By Jean Marie Sawadogo,
Ouagadougou for United Nations Africa Renewal
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Planting trees along a stone line to prevent soil erosion from heavy downpours of rain. |
In Burkina Faso, Abel Raogo, a farmer in Ipelcé, Burkina Faso, and Hamadou Tamboura, who raises livestock in nearby Sapouy, do not talk of “climate change,” an idea that features in national and international debates. But they see clearly the danger posed by poor soils, drying rivers and other environmental changes — and they want urgent, concrete solutions to those problems.
Higher temperatures evaporate water, degrade soils, help the spread of pests like locusts, reduce crop yields and cripple biodiversity. Lower rainfall and higher temperatures contribute to the silting and evaporation of lakes and rivers, and the long-term decline in water reserves. Albert Bouda, who grows vegetables in fields irrigated by the Goué dam, told Africa Renewal, “We now have to dig wells to get enough water.”
In 2006, the Burkina’s National Council for Environment and Sustainable Development, an inter-ministerial group that includes independent experts and civil society, identified the four sectors most vulnerable to climate change: water, agriculture, stock raising and forestry.
Climate changes are evident throughout Burkina. The eastern and southwestern parts of the country, which generally have more favourable weather, are increasingly hit by high temperatures and pockets of drought. Human activities like excessive cutting of trees, overgrazing of livestock and more intensive farming deepen the problems. In the east, “we see growing pressure on the land, especially around protected conservation areas, rivers and lakes,” notes Antoinette Ouédraogo, president of a women’s development association and a member of a national climate change experts’ group. Those pressures, she told Africa Renewal, include the uncontrolled clearing of land, poaching of wildlife and migration of livestock as herders from the north search for new pastures. Such environmentally harmful practices worsen the impact of climate change.
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Drawing water in rural Burkina Faso: The government is helping villagers dig wells and build small water reservoirs to better utilize the country’s scarce water resources. |
The north, which usually has Burkina’s lowest rainfall, has recently experienced unexpectedly heavy rains which cause serious flooding and widespread property damage. Meanwhile, sandstorms, which normally hit only the northern parts of the country, now affect other regions as well.
Can Burkina adapt?
In 2006, a group of experts working under the Ministry of the Environment drew up a National Adaptation Plan of Action (NAPA) aimed at responding to the challenges of climate change. The plan identifies projects to help local communities deal with the effects of climate change. It has been adopted by the government, which was an early signer of the1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
“Even though the situation in Burkina is not yet catastrophic,” explains Mamadou Honadia, a member of the NAPA group, “there are grounds for concern and for mobilizing money and people to address the problem.” Experts expect average temperatures to increase by 0.8 per cent by 2025 and by 1.7 per cent by 2050. Meanwhile, average annual rainfall could decline by 3.4 per cent by 2025 and by 7.3 per cent by 2050.
“Satisfying the water needs of people, livestock and crops will be difficult, given that water capacities are weak,” states NAPA. Countering the adverse impacts of climate change, it adds, will need the involvement of all national actors -- from government to local communities -- and adequate assistance from the international community.
In his annual “state of the nation” address in late March, then Prime Minister Paramanga Ernest Yonli cited a number of actions taken over the past year alone: developing small-scale irrigation projects on 26,000 hectares of land and training thousands of farmers in irrigation techniques and water management, as part of a decade-long plan to promote irrigated farming; starting or completing construction of more than two dozen dams and water reservoirs; “adapting to climate change” by extending an experimental project to seed clouds in arid Sahelian zones; producing more than 8 mn tree seedlings to replant 13,000 hectares of land; building more than 1,660 kilometres of “living hedges” as wind breaks; rehabilitating nearly 4,000 hectares of degraded land; fixing sand dunes over nearly 350 hectares in the Sahel; encouraging farmers to adopt seed varieties that require less water, such as high-yielding cassava and New Rice for Africa (Nerica).
Civil society groups are actively helping to train farmers conserve water, topsoil and vegetation and introducing practices that preserve the environment and increase yields. According to Henriette Ouédraogo, president of the Ragussi Association, a group of 60 women shea butter producers, her group seeks to raise women’s awareness of the risks of cutting trees and the hazards of using certain kinds of chemical pesticides and fertilizers.
These groups have formed the Network of NGOs and Associations for the Protection of the Environment (ROAPE). Coordinator, Paul Bayili, believes that civil society can play a key role in helping people understand climate change and in developing responses. “ROAPE wants to popularize the idea of climate change, with government support,” Mr. Bayili told Africa Renewal.
At a regional workshop on climate change, organized by ROAPE in March, participants recognized the importance of raising the awareness of the general public and also of elected officials, decision-makers and managers of urban zones and forest preserves.
According to Mr. Honadia of NAPA, partnerships with the government and NGOs, as well as with technical experts, rural producers and donor agencies, are essential for confronting Burkina’s environmental challenges. “Dialogue is needed,” he told Africa Renewal. Through partnerships, it will be possible to develop projects that benefit from on-the-ground experience and involve all actors. In that way, no one will be pushed to the margins, and “everyone can agree to move forward.”