Nukunonu Lagoon, Tokelau. Credit: Cloudsurfer/Wikicommons

By Happy Ntsanwisi – Nthavela Newspaper*

DURBAN, Dec 9 – (TerraViva) The 1,500 people of Tokelau have a top-priority interest in climate talks: the highest point on any of the three atolls that make up their home in the Pacific Ocean is only five metres above sea level.

This New Zealand-administered territory is present at the U.N. climate conference to raise its voice in support of a global deal to limit greenhouse gas emissions, and Tokelau’s leader, Foua Toloa, says the island is doing its own part.

Foua Toloa

By September 2012, the energy supply for the islands’ 1,500 people will be entirely renewable – well, 93 percent. A tiny amount of fossil fuel will still be used for cooking and running the administration’s three cars, but arrays of solar panels will take over generating electricity for the people’s needs. A custom-made generator that runs on coconut oil – oil produced right on the island – will light things up on overcast days.

Now Tokelauans need everyone else to do follow their example.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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Farmers need help to prosper: but what kind of help? Credit: FISD/IPS

DURBAN, Dec 8 – (TerraViva) Global warming poses a threat to the livelihoods of millions of people who work the land; it is a critical issue for Africa’s climate change agenda. Campaigners agree that changing weather patterns and higher temperatures could spell disaster, but they are arguing for two contrasting responses here at the U.N. climate conference in Durban.

Speakers at a Dec. 3 event titled Agriculture and Rural Development Day called for agriculture to be recognised with a formal work programme in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process, to attract attention and funding for what is termed “climate smart” agriculture.

The key themes discussed included strengthening farmers’ ability to cope with climate shocks, while reducing greenhouse emissions from agriculture and sustainably increasing productivity to meet growing global demand.

The event was attended by numerous researchers and academics, the World Food Programme and U.N. rural agency the International Fund for Agricultural Development, donors like the World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation and organisations such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

Meeting future demand for food and securing rural prosperity, they argued, requires improving access to markets and agricultural research, the expanded use of inorganic fertiliser to build soil fertility, and credits for agricultural practices that would trap carbon in soil and biomass.

Farmers were represented too, by people such as Stephen Muchiri, of the Eastern Africa Farmers’ Federation. “We want a fixed programme on agriculture. That will open up other possibilities,” he said.

Two days later, land and agrarian reform activists struck a very different tone as they marched in support of “food sovereignty’. This group, led by the global smallholder farmer group La Via Campesina, also recognises the need to reduce emissions and design adaptations to contain the threat posed to agriculture by climate change, but argues that the most vulnerable farmers (and the world’s supply of food) also face a threat from the way the economy and land ownership are set up around the world.

They say large corporations that dominate the production of seed and fertiliser, and in many cases determine the prices food and cash crops fetch are as much of a problem for small farmers as increasing climate shocks. They reject the use of chemical fertiliser or proprietary seed to boost productivity, preferring organic fertiliser and water-saving techniques such as permaculture.

For these campaigners, the key is to prevent agriculture and food production from being further dominated by business principles and big business. They are firmly against any attempts to set up a system to pay farmers to sequester carbon.

“We do not want agriculture in the negotiations because that will make it a business,” Via Campesina organiser Boaventura Monjane told TerraViva, referring to the efforts to get carbon credits for famers. “We farm to feed people not for business. If agriculture is included it will kill small-scale farmers because they will start using methods (simply) to increase carbon credits.”

They want to see measures that would give small farmers more independent control: control over their seed, control over their land, control over their wages and working conditions.

What Monjane wants from the 17th Conference of the Parties is a fresh commitment from developed countries to reduce emissions. “If there can be a treaty to influence the bloc to commit to reducing emissions. No second Kyoto Protocol without a commitment to reduce emissions by at least 50 percent.”

Muchiri, of the EAFF, does not see the Via Campesina approach as feasible. “One hundred percent organic farming is not 100 percent sustainable. If we want to increase output and meet food demands, we have to embrace different ways of improving our farming methods. Otherwise we will end up importing our food.”

They are optimistic that their calls will be heeded. With influential international organisations backing them, and South Africa’s Agriculture Minister, Tina Joemat-Petterson, among the high profile spokespersons pushing their agenda, they hope to make a mark in the conference’s final declaration.

Monjane is somewhat more pessimistic. “We do not believe in the COP. For twenty years leaders have been meeting but nothing has changed. COP is a place where government and corporate meet to use public funds and do business. Why must we believe in it?”

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 8 – (TerraViva) For a second time, people dressed in the green track suits issued to city volunteers helping out with the U.N. climate conference have clashed with protesting members of civil society. The latest incident took place at Durban’s City Hall – in the presence of South African President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma was meeting with civil society on issues of climate change, with their demand for a second commitment to replace the Kyoto Protocol top of their concerns. Civil society fears that developed countries – historically responsible for the majority of pollution – will refuse to commit to new emissions reduction targets before Kyoto expires in 2012. There are also fears that the Green Climate Fund which would pay for adaptation measures in developing countries may not be realised when the 17th Conference of Parties ends.

The Rural Women’s Assembly was represented, as were the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the National Union of Mineworkers, the South African Council of Churches and numerous environmental organisations.

Activist Rehad Desai was forced out of the public meeting with President Zuma. Credit: Ramatamo wa Matamong/TerraViva

While KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize was introducing the event, a campaigner held up a sign reading “Stand with Africa! No to Durban Mandate!” Volunteers in the green track suits moved to take it. When film-maker and activist Rehad Desai tried to intervene, and he and several others were wrestled out of the hall.

“They pushed me to the floor and kicked me in the face,” said Desai.

“We were called to come here and express our feelings, this message on the placards is exactly how we feel,” said Samson Mokwena from the Vaal Triangle. “I think these volunteers are being used for cheap political campaigning.”

The action recalls what happened of the start of the Global Day of Action march on Saturday, when volunteers wearing the official tracksuits, issued by the City of Durban to its COP 17 volunteers disrupted the beginning of the march, which had been organised by a coalition of environmental groups including Greenpeace.

Mkhize, convener of the meeting, called everyone to order and stressed that the gathering was not intended for demonstrations, but as an interaction between President Zuma and civil society. “We need to respect each other and raise our views accordingly.”

Taking the floor, rural women told the president to take the lead as the hosting country to encourage parties to commit to Kyoto 2, otherwise small-scale farming will continue to suffer. COSATU said hosting COP 18 in Qatar was inappropriate, given that country’s infamously repressive labour laws.

“As labour movement, we don’t see it a desirable destination, it is not clear how our role is going to be or ever we will be allowed to go there,” said COSATU President Sdumo Dlamini.

Other civil movements said if there is no commitment to a successor to Kyoto, hundreds of millions of people across Africa – people who bear no responsibility for the ruin of the planet – have been condemned to misery, insecurity, dislocation and death.

The world is currently headed for a minimum average temperature rise of four degrees – which would spell an increase of between six and eight degrees for most parts of Africa.

Before responding to the concerns raised by activists, Zuma also condemned the commotion that had unfolded before his eyes. “We defeated the apartheid regime by talking and debating around the table, not with violence. We are here with different views, but let’s tolerate each other.”

Zuma then attempted to dispel the rumour that South Africa has broken away from other African Countries in negotiations. “This is not true. As Africans, we remain united and are one voice for a common goal.”

He said he had taken note of their concerns, but seemed to have disappointed some when he said there are some countries that are more powerful than others.

“Unfortunately there is nothing we can do, we will never be equal. There are those countries in the history of United Nations that have veto rights. Even if we vote on issues, if they don’t want to participate, they are free to do that,” he said.

“However as African colleagues, we remain committed on adaption and mitigation. The rich countries must help developing ones through the Green Climate Fund,” he concluded.

Civil society was not satisfied. “He was vague and lacked details. We are calling for a fair and a binding agreement,” said Desmond D’Sa, a leader of the South Durban Community for Environmental Alliance.

“Zuma must listen to people. South Africa has enough power to influence both EU and U.N. to push the boundary of poverty and inequality.”

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 8 – (TerraViva) Some very enthusiastic and excited teachers and environmentally aware students fresh from completing their year-end exams visited the U.N. climate conference this week.

Youth from Zwelibanzi High School in Umlazi at the COP. Credit: Andre Marais/TerraViva

The group came from at Zwelibanzi High School in Umlazi just outside Durban, a township ravaged by poverty and unemployment and a high incidence of AIDS.

TerraViva spoke to teachers Zonke Msholo, Zamo Mbatha and Busi Ngwenya who seemed as delighted as their young charges as they toured exhibitions and activities at the climate conference.

Q: How has your school involved learners to participate in environmental issues on a practical level?
A: We have many single household families in Umlazi, but also many child-headed families, and they are all going through difficult economic times. So food garden projects become very important as a source of cheap food for our communities.

Learners are centrally involved in planting and caring for these gardens. Despite many challenges, they have proven to be very dedicated and enthusiastic about the gardens.

We have integrated environmental awareness in our school programme and curriculum, in subjects like social science, natural science and life orientation. But we will definitely also take the knowledge and materials we have gathered here and apply them in our teaching.

Q: What are the challenges?
A: I would say it’s maintaining interest from parents and the community, but even that is improving. The school is really a second home for many of our learners. But poverty and malnutrition are made worse by AIDS and the cost of HIV to families.

Q: What support do you receive from the education department?
A: They provide the feeding scheme which our food gardens supplement. The department has encouraged our initiative, but of course more can be done.

Q: How many of your learners do you think will consider environmental jobs as a career option?
A: Well, many of them already have an interest in the area of science. We must wait and see…

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 8 – (TerraViva) After winning the award for best stand at the exposition outside the climate conference, Cape Town’s striking entry is continuing to score big in terms of the number of visitors per day.

Outside the distinctive building made of green and black milk crates and recycled wood, there is a solar-powered stove putting the Durban sun’s rays to good use boiling water and cooking meals. Groups of visiting school children circle the perimeter, exclaiming over the lettuce and spinach growing in recycled two-litre bottles.

The building’s design keeps the interior cool without the use of electricity-hungry air conditioners, and members of Cape Town’s ClimateSmart team are taking advantage to discuss how to carry the project forward.

The outline of Table Mountain is built into the recycled crate walls of Cape Town's exhibition. Credit: Ramatamo wa Matamong/TerraViva

Cape Town’s stand won top prize after assessment by a panel of four judges drawn from various environmental organisations.

“ClimateSmart deserved this acknowledgement as they were harnessing all the power needed for their stand through a wind turbine and solar panels,” said judge Pippa Walker, from the Event Greening Forum.

“They also used plastic bottles and crates to build the walls and the roof of their stand (an innovative example of how one can recycle materials). They did so with no need for sophisticated air conditioning.”

But the team responsible is not resting on its laurels.

“Honestly, the work doesn’t end here,” says Stephen Granger, Green Campaign Manager for the City of Cape Town. “We didn’t build the four walls just for somewhere to meet people, but we built a stand that could tell a message.”

Stephen Lamb, who built and co-designed the stand agrees. “The most important thing is to think about poor people, those who are most affected. The stand can become a creator of climate jobs. In building the stand, we employed and transferred skills to local people. We’ve also used local material,” he said.

“With the support and a mandate from the government, we would like them to try and apply this. It cost literally nothing. It comes from the Mother Nature with love. The scaffolding is the only material that is not natural. This can be converted into a day care centre, an environmental centre or a mobile clinic of some sort.”

Lamb said there has been interest from the office of the mayor in Cape Town which should ensure the stand’s life extends beyond its exhibition at the conference.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 8 – (TerraViva) “One mosquito can’t do anything against a rhino, but a thousand mosquitos together can make a rhino change its direction,” said Kjell Kuhne of Global Plan Foundation under the Plant For The Planet Academy.

The academy has been doing many workshops in and around Durban, including in townships such as Inanda and Chatsworth, where they have been working at primary schools and other public institutions to expose children to be aware of the environment.

Climate justice ambassadors. Children plant trees while the adults negotiate. Credit: Khanyisile Xulu/TerraViva

Their aim is to expose children to what the future might hold for them so that they can become more environmentally conscious and fight for their future.

Plant For The Planet Academy has been explaining to children what climate change is, how it is caused and what they can do to slow it down. Planting trees is an important part of this process.

Once the children have completed the course, they become “climate change ambassadors” said Khune. As such, they are also allowed to be voted onto the board.

“Worldwide, we are already active in over 100 countries. We want to have empowered one million children in about 20 000 academies to become Climate Justice Ambassadors by 2020. As a large network of global citizens, we can change the world,” he said.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 6 – (TerraViva) A just-published study of trends in temperature, rainfall, droughts and flooding in the Sahel region of West Africa over the past 40 years provides further evidence of the threat posed by climate.

New evidence of a changing climate in the Sahel – a semi-arid savannah that stretches across West Africa from Senegal in the west to Chad in the east – has major implications for food security and regional stability.

“In the 1970s and 1980s, the Sahel suffered devastating droughts and famine that killed thousands people and forced hundreds of thousands to migrate elsewhere,” says researcher Jakob Rhyner from the United Nations University.

The report, titled “Livelihood Security: Climate Change, Migration and Conflict in the Sahel”, was released at the U.N. climate conference in Durban, and adds to the pressure to reach a new international agreement to limit global warming as well as adapt to the changes that it is already too late to prevent.

The research is a joint effort by the U.N. Environment Programme, the U.N. office of the Coordination and Humanitarian Affairs, U.N. University, the International Organization for Migration, and the permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel, with technical input from the University of Salzburg’s Centre for Geoinformatics.

The study looked at regional trends in temperature, rainfall, droughts and flooding over the past 40 years and their implications for the availability of natural resources, sustainability of livelihoods, and increased migration and conflicts in 17 West African countries

The trends show significant changes in climatic conditions between 1970 and 2006, including an overall rise in temperature of approximately one degree, with the far eastern parts of Chad and the northern parts of Mali and Mauritania warming by between 1.5 and 2 degrees Celsius.

The report identified 19 “climate hotspots” where changes have been the most severe, including sites far inland in Niger and Chad and coastal regions of Togo and Benin.

Dwindling resources make tasks like finding firewood a challenge. Credit: Ann Holmes/IPS

The report’s authors say the consequences can be seen in the loss of livestock and crops due to drought leading to not only higher food prices, but migration of farmers to find new opportunities. The changes have also increased conflict linked to competition for water and land among fishermen and farmers.

In their recommendations, the researchers said it would be important to follow-up by monitoring livelihoods throughout the region: keeping a close watch on changes in the availability of resources and any linked migration and conflict. Systematic data collection and early warning mechanisms will also be important.

Researchers urge investing in renewable energy sources to create jobs and income for farmers and herders, such as building and maintaining solar installations.

They called for support for smallholder farmers, including tips for farming in the new conditions and assistance to expand production of valuable organic cash crops for export. It may also be essential to introduce new crops that can withstand harsh climates.

Speaking to TerraViva separately, Nick Nuttal, from the United Nations Environment Programme, agreed. “Across the world, it is important that the right kind of crops are planted.”

Alongside support for agriculture, the researchers urge investing in renewable energy sources to create jobs and income for farmers and herders, building and maintaining solar installations for instance, to supplement their income.

They also warned that programmes must take care not to reinforce existing gender or ethnic inequalities, but should involve local participation and perspectives to reach the most vulnerable.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 7 – (TerraViva) At several sites across Southern Africa, school children are learning the principles of permaculture, a set of agricultural techniques which avoids disturbing the soil, instead keeping it covered with mulch to preserve water and fertility. TerraViva encountered a group of these children who were lucky enough to visit the U.N. climate conference along with two of their trainers.

Kerry Anne Smith and Mugrove Walter Nyika, who work for an NGO called Seeding Schools, brought ten primary school learners involved in the Regional Schools and Colleges Permaculture (Rescope) Programme in Malawi and Zambia to the 17th Conference of Parties to meet other people from like-minded organisations and broaden their exposure to environmental issues.

Q: What is the Rescope programme?
A: We are a project working in the area of permaculture. We work with communities and particularly with schools with the idea of using the school as a venue and a centrre to educate the broader and surrounding communities about the importance of permaculture. In rural areas, the school is often a multi-purpose venue for community meetings and church gatherings.

Q: What is permaculture?
A: It is an agicultural practice and a design system for creating sustainable human environments. It is a framework that farmers and communities can use which mimics the natural rhythms of nature and allows the natural processes to play their roles in the farming process.

In our project, we use a wide range of environmentally-friendly techniques such as ago-forestry and intercropping to build good agro-ecological land use systems that are in harmony with nature.

Q: How do farmers practically apply permaculture?
A: Permaculture farmers dont dig at all but prepare the land with deep sheet-mulch spread onto soil soon after the last harvest. The mulch includes crop residues, leaves, grass, termite mound dirt, compost and manure. Before the rain is expected, they make small holes in the mulch where they plant and cover the seeds.

So it is less expensive and also less work. Dry planting also gives seeds the longesst possible growing season, while a deep mulch keeps light away from weed roots so fewer weeds grow.

Q: Can you give an example of a success of your programme?
A: There have been many. There is primary school in Malawi which we transformed from a grey mud and cement structure into a beautiful green garden within a year. Complete with with trees and plants, thanks to the implementation of permaculture.

Q: How are the schoolkids involved?
A: Permaculture becomes part of their currriculum and subject areas at school – straddling geography, science and life skills – which has real practical value.

They help plant vegetable and fruit gardens. And they in turn educate their parents about using the permaculture method. It makes learning very real.

Q: You brought along a group of young people – what is the purpose of exposing them to the climate conference?
A: The children come from our different projects at schools in Malawi and Zambia. We saved up with the help of some kind individuals and organisations to make this trip.

We think it is important for them to experience this conference and learn more about environmental isuues. The trip affords them to chance to to be part of so many interesting things going on COP 17.

Q: What is the most important thing you think they will take away from the conference?
A: That we are not alone. That there are people who think like us. We met many people here who are just as passionate about permaculture.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 7 – (TerraViva) Agriculture is the sector worst affected by climate change and various farmers’ groups are here at the global climate conference in Durban, to make sure that their issues are not left out.

Limpopo farmer Mack Sekete marches for food sovereignty. Credit: Henrietta Mongala/TerraViva

On Dec. 5, hundreds of people took part in a march organised by La Via Campesina, which represents farmers and landless people all over the world. Nqobiziwe Siphiwe Mabaso from South Africa’s Landless People’s Movement, said they helped to organise the march to put pressure on world leaders.

Braam Fischer Road came to a standstill as hundreds of demonstrators, under heavy police guard, marched from Durban’s Botha Park to City Hall, not far from the COP 17 venue at the International Convention Centre, to hand over a memorandum demanding food sovereignty, meaning enough quality food for all as well as the freedom for producers and consumers to make decisions about how to get this food, rather than corporations. The marchers also demanded changes to secure land ownership for the poor, especially women, and decent wages and working conditions for farm workers.

Via Campesina is arguing for these changes as part of a shift to agro-ecology, a more sustainable model of farming to replace agribusiness-dominated, chemical-intensive agriculture that is dominant today.

Mack Sekete is a farmer from Mathlomoleng, a village in Mopane District, of the northern South African province of Limpopo Province; he and other members of the Mopane Farmers Union say that as small scale farmers, climate change impacts directly on them and affects their income.

He is in Durban at the 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) together with members of a group called Itireleng, meaning “Do it yourself” and he explains his demands in simpler terms.

“We do not want genetically-modfied seeds, we do not even want fertiliser any more, because it is killing us,” Sekete said. “We want organic farming.”

While Via Campesina and its allies took to the streets, the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions, a regional grouping of farmers, chose the corridors inside the ICC to lobby for agriculture. SACAU is pressing for the Green Climate Fund to be established, and to include mitigation finance for farmers. The idea is that farmers would be paid to use techniques that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and instead absorb carbon into plants and the soil.

People passing SACAU’s stall are invited to show their support by playing a game, throwing a ball through holes in a makeshift wall that correspond to the various demands.

Many passersby were happy to win a prize. We are yet to see if agriculture will win an instant prize at COP 17.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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Zero-emission cars on show at the U.N. climate conference are drawing the attention of passersby. Improved batteries and range make these electric cars more attractive ways to reduce emissions – but their high cost remains an obstacle for potential South African consumers.

TerraViva took an emission-free two-seater Renault Twizy car for a test drive at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. The car was effortless to drive – with its automatic gear box featuring simply forward, reverse and park. The car is fast and nippy and would be suitable for a daily city commute – after work, you can plug it into an electric socket at home in the morning the battery would be charged and ready to go. This car would be suitable if you are driving between 20 and 50 kilometres per day.

A Twizy electric car. Credit: Joseph Bushby/TerraViva

“The Twizy’s range is about 100 kilometres when fully charged,” Caroline De Gezelle, the head of media relations for Renault, told TerraViva. “The price car costs about 6,900 euro (around 9,000 dollars) and we will introduce it to the South African market. We are in negotiations with big supermarket chain stores and parking space owners to install the charging infrustruture.”

Another car on display, the Nissan Leaf, has all the features of a similar compact internal combustion engine car, including air conditioning and power steering – and thrilling acceleration, as TerraViva discovered on a trip between the stadium and Durban’s International Convention Centre. The Leaf has two options for charging: an eight-hour full charge, or a quick charge which can boost the battery from 0 to 80 percent full in just 25 minutes.

Improvements in technology, particularly new lithium ion batteries, have been key to building practical, 100 percent electric cars that are lighter and offer drivers greater range.

The Leaf: zero emissions, but at twice the price. Credit: Joseph Bushby/TerraViva

However, the price of a Leaf is set at 40,000 dollars while a comparable conventional sedan in South Africa would cost just less than half that amount.

But the electric car has no exhaust pipe, so your carbon emissions are greatly reduced – your overall footprint would depend on the source of the electricity used to recharge. South Africa’s plans for future energy production call for an increasing role for renewable sources like solar and wind, with the country aiming to reduce its overall emissions by 34 percent – compared to business as usual – by 2020.

Both the cars are already available in Europe, but not yet on sale in South Africa. Talks with the government are under way and a joint Renault-Nissan programme intends to introduce both cars to the local market.

The exhibition at the Moses Mabidha Stadium has attracted lots of attention. One visitor, Gary Colby said, “When I saw a 100 percent electric vehicle, I stopped to have a look. This would be really great for your kid who is in university or college. This looks safer than the motorbikes that are on the market nowadays. But the price freaks me out: it is just too expensive. But if government can subsidise this for us, it would be great. I for certain would buy one.”

Nissan South Africa events manager for COP 17, Joey McCall-Peat said, “The future of mobility is electric vehicles. Siemens builds the power electronics and the drive system for e-cars. Our intention is to introduce the zero-emission car to the South African market in the near future. This is a totally new form of mobility and it needs the infrastructure, such as rechargeable stations and service stations.”

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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Jolene Beukes. Credit: Andre Marais/TerraViva

DURBAN, Dec 7 – (TerraViva) Cape Town couple Johannes and Jolene Beukes travelled across the country to Durban at their own expense to attend an assembly of the world’s indigenous peoples at the Peoples’ Space, the alternative conference taking place in conjunction with the U.N. Climate Conference.

Dec. 1 had added importance for the Beukes because it marks the day known as Emancipation Day in South Africa – a commemoration of the date in 1834 when slaves in the Western Cape were legally freed from their bondage.

Cape Town was for several centuries a slave port, where the buying and selling of human cargo endured for several centuries. Many people in the Cape can trace their ancestry to this period, when slaves were brought from places like Indonesia, Malaysia, Ceylon, Mauritius, India and Mozambique and mixed with the original nomadic Khoisan herders. These diverse origins can still be seen in the faces and features of most Black Capetonians who were classified as Coloured or “mixed race” under apartheid.

Commemoration of emancipation has recently been revived, mostly thanks to the efforts of people like the Beukes; there is a renewed determination not to let South Africans forget about this shameful chapter of their history. People linked to the District Six Museum (itself marking a major forced removal of some 60,000 Black people from near Cape Town’s city centre beginning in 1966) have organised an annual vigil and night march through the city, despite regulations prohibiting the event in recent years,

“We insist that this march be held at night, because during slavery, slaves were subject to curfews and forbidden to venture out at night,” Jolene Beukes says angrily.

Turning to the question of climate change, Beukes talks about indigenous people as aardmense – people of the soil – with a strong connection to the land and conservation which has often been broken by dispossession in many places around the world.

Many of the solutions to climate change that have been put forward ignore indigenous people or even worse, threaten them with further dispossession, for example by blocking people’s use and access to forests in the name of conservation.

Along with other indigenous people gathered in Durban, Beukes wants to see a restoration of the land and sustainable use of it: an emancipation of the original inhabitants goes hand in hand with an emancipation of ecosystems from destructive development.

But how will you mark Emancipation Day at COP17 – so far away from Cape Town? I ask her.

“By spiritually connecting with others, by talking about the threats to our planet and the remaining indigenous communities in other parts of our country, with people concerned about these issues,” she replies.

“We still live with different kinds of slavery – alienated from our environment, trapped in alcohol and drugs… COP 17 gives me the opportunity to reflect with others about my past and my remarkable ancestry, but also connect with other First Nation indigenous people from around the world who have experienced similar dispossession – the details may be different but the suffering is the same.”

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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Women from the Eastern Cape at the Rural Women's Assembly. Credit: Khanyisa Sinqe/TerraViva

The women – including farm workers, farm owners, and farm dwellers from inside South Africa, and as far away as Zimbabwe and Malawi, Kenya and Senegal – were not accredited participants in the air-conditioned venue in the city centre.

Their discussions, with thoughtful analysis of issues from a truly grassroots perspective enlivened by singing and seed exchanges, took place in a marquee tent at the People’s Space, the alternative conference held at the University of Kwazulu-Natal.

Rural women are the most affected by global warming, they say. They have seen weather patterns change, causing boreholes to dry up and harvests to weaken.

Phelokazi Dlikilili, from Dimbaza in South Africa’s Eastern Cape, says that as a woman depending on natural resources, her life has been changed by a changing climate.

She and her sisters can no longer rely on the gardens they cultivate for food to eat and sell because of strange weather. “Since I was born, I have never experienced snow in the Eastern Cape, particularly in my village. But this year, Dimbaza was covered by snow. That was foreign to us.”

‘They are putting money before people’s lives. It’s not fair.’ – Constance Mogale, Landless People’s Movement

Aminata Seck, who led a group of women farmers from Senegal, said women in the West African country had been trying for a decade to persuade their government to buy into their ideas to protect small farmers from the changes.

“In 2001, we as rural Senegal women organised ourselves and came up with an initiative to build shelters where we plant organic food. We have also built dams, that will store water when it rains,” she said.

The women took an active role in the civil society march through on the Dec. 3 Global Day of Action. Addressing the crowd outside the International Convention Centre, Constance Mogale, chairperson of Landless Movement of South Africa, blamed the United States for holding up progress on a global climate pact. “The U.S is dragging its feet on this matter while people are dying. They are putting money before people’s lives. It’s not fair.”

The Rural Women’s Assembly drafted a set of five demands to the official conference, demanding that women’s role in fighting climate change be recognised, with a radical programme to grant women access to and control over half of the world’s land. They pointed out that women produce 80 percent of food eaten in Africa, and called insisted that any financial support for climate change adaptation to reflect this.

The women rejected “false climate solutions” such as carbon markets, genetically-modified organisms and biofuels, instead demanding that indigenous knowledge be at the centre of policies to promote biodiversity and repair ecosystems and livelihoods. They blamed the existing global economic system for unsustainable use of the earth, and called for trade sanctions against the countries historically responsible for most of the pollution if they refuse to cut emissions.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 6 – (TerraViva) A re-working of the Adam and Eve story into a side-splitting farce on the growing environmental crisis and its ramifications is on stage at the U.N. climate conference. This must-see political comedy draws on the traditions of vaudeville and agitprop to unpack many of the urgent issues raised around the negotiations, but with a spunk and humour absent from the ranks of grey suits inside the talks.

Never preachy or didactic, “Tipping on the tipping point”, a play by the small U.S.-based theatre company Human Nature, sets out the looming ecological catastrophe and the complicity of unaccountable corporate power with wit, enthusiasm and charm.

Jane Lapner and David Simpson started Human Nature in their home t§own in northern California about ten years ago. The touring theatre company deals with environmental and social issues. They are performing in South Africa with their daughter, Joyful Raven, playing the earth goddess Gaia, and with Angus Martin, a California musician who composed original music for the show.

Tipping the tipping point. Credit: Andre Marais/TerraViva

The show uses the Adam and Eve story with a twist, combining creation myths, corporate greenwashing and some great music to create theatre that had the audience at the Catalina Theatre on Wilson’s Wharf roaring with laughter.

“We travelled to COP 15 in Copenhagen two years ago, but did not perform there,” says Lapner. “But we just felt we had to bring this play to South Africa.”

She adds that they have tried to adapt it the local context as best they could, using familiar references to poopular culture from the U.S. and South Africa.

“This is our first visit to South Africa and although we hoped for larger audiences, it has been a wonderful experience so far,” says Simpson, who plays the roles of Adam, a corporate fat cat and an oil rig worker.

What is refreshing about the play is the way it takes the edge off the hard politics and the tendency for green campaigners to get a little high-brow and overly intellectual. That is the true power of good political theatre: to educate and entertain without diluting the central message.

Human Nature will also be staging the play as part of the Climate Jobs Campaign at the People’s Space at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Dec. 6.

Go see it! I hope this production travels post-COP 17. It deserves a wider audience.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 5 – (TerraViva) “Durban is green! I can see it!” exclaimed Nomasikizi Khonza, Mayor of Amathole Municipality in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.

Khonza led a delegation of eight from East London to attend the 17th Conference of Parties and the deliberations over a response to climate change.

Tornado damage in Amathole, Eastern Cape. Credit: TerraViva

The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces highly affected by climate change. In recent years there has been poor rainfall as well increasing numbers of extreme weather events such as tornadoes.

Farmers in a province already struggling with poverty must now cope with damage to their homes, reduced harvests and loss of livestock.

In June 2009, Khonza’s Amathole Municipality hosted a provincial conference on climate change, attended by representatives of provincial departments as well as academics, teachers and schoolchildren.

That meeting was a response to the drastic changes in weather patterns in the district. Local authorities in Amathole commissioned a study on vulnerability to climate change, and this year adopted a plan to address these weaknesses – the first municipality in the Eastern Cape to do so.

Amathole District delegation at COP 17. Credit: Phumza Sithole/TerraViva

The plan focuses on sanitation, air pollution, disaster management and infrastructure development to contain the damaging impacts of climate change.

Khanyiso Wonci, who is the municipality’s biodiversity environmental officer, said, “Amathole is participating in COP 17 by exhibiting about both funded and unfunded environmental projects, which contribute (to the response to) climate change.”

The climate conference has also given the municipality a chance network and interact with potential funders, while also getting new ideas from other stakeholders who may face similar challenges.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 5 – (TerraViva) “The atmosphere holds approximately 3.4 quadrillion liters of water in vapour form at any given time,” says Medwyn Jacobs, CEO of N&M Technologies. “We have the patented technology to harvest and condense that vapour into tested, clean, drinkable water.”

N&M Technologies water harvester.

N&M produce devices in a range of sizes, from a small one with an output of just over one litre an hour, to one that can be mounted on a trailer and towed to wherever there is an urgent need for water. Jacobs says that under the right conditions, this trailer-mounted unit can harvest as much as 5,500 liters of pure water in 24 hours.

“The humidity levels have to be 65 percent and the heat temperature 26 degrees Celsius – the ideal for maximum water harvesting.”

All the units are powered by solar energy, making them a potential solution in places where rural women must fetch water far from home for their household, or to water crops and animals. The trailer mounted unit could also be put to use in areas where surface or ground water is contaminated.

When South Africa’s Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, visited the side event on water at the U.N. climate conference in Durban to launch the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, Jacobs was quick to ask for an appointment with her. He is now waiting on her office to get in touch with him.

Medwyn Jacobs and Sukesh Bhandari from N&M Technologies. Credit: Joseph Bushby/TerraViva

SADC’s plan calls for collective action across the region, including research, raising awareness and building up the capacity of communities to respond to changing conditions while alleviating poverty. He argues that the viability of his technology must be explored as part of national and regional water strategies.

Jacobs wants to put up a pilot project with help from the government: he says the demonstration project could be ready within eight weeks. Local government would need to agree and to monitor the project. Jobs would be created in the community by a skills transfer process, with locals trained to look after their own water supply.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 5 – (TerraViva) Among the many items on display in the exhibition halls of the COP17 is something that has been around for ages and remains as useful as it was when it was first introduced.

The “wonderbag” is a simple low-tech solution to our energy needs. At COP17 everyone is being introduced to how the bag can slowly cook food until it is ready to eat. How? Warm your pot on the stove. Then, put it in this blanket bag filled with polystyrene and allow it to continue cooking.

This bag of wonders can be washed – by hand or machine – without any difficulties.

Patrick Dumisa from the Natural Balance Company which makes the bags says its advantages include that you save electricity. In addition, the food is cooked in a way that retains vitamins.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 5 – (TerraViva) Durbanite Prevan Chetty is the frontman of a rock outfit called Dismantling The Sky. This quintet combines heavy metal, classical Indian music, grunge, and R&B with an ecological message and an anti-consumerist sensibility.

The band’s distinctive sound is partly due to their use of instruments rescued from the scrap heap, such as reconditioned guitars as well as instruments built from scratch using materials like tins and plastic. Chetty dubs it “recycled metal”, suggesting the band’s fresh new take on heavy metal classics by groups such as Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin – which he credits as major influences.

Chetty is also an active campaigner for Greenpeace and considers his life as a musician an extension of his enviromental activism. He spoke to TerraViva on the sidelines of the People’s Space, the gathering organised by civil society parallel to the U.N. climate conference in Durban, South Africa.

Q: Who is your audience?
A: A cross-section of people interested in hearing new sounds and yearning for an alternative to the bling, consumerist lifestyle that is dominant at present.

Q: What is your own musical background?
A: I studied music formally both here (in South Africa) and in India – where I did a stint studying South Indian classical music – and of course I have always been an avid follower and listener of music.

Q: What is your band reacting against?
A: Against the money-driven corporatist world that is popular music today – that is emptied of all meaning for the sake of profit. We hope to reinject rock with its original rebelliousness and non-conformity.

Yes, it is rock, with wine, women and song, but it was and can be so much more, critically reflecting on society and even suggesting a way forward. Unfortunately, rock and pop lost this quite a while ago. I – and the band – want to recover it.

Q: What about the enviromental angle?
A: This is extremely important for us – and it has always been part of Indian classical music and the early pioneers of socially-conscious, issue-driven rock, like Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell. Their music is still so relevant today.

The warning signs that our planet is in danger and a need for awareness and balance was so beautifully articulated by these musicians. My band is in this tradition, but also tries to update it for the here and now.

Q: What about the Indian classical music influence on your ecological message?
A: Huge! The wisdoms contained in it are so simple but so real for us now confronted with a planetary and spiritiual crisis. Swara is both a musical term and a philosophy that talks of the self, connecting, hearing each other, communication.

Q: How many other groups like you are there in the Durban area?
A: Not many. We have a growing niche following. Recycled metal is small in this country, but international goups like Arctic Patrol does similar things.

Q: Why are you at COP 17?
A: Well, my formal education was in the area of the environment. But I have also worked for numerous environmental agencies, here and abroad, including the U.N. I was therefore naturally drawn to COP17.

Q: How can rock help in raising awareness of ecological issues?
A: Lots. It makes the message more accessible. Environmental politics tends to be a little too intellectual and elitist a times. And this can be a problem; it can alienate people with its language and terms no matter how well meant it is. In our music, we we kind of take the edge off the hard politics without diluting the message -like the troubadours of old. We are doing what musicians and performers have always done.

Q: Where can we find your music?
A: We are still working on our first CD, but we are on YouTube: just search for Dismantle the Sky.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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photos by Khanyisa Sinqe – Zithethele Community Newspaper*

DURBAN, Dec 4 – (TerraViva) “Unite against climate change” was the order of the day on Dec. 3, when Greenpeace successfully coordinated a march through the streets of Durban. Several thousand people took part, including both South African activists and campaigners from around the world who have come to Durban to make their voices heard on the issue of responding to global warming.

“World leaders are discussing the fate of our planet, but they are far from reaching a solution to climate change,” said Desmond D’Sa, a Durban environmental activist and one of the protest’s organisers.”

“Never trust a COP”, “Climate Justice Now” and “Ensure the survival of coming generations” were just some of the messages held aloft by demonstrators.

The march had to overcome an early conflict at its outset in Durban’s Botha Park, when a group of young people dressed in the green tracksuits issued to COP 17 volunteers attempted to take up a position at the head of the procession. They said they represented the African National Congress Youth League and had come to show support for President Zuma who they felt was being unfairly targeted by some of the placards and banners posters displayed by protesters.

Marshals managed to contain briefly violent confrontation between this group and members of the Democratic Left Forum; organisers negotiated an agreement that the Youth League group would march further back, with the steadying presence of members of the Rural Women’s Association between them and the DLF marchers.

The march route led through the city centre, pausing outside the International Convention Centre where the 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) deliberating over global climate treaty is taking place. Here marchers listened to speeches from representatives of youth, organised labour and the environmental movement.

A list of demands was presented to COP 17 president Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres.

Responding to the marchers’ call for greater attention to adaptation and strong support for women who form the backbone of Africa’s food production, Figueres acknowledged the importance of civil society to the process. “These are the voices we hear from the developing countries. We will make sure that the decisions taken at COP 17 will take adaptation forward.”

On her part, Nkoana-Mashabane promised the summit would be run in a transparent and manner inclusive manner. “We will ensure that we use this gathering to make sure that the demands of the many people you are representing are heard.”

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 4 – (TerraViva) The 900 yellow bicycles at the U.N. climate conference in Durban, South Africa, may not be getting heavily used now – but that will change when they reach their permanent homes sometime in the new year.

The bicycles will be donated to rural schoolchildren who have to travel more than six kilometres to school, says a South African Department of Transport official; 100 children in each province will receive a new bike.

“This is part of Shova Kalula (Easy Ride) campaign that has been operating for the past five years under our Non-Motorised Transport programme, in partnership with the Department of Education,” said Mankitseng Molokwane, head of external communications for the transport department.

More than 70,000 bicycles have already been given to rural schools by the programme.

“Our land transport is one of the biggest culprits in greenhouse gas emissions,” says Molokwane,” that’s why as the department we encourage the use of non-motorised transport such as bicycles and donkey carts as a mitigating factor to the environment. The fewer cars on the road, the better.

“

For the duration of the climate conference, the bicycles will be available to participants to use for short trips around the conference venues and the city. This not only reduces pollution, it helps ease congestion on the roads.

Minho Batek of South Korea was one of the delegates lining up to borrow a bicycle. He said it’s better to take a bike than a taxi. “Because this is walking distance, zero emissions and a bit of exercise”.

Sabelo Mpisane, Siyanda Mazubane, Vukile Lengisi and Sihle Khambule from Enjabulo senior primary school at Amahlongwa were also there testing the bicycles. “I also know how to ride a bicycle,” said a giggling Sabelo.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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Noluthando Banda. Credit: Happy Ntsanwisi/TerraViva

by Happy Pretty Ntsanwisi – Nthavela Newspaper*

DURBAN, Dec 3 – (TerraViva) Noluthando Banda comes from Newcastle, not far from where the U.N. climate conference is taking place in Durban, South Africa. She is attending the conference hoping to learn how to reduce the threat global warming poses to her community.Banda explained her hopes for the 17th Conference of Parties to TerraViva.

Q: Why are you at COP17?
A: I am here at COP17 because I see the need to interact with other people from different countries and to get to know how climate change affects them in their countries.  I would want to know the results of these discussions about climate change so that I can apply it in my own society.

Q: What do you hope will be achieved at COP 17?
A: My main goal is to get as much information as I can about climate change and how to reduce the risks so that I am not affected where I come from. I am aiming to take these strategies and start to use them immediately. I also want to educate other people who did not have opportunity to come to this conference.

Q: What problem do you have with climate change?
A: It has affected most of our precious nature such as people chopping down our beautiful forest which protected us from soil erosion. We also don’t have rainfall and this affects our farmers when they produce food for our communities.  In some areas, we don’t have water and people have to use dirty water from the streams for their households and then they become victims of cholera. Some even lose their lives.

Q: How does climate change affect you?
A: The way people are getting developed these days affects everything. People are occupying spaces for animals and using land which was supposed to be used by farmers to grow food for our communities.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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NUMSA's Philemon Shiburi says jobs and development should be protected as renewable energy sources are introduced. Credit: NUMSA

DURBAN, Dec 2 — (TerraViva) South Africa is the continent’s leading producer of greenhouse gases, largely due to generating electricity in coal-fired power stations. The country must replace these polluting plants with clean energy sources, but it must do so with care, says Philemon Shiburi.
Shiburi, the treasurer of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), is attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Durban as a representative of labour.

“South Africa must find other ways of generating energy which are climate friendly,” he said. “As a country, we are feeling the effects of global warming, especially on our agriculture. However, we have to be careful about how this new energy is introduced into our society.”

His statements were echoed by the Minister of Energy, Dipuo Peters. Speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of COP17, Peters said that South Africa was committed to move towards a low-carbon economy.

This commitment, she said, was entrenched when the President pledged that South Africa would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent – below “business as usual” levels – by the year 2020.

South African ministers speak to the press at COP 17. Credit: Henrietta Mongalo/TerraViva

The current reality, the minister said, is that more than 65 percent of South Africa’s total energy needs are met by coal. “Coal therefore plays the dominant role in our supply of energy, especially in the electricity sector where approximately 90 percent of the country’s electricity is produced in coal-fired power stations and is therefore the country’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions,” said Peters.

The Minister noted the significant contribution of the coal mining industry towards the economy; according to Statistics South Africa, contributed about 1.8 percent of GDP in 2010.

Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa, speaking at the same press conference, said the South African government was committed to managing the transition to a climate resilient, equitable and internationally competitive lower-carbon economy and society in a manner that simultaneously addressed South Africa’s over-riding national priorities for sustainable development, job creation, improved public and environmental health, poverty eradication and social equality.

Although the era of using fossil fuel was coming to an end, NUMSA feared that if alternative energy is forced upon South Africa, which is still a developing country, then unemployment would rise and jobs would be shed in the coal mines which are supporting Eskom in generating energy. The union therefore wanted solar energy production to be phased in over time, and for equipment to be manufactured in South Africa in order to create jobs.

Shiburi noted that many rural households still do not have electricity which makes it difficult for them to access the news, have internet access and use many basic household gadgets. NUMSA would like to see more villages being electrified as this would lead to other infrastructure developments, access to information and general improvement of the standard of living of the people.

Speaking to TerraViva, Choma Ramos, a member of Jubilee South Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development (JSAPMDD), agreed that any action to reduce climate change should not affect jobs.

However, Ramos said that mining depletes natural resources and does not have a long-term positive impact on the people who work in them or in the surrounding environment: “Mines are owned by the big corporates who only want profit. The workers only benefit very little money as salaries but spend the rest of their lives at risk because of climate change and health problems as a result of working in the mines,” she said.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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Isak Kruiper fears his generation will outlive its home in the Kalahari desert. Credit: Ramatamo wa Matamong/TerraViva

DURBAN, Dec 2 — (TerraViva) Isak and Toppies Kruiper have made their way across the country with a message, travelling all the way from their home in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa’s Northern Cape Province to the United Nations Climate Conference taking place in the port city of Durban on the eastern coast.

The two men have come to the 17th Conference of Parties (COP 17) following in the footsteps of David Kruiper, the late headman of the Bushmen, who worked throughout his life to defend the rights and way of life of his people.

“Jy weet, ek was gebore in die Kalahari,” says Isak Kruiper. “I was born and bred in the Kalahari. I love the Kalahari and would like to someday die in the Kalahari. But what is busy happening now, it looks to me that the Kalahari will die before us. And that is the reason why we are here at COP17.”

The two men spoke to TerraViva outside Durban’s International Convention Centre, slightly awed by their surroundings but determined to get their message across.

“We don’t know all the fancy technology of today we are just ordinary people who wants ordinary things. Look after our kids and the Kalahari,” Kruiper continued.

“The Kalahari, where we stay, is hot and dry and getting increasingly hotter and dryer by the day. The natural resources that we had, like the vegetation, are dying out due to the very little rain and this makes food scarce for the wild (animals), so they move further and further away from us. You know we cannot jump over the fences but they can.”

According to a report from the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, rising temperatures, dune expansion and increased wind speeds results in the loss of vegetation and impacts on traditional cattle and goat farming practices.

The Bushmen are in many cases forced to live near boreholes drilled by the government, dependent on these for water.

Global warming is also causing similar problems elsewhere – in the Namib Desert, indigenous people are struggling to make a living. Far away in Asia, herders in Mongolia are enduring winters with temperatures more than 30 degrees below zero, killing off livestock and driving them to settle in towns.

Back in the Kalahari, Isak Kruiper fears for his way of life. “It becomes impossible to transfer our indigenous knowledge to our kids, because we must always look for something to eat. We want the government and every concerned group to please listen and help us.”

“Met armoede gaan ons te gronde,” said Kruiper.  “Any help to the San communities would be welcome and appreciated.”

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

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DURBAN, Dec 2 — (TerraViva) World Aids Day might not have been on the official agenda at the U.N. Climate Conference this week, but it was certainly on the minds of many who gathered to talk about finding a global solution to climate change.

Handing out information packs at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Credit: Ramatamo wa Matamong/TerraViva

At the civil society event at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, members of the Students’ HIV Unit distributed packs with HIV/AIDS information and free condoms to motorists at the entrance to the campus. The students encouraged people to get tested for HIV, blood sugar level and high blood pressure.

“(Even) If you are not infected, you are affected. That’s our message and we wish delegates can take five to ten minutes of their time to observe this significant day,” said student activist Nokuthula Zondi.

Can we link HIV/AIDS and Climate change?

“That’s a tough one,” Zondi responded. “I think everything that is in universe affects all of us. I see their impact as the same, especially when young people are dying despite the potential to bring scientific solutions to the problem.”

Closer to the International Convention Centre, where the official climate negotiations of COP 17 are taking place, members of TAC – the Treatment Action Campaign – from uMgungundlovu district gathered at a park. They said they were marching against charlatans who falsely claim to have a cure for HIV, misleading people in an attempt to make quick money.

“However, we believe COP 17 is a very important platform to raise critical issues of air pollution that will bring a long-lasting solution to health. People living with HIV need quality food and air,” said Richard Shandu, provincial TAC coordinator.

Climate change activists warn that the two issues are linked.

Sanna Salmela, a Finnish delegate of the Red Cross, says HIV/AIDS and climate change both target vulnerable groups. “If you are sick, you need a clean environment.”

Households living with HIV/AIDS often face loss of income or food security due to the ill health of a breadwinner, or when one family member must give up time to care for another; this can make it harder for a farming family to cope with climate changes such as drought or flooding, for example.

Salmela says the pandemic and global warming are two global challenges, which should be addressed with equal intensity. “Successful talks on climate change will result in generally improved health for the population.”

“Both HIV/AIDS and Climate Change compete for the same resources and have similar implications. The impact varies. Developing countries are more at risk than developed ones,” says Hopeton Peterson of Jamaica, Institute of sustainable development.

And some delegates seemed to agree. “It was so heart-warming when I heard one of our state delegates remarking on HIV; he was even wearing a ribbon in commemoration of this day,” said Aria St Louis, an environmental specialist from Grenada.

* Community media coverage of COP 17 is being supported by the Media Development & Diversity Agency of South Africa, which is promoting the participation of local journalists through a programme of training and reporting on climate change.

(END/2011)

Cebile Dlamini and Bethusile Dlamini

Land activists Cebile Dlamini and Bethusile Dlamini from the Swaziland Rural Women’s Assembly in Manzini Village are attending the C17 at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Their motto is “Guardians of Land, life and love”. Mongalo Henrietta (Ngulunews, Sekhukhune, Limpopo) and Phumza Sithole (Rainbow News, Butterworth , Eastern Cape) spoke to them.

Q: Why are you attending COP17?    
We are here because this is a very important meeting of people from all over the world who are going to discuss a serious problem that is affecting our lives. What we eat comes from nature and climate change affects nature and, therefore, affects also what we eat.

Q: What do you hope to achieve at this meeting?
For us, this is a networking session. We are going to meet rural women from other countries. They will give us information of how they solved their crisis. We will also have an opportunity to learn about different crops which can sustain us that maybe we can plant. Maybe our methods of planting etc. are not good, and then they will advise us.

Q: Do you think what you are expecting is practical? Are you hopeful that you will achieve what you came here for?
We are hopeful that we will be able to achieve our aim from COP17. As we said, many people will be here and we will exchange information and share our experiences.

Q: What problems do you have with climate change?
We survive on farming. In the recent years, our crop yield has gone down. Our maize is not big anymore. The corn is small and we believe it is as a result of climate change. The rain does not rain as expected. We used to know which months are rainy seasons and plan our crop production. Recently, things have changed. Rains are irregular and it rains whenever, however, making it difficult to plan our production.

Q: How does climate change affect you in the area where you live?    
In Swaziland there is serious economic crisis. We need to boost our agriculture so that we can have food. Small scale farmers must be able to sustain their farms to make sure that we stop poverty. Climate change is affecting us badly because it is a threat to our farms and our source of food and income.

Archbishop Moletelo Molaba

By Khanyisa Sinqe,
Zithethele Community Newspaper

The City of Durban, South Africa, has gone complete green. Delegates from nearly 200 countries are meeting in South Africa from November 27 to December 9 for major climate talks. Yet many around the central Durban venue have their own understanding about global warming and climate change.

Archbishop Moletelo Molaba of Tababusiwo Village in Phuthaditjhaba in the Free State believes climate change is a sign. The 52-year-old preacher says he is so surprised at how people have suddenly responded to the call of taking charge in the fight against climate change. He has, he says, been preach for the last 10 years that the world is coming to an end.

“To me, COP17 is a revelation because ten years ago God called me to tell his people about the world that is coming to an end. I have been preaching this gospel in Free State Province and surrounding villages but people are ignorant – they never paid attention. But now,  that the scientists and experts are having dialogues, people are listening,” he said.

Molaba says if people can take notice and be observant of things that are happening now, and compare them with life before, they will know that it is God speaking to them.

“Today we are dying because we are sick, hungry.  Back in the days, we never died because of hunger. We used to plant and eat from the soil. There was never a high rate of people who were dying of unusual diseases; there were no heavy rains that ended up being floods; there was no drought. We used to drink from rivers … there was no water pollution. Life was simple and easy. Now, the experts are coming with big names like global warming and climate change,” he explained.

The man-of-cloth says he vacated his job as a miner to answer God’s calling to teach and preach about the world that comes to an end. Durban is a “great platform” for him to be heard because all the nations are gathering together.

Jacob Sehloho

Rastafarian Jacob Sehloho of Carletonville has come to COP 17 because he believes in taking care of the earth. Sehloho says his belief and religion go hand-in-hand with protecting Mother Nature from coming to an end because of people who contaminate earth.

“Yeh! Sister me as Rasta, and a Youth Climate Change Forum member, I believe and support this great initiative. Because of that reason, man, that is why am here. And even in my area, I preach the gospel of saving our earth,” he said.

Sehloho said in his organisation teaches and educates people – young and old – to take care of the earth and stop polluting.

Durban’s Reunion Secondary pupils are also taking part in COP17. The students say their school has been a running project to save the world because they believe that the world is in their hands.

“In our school, we have taken it upon ourselves to be part of this great world initiative,” said Grade 11 pupil Ntlantla Zungu.

“In our school, we have adopted the slogan that says: ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ where we collect and recycle and reuse. We want to take charge in saving our world.”

Therese Marwel says pollution is hampering food production

Therese Marwel from Harare, Zimbabwe, says climate change is making it difficult for women in rural areas. Khanyisa Sinqe, from Zithethele Community Newspaper in Port Elizabeth spoke to her.

Q. Why are you attending COP17?
A. The reason why I am here is because I am a farmer and climate change and global warming is affecting us very badly. Even as we plant food, we no longer producing as much because of air pollution, and our cattle are dying because the grass is no longer green.

Q. What do you hope to achieve from being here?
A. We, as woman from from all over the world, hope that our voice could be heard. We are not saying that the industries and firms must shut down. All we are asking is they must be environmentally friendly.

Q. Personally, what problems have you encountered in regard to climate change?
A. Tjo! Me, I have 12 children and each and every  day I have to walk five kilometers to fetch 40 litres of water  because the rivers nearby are dry. I have to save that water so that the entire family will bath all in one and the same water and we will then use that to water our food gardens. It is hectic.

Q. How has climate change change your life?
A. You know what… it changed my life a lot. Starting from my children refusing to go to school because they are hungry, our husbands are angry because they are hungry … the crime rate is very high… people steal our cattle and some young girl childs prostitute themselves because they are hungry.

Q. How does climate change affect where you live?
A. Because I live in rural Zimbabwe, we all depending on planting food. It is hard for us. We also have a high rate of diseases in our villages because man leave their  wives and people are dying with  hunger and other diseases.

Grace Tepula wants to add the Africa voice to climate change

The effects of climate change in rural communities of Zambia have had a devastating effect which motivated women farmers from Mumbela spend six days travelling by bus on The Caravan of Hope to attend COP17 in Durban, South Africa. They are bringing a call to reduce green house gas emissions which pollute the air and harm the climate.

Ramatamo wa matamong (Alex Pioneer in Alexandra, South Africa) and Josef Bushby (Windlands Echo, Paarl) spoke to one of them, 57-year-old farmer Grace Tepula who is the secretary of Chinchi Women Farmers organisation and  a mother of five children and five grandchildren.

Q: Why are you here in Durban?
A: I’m here in Durban to add my voice and the voices of the fellow women I’m representing from Mumbela, Zambia, where I come from. We are here to be assisted and to add the African voice on the effects of climate change we are experiencing.

Q:  Do you have any hope out of this?
A: Our hope and the expectation is that our voice will  be heard by the powers that be and that the polluters – industrialised countries – stop the emissions that destroy the earth.

Q:   Is this hope practical?  Do you see it ever being achieved out of COP17?
A: This remains our hope. The climate change affects us all, both rich and poor nations.

Q:  What particular problem of climate change can you say has affected your community so far?
A:  Our country, Zambia, has experienced floods and droughts. The time we are expecting the rain, it comes late and when it comes, it goes away early. Our seasons… when it is hot, is hotter than previous years, when is cold, it is colder than in previous years.

Q: What is the impact of this?
A: We have lost lots of animals. We can’t plough on the soil. The food harvest is affected. If you have put your fertilizers or your seed out, the rain comes too much or too little and at the end of the day this is all wasted. Only God knows when our voices will be heard. AMEN!!!!!!

Mxo Mayoni

By Ramatamo wa matamong

Mxo Manyoni is hoping COP17 will change his life. Unemployed and having finished school with only Grade 10,  the 23-year-old vendor from the township of Ndwendwe outside Durban has a lot to thank the climate change meeting for.
Each morning Manyoni arrives at the precinct where discussions are being held to sell all sorts of refreshments. These range from flavoured chips, chocolates, cool drinks and sweets. He pushes them in his trolley along the pathways -  crisscrossing delegates as they move in and out of their meetings.

Manyoni says since the start of discussions on November 27, business has been good. He uses this money to take care of his parents and his girlfriend. “Another thing, with this money I would like to obtain a driver’s licence and get a job. I can’t go back to school, I want to work,” said Manyoni.

He said he did not have a permanent job but was only surviving on “piece” jobs before COP 17.

In addition to the vendors, eThekwini Municipality has also recruited more than 300 volunteers who have been deployed in various site of operation for this two-week long event on climate change. The volunteers go through an induction process and learn about customer care, hospitality, accreditation, information desk work, logistics, protocol and media.

Before COP 17, many of them did not know anything about the effects of climate change and global warming and this formed part of the training.
Thandeka Ngiba, a young mother of a four-year-old girl, is volunteering at the International Conference Centre (ICC).  She hopes to use the money earned as a volunteer, to study a hospitality course and open her own business: “I like working with people, planning weddings or doing catering. These are my favourites.”

Mary Sakala

Farmer Mary Sakala is a member of Pan Africa Climate Justice Alliance and Climate Change Network. Although she had to attend the COP 17 – and speak for herself – she was unable to secure a delegate accreditation. She spoke to Lindile Ndlovu of the Children’s Resource Centre in Cape Town and Khanyisile Xulu of Genuine Magazine in Durban.

Why are you in the COP 17?
I am a farmer and we are aware that the western countries are the ones that produce the most pollution. Farmers produce only 3% pollution.

What do you want to achieve in the COP 17?
The policy makers from different countries – including ours (Zambia) – always say that they speak on our behalf as farmers. They forget that we have our own voice and our own feelings. We wanted to be given just a day to say what we want. They limited our delegation and selected those they thought will speak on our behalf.

Are you expecting any positive response from COP 17?
I don’t think the outcomes of the COP 17 will be on our favour because there is no farmer that will speak for us. We don’t understand why they cannot allow us in for a day.

What problems do you have with the climate change?
It rains for a very long time, sometimes for three to four months or more. It starts raining from October and until April the following year. And sometimes it stays dry for too long. If there are floods our crops don’t grow and if there is drought there will be totally hunger. Both these extreme weathers bring different sicknesses: cholera, malnutrition, stagnant water, etc.

How does climate change affect you where you live?
There are times when we don’t have enough food. I have to give children all the food available and I am forced to fast for a long time. In some instances there are people who encourage us to be vegetarians. This is difficult for us because the cattle we farm are our only source of income.