My issues with the environment and climate change

I knew not much about climate change when I first wrote a poem on the environment http://www.voicesnet.org/displayonepoem.aspx?poemid=79967 , years ago during my sojourn in Lagos, Nigeria. But I was conscious all was not well with man’s inhumanity to planet earth.

It was not until 2009 that my consciousness blossomed during a science safari to Kenya’s South Rift Valley, where the East African pastoralists battled with severe draught – the rains will not come and water bodies had dried up, leaving cattle and man to compete for water to survive http://www.agfax.net/radio/detail.php?i=287&s=b .

Yet back home in Ghana, the abundance of water had saddened some communities with attendant flooding. So was the situation; the severity of extreme conditions of draught and flood experienced by people in different parts of Africa.

The unexpected changes in the weather had indeed become a reality but people had least information what to do in the changing weather patterns – farmers especially were worried about when to plant as the seasons became increasingly unpredictable http://www.agfax.net/radio/detail.php?i=443 .

In the midst of these realities, attitude towards the environment – forests, water bodies, waste management and land degradation through resource exploitation – remained largely pathetic.

My desire to act local in environmental protection and promotion was inspired by two exceptional drives to green the environment – the activism of Prof. Wangari Maathai to grow forests within the city of Nairobi and Johannesburg’s tree planting project http://kadafricana.blogspot.com/2011/11/changing-our-ways-before-were-changed.html . I wondered why my own city – Kumasi – had not lived up to the enviable accolade as ‘The Garden City of West Africa’!

Indeed I have always had a strong will to use my media platforms to champion issues of the environmental sustainability http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201303/103317.php due to its importance to sustainable development http://www.agfax.net/radio/detail.php?i=514 . Unfortunately, specialization in journalism is a challenge and man must do a little bit of everything to stay in business.

My strategy therefore has been to use every opportunity to write about the environment http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201303/103097.php , even in my focal business and economic reporting. Hence, I prioritized Green Initiatives like promotion of clean cook stoves, http://www.ghanamma.com/2013/02/lpg-price-hike-to-worsen-ghanas-depleting-forest/ efficient energy alternatives http://www.new-ag.info/en/developments/devItem.php?a=2796 and waste recycling http://business.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201205/87382.php as well as carbon financing and trading opportunities http://business.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201301/100688.php .

I have passion for farming, food and agribusiness and it naturally falls in line with my quest to write on the environment. With over 70 percent of Africa’s population in small-scale farming, the impact of climate change would surely be telling on the sector with rippling impact on the gains in all other sectors of local economies.

Unfortunately, working in urban radio does not give enough room for a journalist to engage local communities with information on adapting to the changing climate. I was therefore humbled to learn the experience of Radio Ada and the impact of the community radio on the lives of the farming population in the Ghanaian locality. With very limited resources – semi-experienced staff, volunteering hands, poor broadcasting equipment and low advertising revenue – the radio station is indeed serving humanity.

 

This was my story, thanks to the support from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) and WRENmedia, UK. This radio piece http://www.agfax.net/radio/detail.php?i=489 reflected my desire to use journalism to impact positively on society for development.

The politicians, blue chip firms and people in white colour jobs can always have their way through in media engagements, either by means of their influence, power or financial muscle. But who lends a voice to the voiceless, especially the poor farmer who produces food to feed all others?

My will is to use the least opportunity to support to upliftment of the poor, vulnerable and helpless segments of society through qualitative engagement with people in power and authority to change for the best.

The joy is to see the farmer harvesting higher yields, getting markets to sell produce, recording low waste, earning enough to cater for the health and education of the family and living a happy life.

If this comes with recognition of the reporter, we can only glorify God for the opportunity to lighten our small corner.

I therefore wish to thank the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), the United Nations Environment Programme and supporting partners for instituting the annual African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting (ACCER) Awards http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201305/106951.php .

I did not pick the ultimate award but I was honored to have emerged 3^rd best in the maiden Awards gala night in Nairobi http://edition.myjoyonline.com/pages/news/201306/107293.php and indeed humbled by messages from friends, colleagues, personalities and institutions:

“Kofi really deserves this award. He is one journalist who really cares about the environment. SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana wishes him well....”

“Congrats Kofi Domfeh. I know you deserve it. I have previously called you to express my personal satisfaction for your environmental reporting. Soon, we will have the proposed workshop on environmental reporting. Congrats again” – Bossman Owusu, Tropenbos International Ghana.

“In my estimation you deserve more than this, but this could be the beginning of the emergence of a breakaway brand in Ghanaian Journalism. God Bless!” – Nyaaba Aweeba-Azongo.

The PACJA training for journalists and communication officers on climate change issues was great and I’m confident the formation of the new Pan African Media Alliance on Climate Change (PAMACC) will be the beginning of a raising awareness of critical matter of our lives.

But I’ve come to the understanding that life is full of challenges and that make the world interesting.

A case in point is my encounter with a Kenyan Police officer on the day of the Awards: I had managed to squeeze few Kenyan Shillings to buy some stuff from the Massai Market on the Mombasa Road. This so-called officer in plain clothing stops me right in the city centre and speaks Ki-Swahili to me. Of course I did not understand a hoot of what he was talking about and surely got apprehensive. This officer flares up and threatens to arrest me “for being rude to a police officer”. Matters calmed after few exchanges and interventions, mainly on the grounds of my profession.

After picking the award, some colleagues teased that I may have been in custody at the time my name came up as second runner-up. We made fun of the incident but this got me pondering what life is without some interventions? What is life when you cannot get help from anyone? Why should we live without thinking about the wellbeing of others???

As I returned home from the Nairobi trip, I watched my mentor, Kwaku Sakyi Addo on TV talk about his life and career and his parting words for young journalists were profound: “That story you are writing is a draft of your own recommendation”.

This is my providence: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom”, Ecclesiastes 9:10.

Asante!