Climate change continues to destabilize lives and livelihoods in Cameroon, with children bearing the greatest brunt. A lot of these climate impacts remain unreported or under-reported. Voice of Nature (VoNat) and its partner, Meg Wah (My Earth), recently engaged kids and youths in recording climate impacts in Douala-Cameroon. This was within the framework of their annual climate advocacy programme dubbed EcoKids funded by Earth Rising Foundation.
Under the guidance of the EcoKids Project team from both VoNat and Meg Wah, the youngsters from over five communities in Douala, moved to flood-prone communities identifying and recording vital data about the effects of floods on the lives and livelihoods of the residents in different parts of Douala. They young climate ambassadors also gathered information from locals on the effect of excessive use of inorganic fertilizers on food quality and health of the population of Douala.
A Bonaberi-based lady, one of those interviewed by the children recounts her ordeal with floods, a climate-induced disaster; “when there are heavy rains, water enter right into our houses, destroy our dresses and property. Continuous exposure to water as a results of floods often come with health challenges like fungi infections, malaria and cholera amongst others”.
A 70-year-old father also interviewed by the young conservation ambassadors told the children that the use of inorganic fertilizer to boost crop yields has long term health consequences. “When you use chemical fertilizer to grow crops, they get into the food that we eat. In the long run, it will give you health challenges like cancer, high blood pressure etc,” he said.
The data collected, reinforced the climate change education lessons earlier given to the youngsters and further enlightened them on the need to prioritize the use of organic fertilizers. They will be translating the information gathered into media arts tools that will be used for an advocacy campaign to build community resisilence against climate change and its impact and against the use of chemical fertilizers.