African plants crying over impacts of climate change

The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has, for the past 18 months, engaged indigenous forest communities on an initiative aimed at creating an enabling environment for effective uptake of forest conservation in three African countries.

In the face of the devastating impacts of climate change on African rural communities, forest dwellers and indigenous people, the capacity building project for African civil society and indigenous communities in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Community representatives, at the training session in Narok, Kenya, shared stories on the impact of climate change in their locality. “The rain is running away even from our vegetables,” said Titus Sururu, an elderly man who observed the alarming rate at which his community is being impacted by climate change over the years.

“Nowadays, the rain chooses where it falls, it does not rain on our farms but on trees in the forest,” stated John Nkuito, another community representative.

The two week training held in the Mau Forest region is part of a series to provide valuable pool of forest ecosystem knowledge on the national and cultural landscape. This should guide trade-offs and critical land use, provide local and indigenous communities with capacity to measure and monitor carbon stocks within private, public and communal landscapes among others.

In ensuring gender issues are mainstreamed in the project, PACJA held sessions on engendering the management of the forest ecosystem, taking into consideration in climate change adaptation and mitigation.

The participant underscored the urgent need to conserve the forest and derive all the benefits that come with the practice.

The Community Chief, Samson Kahare lauded PACJA’s efforts in amplifying the voice of the voiceless and going ahead implement practical projects that have direct benefit to the people at the grassroots.

Samson Ogallah, Programme Manager at PACJA called on the participants to put into practice all what they learnt from the training.

“PACJA will not relent in its effort in advocating for pro poor and people centred policy that will address the challenges of Climate Change in Africa and its impacts on the people especially the indigenous people and communities,” he added.