at improving on the livelihood of the local population,” says Eben Ebai Samuel, Southwest regional delegate for forestry and wildlife.But just along the western edge of the Mt Cameroon Park, there are signs of trouble. Stakes are planted in the ground and a nursery nearby is filled with oil palm seedlings. This is part of an ambitious plan to expand the Cameroon Development Corporation, a Cameroonian palm oil company, to develop a 123,000-acre palm oil plantation next to the forest reserve. The project could possibly overlap with the forest in some places.“This would be a disaster,” says Ekwoge Abwe, who works with the Ebo Forest Research Project with the help of village volunteers and funding from San Diego Zoo Global, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other groups. The office of their research project is located in the Botanic Gardens in Limbe.“If this takes place, you would have a good chunk of the community forest disappearing,” Abwe says. “The habitat would be chopped down and exacting more pressure on species and leading to population declines and local extinctions. For those species that are not resilient, that may be the end.”Cameroon is among a growing list of African nations following the foot-steps of Asian agro-industrial companies like in Malaysia and Indonesia, which have made hundreds of billions of dollars by converting huge tracts of rainforest into palm oil plantations. The two Southeast Asian countries produce about 85 percent of the world’s palm oil.This development is threatening community forest that has stood its own in forest conservation since the 1994 forestry laws.“Our forests are in danger if government does not reinforce and apply the law to stop encroachers,” says chief…

YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon (PAMACC News) - A programme to empower local communities manage their forest is helping Cameroon government improve forest governance and management amidst challenges.Cameroon has been active in REDD+ process (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and carbon sequestration) with the country’s readiness preparation proposal approved by the World Bank in 2013.However, the government says adequate consultation and participation of forest residents in the planning and execution process was necessary for effective REDD+ participation and reaping of benefits.We need to build on existing forest governance and clarify the legal framework for REDD+, engage rural and indigenous communities, and ensure transparency and communication for all to reap the benefits from our resources,” said the minister of forestry and wildlife Philip Ngole Ngwese in January 2017.The Mount Cameroon Forest is one of the community forests with an established“ management agreement between the community and the state, with the Mount Cameroon Project as coordinator.The project stretches through 11 villages with a heterogeneous population of 122.900 inhabitants, from the slopes of the mountain to the Atlantic Ocean. It generates income for many families, contributing to poverty reduction, officials say.Created in 1998 following Cameroon’s 1994 forestry law that decentralized forest management, the Bimbia- Bondikombo Community Forest stretch for example is a success story, officials say, despite numerous challenges that need to be addressed.The forest constitute mangrove along the coast, an evergreen lowland forest, the sub-mountain and mountain forest and the savanna above 2000m. The mountain slope presents clear evidence of active volcanism like lava flow of recent eruption [1999 and 2000] crater lakes, caves and waterfalls. The Forests are rich in podocarpus and bamboo, Prunus Africana and contain unique flora and fauna.The forests in the Mount Cameroon area hold great cultural significance for the local people and play a crucial role in regulating water supplies, the project officials say.Bimbia through Bonadikombo is one of the rare communities that rely solely on its community water supply project and not the state owned Water Corporation, thanks to its constant water supply from the Mount Cameroon forest.Fuelwood and building materials are collected from the forest with products like honey which is of great importance in many herbal remedies, the residents attest.“We harvest honey from the mountain forest and market it through our cooperative. Carving is also a major income source, with products exported internationally,” says Henry Njombe a resident in Bokwango in the forest area.A forest of all seasonsThe bio-diversity of the Mount Cameroon forests will appeal to anyone who loves nature.In the rich forest a cushion of leaves sits perched neatly atop cross-cutting branches pulled in place by the creature that built the nest.Further inside, a stream of cold water rushes through stones coated in lush moss and bird droppings. The sun’s rays pierce through the forest canopy with bright spots dotted here and there like a dancing floor in a night club as I move along to get abreast with the marvels of nature.As sounds of birds heralds the arrival of midday in the…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Government in partnership with Kenyan insurers, has announced payments to over 12,000 pastoral households under a breakthrough livestock insurance plan.The plan uses satellites to monitor vegetation available to livestock and triggers assistance for feed, veterinary medicines and even water trucks when animal deaths are imminent. This comes as an epic drought desiccates fields and forages in the Horn of Africa,To avert future losses, Willy Bett, Cabinet Secretary for the Agriculture Ministry, said Sh215 million ($2.5 million) in insurance payouts across six counties will be made by the end of February through the Kenya Livestock Insurance Programme," (KLIP)."Payments are pegged to measurements of forage conditions made via satellite for each area, and will range from Sh1,450 per pastoral household in areas that have suffered modest losses to Sh29,400 in areas where drought is particularly severe. The average payment is around Sh17,800 ( $170) per pastoral household, directly reaching about 100,000 people," Bett said.Pilot projects that preceded the program established payment levels linked to the state of grazing lands, with the goal of providing enough money to help pastoralists keep their animals alive until rains returns."This is the biggest livestock insurance payout ever made under Kenya's agricultural risk management program and the most important as well, because without their livestock, pastoralist communities would be devastated," Bett said.He added, "This insurance programme is not just an effective component of our national drought relief effort. It's also a way to ensure that pastoralists can continue to thrive and contribute to our collective future as a nation."Livestock are a major component of the Kenyan economy. Between 2008 and 2011, livestock losses in Kenya accounted for 70 percent of the US $12.1 billion in damages caused by drought. In response to these major droughts, Kenya's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries has developed KLIP with technical assistance from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the World Bank Group, and Financial Sector Development (FSD) Kenya, as part of their national strategy to end drought emergencies. KLIP is administered as a public-private partnership with APA Insurance, which leads a consortium of seven Kenyan insurers – UAP, CIC, Jubilee, Heritage, Amaco and Kenya Orient, with backing from Swiss Re, a widely respected international reinsurer for agriculture."KLIP is intended to provide a safety net for Kenyan herders, who for centuries have grazed their animals across vast stretches of arid and semi-arid lands. KLIP began with two counties in the short-rains season of 2015, Turkana and Wajir, and now covers pastoralists in an additional four counties: Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo and Tana River," the CS said.KLIP is based on the internationally recognized "Index-Based Livestock Insurance" model, which was developed several years ago by a team of agricultural economists from ILRI, Cornell University, the University of California at Davis and the World Bank Group, working in close cooperation with pastoralist communities.The signature feature of this novel insurance scheme is the use of satellite data to generate an index for grazing conditions, so that payments are triggered when conditions…