GEO-6 for Youth: Africa
Tajiel Urioh
Enhancing livelihoods in Niger through sustainable agriculture
Sustainable Land Management (SLM) practices and technologies can be applied in a diversity of combinations according to local environmental and climatic conditions of the areas exploited, in order to enhance productivity, better livelihoods, and re-establish ecosystem services. Accordingly, SLM greatly contributes to CSA and strengthens food security and smallholders’ prosperity (Bunning, McDonagh and Rioux 2011). Positive impacts of SLM practice on productivity and resilience of agricultural land have been proven not only in Niger, but also in several other countries such as Kenya, Ghana, etc. (Branca, McCarthy, Lipper and Jolejole 2011). SLM practices include the following: using improved varieties for seed diversity in the same crop; water harvesting and irrigation; applying the “Zaï” or tied ridges techniques for better soil moisture; using cover crops to lessen erosion and nutrient leaching; rotating crops with the use of legumes to increase soil fertility and lower dependence on chemical fertilizers; reducing or eliminating tillage to keep soil moisture; using compost, green and animal manure to increase soil fertility; incorporating tillage residues to increase soil water retention; and incorporating crops and livestock to have access to animal manure (Branca, McCarthy, Lipper and Jolejole 2011).
Youth Action 15: The Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network, Cameroon
The Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network (CSAYN) was created in 2014 by Divine Ntiokam, a young Cameroonian. Its goal was to provide youth with a platform to effectively adopt CSA concepts for positive action in adaptation, reducing emissions (mitigation), increasing food productivity and creating green jobs. This network has now spread to at least 20 African countries facilitating peer-to-peer learning on CSA. CSAYN has learnt from experience that the agriculture sector presents an opportunity to generate home-grown prosperity in the African continent. With increased agricultural productivity and sustainable livelihoods achieved through CSA, the agriculture sector can once again become attractive to young people, thereby stemming grave unemployment consequences like illegal and unsafe migration to Europe.
Youth Action 16: Tanzanian youth tackling climate change-induced water scarcity
Green Icon is a youth group that is based in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania. It has partnered with Tengeneza Generation to provide water for Babayu Village in a semi-arid region of the central United Republic of Tanzania. Before Green Icon’s intervention, this semi-arid region was already facing water challenges that were exacerbated by several factors, key among them being a changing climate (Mkonda et al. 2018).
Community members in Babayu village were mostly dependent on a natural spring called ‘Dundo’ as their primary source of water. The gradual decline of this water source left them at a loss.
It is against this backdrop that the Green Icon and Tengeneza Generation came together to solve the challenge of water supply in Babayu Village. They sourced for and acquired funds for drilling a borehole, installing a solar-powered water pump and related infrastructure for water supply in Babayu. After completion of project, more than 80 households and 500 pupils from a local primary school started to enjoy access to safe and clean water from the borehole.
Accompanying this water access project was practical training for youth and women groups on climate resilient farming practices. These training sessions were further supported by a village extension officer.
Youth Action 17: Potential of CSA for Malawian youth
In Malawi, a study to document Best Practices and Lessons learnt under the National Climate Change Programme (NCCP) shows that the NCCP employed a deliberate strategy to target and engage women and youth in CSA through income-generating activities such as integrated fish farming, goat production and gravity-fed irrigation farming of valuable crops including tomatoes and green maize. This was done to reduce the inherent finance-related vulnerability associated with these social groups (Malawi, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning 2011).
Green Icon’s Solar-Powered Project
One of the project beneficiaries was a fish farming group in Mulanje. Chifundo Kananji, one of the group members reported that, “I already had a fish pond but the project supportedmewith fingerlings, a goat, and ducks. I use the droppings
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