Women from East, South, Center and South West Regions of Cameroon, (Tombel, Batchenga, Mbana, Campo) have demanded justice on climate change and environmental disasters given their role as custodians of nature and caregivers of their communities.
The women were speaking on the 19th and 20th of September, 2023 in a two-day workshop in Tombel on the theme, “Reflection, Resist and Rise up for Climate Justice.” The workshop was organized by Green Development Advocates, GDA and Center for Agro Ecological Promotion, CAEP.
Addressing participants at the workshop, Mawamba Carrele Nguana of GDA said their objective is to mobilize and bring together women from communities impacted by the climate crisis, to denounce the impact of climate change and the false solutions presented to them, while learning from the experiences of others.
She said the peasant and indigenous African women are not the only victims of climate change, but they are leading the resistance and are protagonists in the defense of their territories and the struggle for the autonomy of their bodies, lives and labour power. “This is why gender justice and grassroots feminism must be part of the solution for our future.” Mawamba added.
She said they were privileged to gather at their host community, Tombel, with an association that practices agroecology, an alternative to combat the impacts of climate change.
Mawamba added that they expect women to express their grievances, learn more about climate change and the adaptation mechanisms put in place by other communities. She said they will also propose solutions to the problems they are facing and make demands to the governments and country delegates for COP-28.
In a presentation, by the Chief Executive Officer of CAEP, Eku Emmanuel, he disclosed that climate crisis is already having an impact on some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Africa.
He said after generations of colonialism and exploitation, Africans are now facing further destruction and dispossession of their most basic resources in the form of land, water and forest grabbing and pollution for extractive and dirty wars, energy projects, agribusiness and so on.
To make matters worse, Eku lamented that most African states are following paths that involve the same old models of extractivism, oil, coal and gas exploration, export-oriented development based on capitalist logic, and without any consideration for the poorest and most vulnerable people on the continent.
According to Eku, agroecology could be one of the solutions to change the narratives about climate change and the false solution about conservation which is a means of land grabbing.
He defined agroecology is a set of agricultural theories and practices nourished or inspired by knowledge of ecology, agronomic science, and the agricultural world.
The CEO said it embodies a sustainable agriculture, respectful of environmental balances and agricultural production policy aimed optimizing food production without endangering nature.
Other presentations include; Indigenous Peoples Rights, Climate Change and Effects, Food Sovereignty, Chemical Mistakes and Solutions.
At the end of the workshop, participants visited CAEP’s demonstration farms for best practices on agroechology, proposed solutions to the government and different national stakeholders to take concrete actions to mitigate climate change impacts.
By Olive Ejang
