Ghana Disaster Youth Brigades aid Indigenous communities

DW (English)

Many in Ghana's Indigenous communities are focused on appeasing spirits to combat climate change. But Youth Brigades are helping to educate locals on what practices they can adopt and behaviors they can change to help address the problem.

Transcript

00:00They all want the same thing, to do something about climate change.

00:07The disaster youth brigade is challenging traditions in their community of Nanyeri,

00:12because the dry seasons are lasting longer and the harvests are getting smaller.

00:18The rainmaker, however, still relies on old rituals.

00:22We are keeping the tradition of our forefathers.

00:28Whenever there is drought, we need to perform sacrifices to our ancestors.

00:32That's what they were doing to get abundant food and rain.

00:35If you don't perform these rites, it won't rain properly.

00:42Due to human-induced climate change, weather extremes are also becoming noticeably stronger

00:46here in northeastern Ghana.

00:48The normal rainy seasons are failing to occur, replaced by sandstorms or torrential downpours.

00:54In the Nanyeri community, more and more farmers have planted their fields right up to the

00:58banks of the river, where the land is more fertile.

01:02But during the heavy rains, the river overflows its banks and crops are often lost.

01:07This is why the youth brigade marks out the riverbank areas that are not to be planted.

01:12The young people are volunteers who have been trained by the National Disaster Management

01:16Organization, or NATMO for short.

01:18NATMO people educate us and form this group.

01:23So we are able to talk to our chief and the elders, and they are supporting us.

01:27So they say, any effort we should do so that the flooding will reduce, and we say then

01:35this year we have to measure a limit away from the river so that if we are not farming

01:44close to the river, the flooding will reduce.

01:48Growing crops too close to the riverbed has negative consequences for the environment,

01:53scientists warn.

01:56When they farm close to water bodies, the size of the water body begins to reduce.

02:03Then also erosion takes place, and you have deposition of silt in the bed.

02:09Once the water body reduces, it means that the amount of, invariably it will affect the

02:14amount of rainfall you have in an area.

02:18Rainfall is also affected by rampant deforestation.

02:21When harvests fail, the sale of firewood and charcoal is the only alternative source

02:25of income.

02:27Then the villagers cut down even more trees, a vicious cycle.

02:31Because the fewer the trees, the less it rains.

02:37The volunteers of the brigade discuss all these issues with the villagers.

02:41Bushfires are a recurring theme.

02:43People set them during the dry season to make it easier to hunt game.

02:50When there is a fire outbreak, we go to put it out and investigate the cause.

02:57If someone deliberately set the fire, the person is summoned before the elders and fined.

03:05Keeping a good environment is the best way to enjoy our lives here.

03:11The campaigners raise awareness among villagers.

03:16We've been getting fewer rains in recent years, and instead severe storms that destroy

03:21our homes.

03:22That's why I believe the young people, if they tell us to plant trees instead of cutting

03:25them down, it's better than our old practices.

03:28Sumaila Nashiro is proud that his messages are being heard.

03:32The villagers used to regularly cut down trees here.

03:35The landscape was bare until they started reforesting three years ago.

03:41The villagers now only take individual branches for firewood instead of cutting down the whole

03:45tree.

03:47The youth brigade received support from both national and international sponsors.

03:51Together with the villagers, they were able to plant five more hectares of acacia trees.

03:57This is the acacia park land.

04:01As we stopped the women from cutting the trees for firewood and also burning charcoal, so

04:08we planted this acacia for the next three years or two years coming, so they can get

04:15firewood for preparing their food.

04:20The local organization's project managers regularly visit Nanyere to find out how things

04:25are going.

04:26They also give tips on how the villagers can protect themselves from storms or floods,

04:31such as plant more indigenous trees to create windbreaks.

04:34After three years, the program manager makes an initial assessment.

04:38We believe that this is an important strategy and initiative that should be adopted by other

04:42actors.

04:43One community at a time, we can manage climate change.

04:47It's all of us, our efforts together that will ensure that our environment is safe for

04:52us and for future generations.

04:56This also includes regularly collecting plastic that would otherwise be blown around by the

05:00wind.

05:01Such youth brigades now exist in five communities in northeastern Ghana.

05:05Twenty volunteers are always active there, taking the many small steps together with

05:09the villagers to at least counteract anthropogenic climate change on a local level.

Category

Transcript

Recommended