SUSTAINABILITY

The Newsletter of the Center for Communication on Sustainable Development for All (CECOSDA)

C E C O S D A

0 0 0 1

T H E

N E W S L E T T E R

O F T H E

C O M M U N I C A T I O N D E V E L O P M E N T

EDITO…

HEADLINE

D

ear

Readers,

group of volunteers, experts

SUSTAINABLY YOURS

in

2 - ENVI’ACTU:

International Public Action,

- POPS AND POLLUTANTS;

decided to work together to

- ELECTRONIC WASTE MANAGEMENT

3 - AGRI’ACTU - FAMILY FARMING; - PESTICIDE POPS

Communications

create

the

and

Centre

for

Communication

and

Sustainable Development for All (CECOSDA). The creation

4 - SENSITIZATION

of CECOSDA is part of an

- ATIDAL FLATS GRICULTURE

overall

4 - TRAININGS - YOUNG FARMERS FROM LOBO LEARN TO SUSTAINABLY USE PESTICIDES AND FERTILISERS ;

5 - FOCUS - CECOSDA: WHO ARE WE?

goal

sustainable

of

building

world,

a

more

particularly in Africa, and the

ability

to

current

respond

and

to

future

development needs.

- CECOSDA: MISSIONS AND

Because

we

are

OBJECTIVES

driven by the conviction that

7 - C4D MOVE!

it

THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATIONS

structure

IN THE ATTAINMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

is

important to

for

our

have

a

governance framework based on

public

action

and

the

promotion of initiatives and concerted actions for a more sustainable

world,

we’ve

EDITING CREW: KINGSLEY MONDE GERMAIN TSANGA MABEL TSANGA JULIETTE NSI OMGBA FLABERT NKWELLE ANITA TAPIBA

other

sustainable

development encourage question

questions the

how

can

public they

to

think,

examine

decision

making

processes

and

rethink

previous

decisions

framework

of

in

the

construction

and of

concerted a

more

sustainable public space, even more so in the context of our focus on the Objectives for Sustainable started

Development. from

principle where commu

the

After

reading

this

letter,

you’ll have the impression that you took part in our activities over the past six months, populations

worked to

with increase

sustainable development…so enjoy, and… Sustainably Yours,

development

In

reality,

as

sustainable

much

as

development

involves the protection of the environment

and

natural

resources, it is also closely linked to peace, human rights, equality,

health,

culture and food supply. This

current

letter,

the first in a “sustainable” series, is nothing more than the fruits of our concerted action

during

the

first

quarter of this year. We’ve decided to examine current

environment, water and food

long-term

( C E C O S D A )

that needs to be sustainable.

“SUSTAINABILTY” is

launch

the expression of a vision of

We’ve

raising

themes that are closely tied to

to

newsletter. SIEGFRIED MENGOUNG

sustainable

this

decided

CHIEF EDITOR:

for

education,

-OUR VISION,

6 - FOCUS

F O R A L L

awareness of the environment and

C E N T E R F O R

S U S T A I N A B L E

Sustainably Yours

development,

Little over three years ago, a 1 - EDITORIAL:

nication

O N

our

priority

concerns:

the

supply. Also, we cover the communications on

Persistent

Pollutants

(POPs),

campaigns Organic meetings

with agricultural producers in the Yaoundé tidal flats, through

to

our

activities

dealing with food security or the column reserved for the presentation of CECOSDA.

OUR PRIORITY THRUST:

• ENVIRONMENT; • FOOD SECURITY; • WATER RESOURCES.

PAGE

2

MIGRATION TO DIGITAL AND THE ELIMINATION OF POPS* IN

ENVI’ACTU

“75% of the 660,000 television sets that will without a doubt be thrown away will generate about 10,000 equivalent tons of CO2 and 70,000 m3 of waste..“

.

CAMEROON: PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN HEALING

Cathode-tube televisions will soon be out-of-date, and risk, through their accumulation in landfill sites and other depositories, contaminating the water table with the chemical products they release.

T

he

International

Telecommunications Union (ITU) has set the date of June 15, 2015 for the migration to digital for its member-states. If the move from analogic to digital has expanded the transmission zone to enlarge TV audiences, it still represents a real environmental problem in Cameroon. Clearly, the solution has yet to be found, as we still are unclear how Cameroon will manage the important amount of waste created following the removal from service of so many devices. In reality, 75% of the 660,000 television sets that will without a doubt be thrown away will generate about 10,000 equivalent tons of CO2 and 70,000 m3 of waste.

CECOSDA‘s team meets TV and radio technicians for an awareness raising campaign on POPs

With the goal of reducing the probability of the creation, at the national level, of large landfills full of out-dated and polluting devices, CECOSDA has implemented a social communications strategy based on awareness activities with the media and electronic device repair services on the question. The messages communicated during these activities aimed at:

Encourage users, during the shift away from analogic, to purchase decoders rather than throwing away their cathode-tube TVs; Get repair services to increase their awareness of their role in the elimination process of POPs found in electronic devices.

These solutions, which seem pertinent, are part of the Cameroonian reality. In reality, as much as it would be appropriate to encourage users to Encouraging users to change take their old electronic devices their consumption behaviours to recycling centres rather than to by repairing their devices a landfill, the lack of these types rather than changing them; of structures in Cameroon makes this almost impossible.

*POPS IN BRIEF Persistent Organic Pollutants Bio-accumulation: inhaled or In the framework of the (POPs) are complex molecules digested, these molecules Stockholm Convention, that are made up of the accumulate in living tissue Cameroon and 150 other following properties: (brain, liver, fatty tissues); countries undertook to Toxic (many proven impacts Long-distance transportation: interdict or strictly limit the for human health); given their properties, POPs production and use of Persistence in the have a tendency of moving over products containing POPs.

C E C O S D A

Catholic Televisions: how do we get rid of them?

SUSTAINABILITY

environment: these molecules very long distances and resist natural biological depositing themselves far from degradation; their emission location.

CECOSDA 0001

PAGE

3

FAMILY FARMING: THE NEW REFERENCE POINT FOR

AGRI’ACTU

FOOD SECURITY IN CAMEROON

Throughout

At a time when Cameroonian cities and rural areas suffer from the effects of the high cost of living, unemployment and food insecurity, 2014 marks the implementation of a sustainable solution.

the world, family

In Cameroon, like in most other countries, the success of family farming is based on a number of factors, including agro-ecological conditions and the type of soils, the political environment, access to markets, land and natural resources, technology, communications, access to credit, demographic, economic and sociocultural conditions, and the ability to follow specialised training programs.

T

Food Day every year on October 16th. This day aims at raising awareness in the general public about the problem of hunger around the world, and encourages cooperation between countries and the increase in the participation of rural populations in decision-making processes. In this context, 2014 was proclaimed The International Year of Family Farming, with the theme being “Feed the world, save the planet.” The objective was to highlight the role of family farming in the eradication of hunger, guaranteeing food

main form of agriculture in production and the food security sector.

Family Farming and Food Security

C E C O S D A

he FAO celebrates World

farming is the

As the most wide-spread agricultural method in Cameroon and around the world, family farming ensures Family Farming: Definition food security. To do so, it fulfills the following missions: Family farming includes all agricultural • Produce foodstuffs and create revenue activities relying on the for hundreds of millions of rural people, family, and is associated including the poor and marginalised; with rural development. This organizational • Generate jobs for women, men and the young, both within the family farm and in method for agricultural production is characterized associated agro-food companies; by family-based • Offer models of adaptation and management and resiliency to ensure a more sustainable food operations, and relies production; essential on family labour. • Preserve and protect environmental Throughout the world, it is the main form of agriculture assets and natural resources, bio-diversity and cultural heritage. in production and the food security sector. security and protecting the environment.

In Cameroon, family farming rep resents 95% of agricultural activity in FAMILY FARMING IN the country. Since 2008, a recovery CAMEROON plan for this sector has been put in place. With about 30 billion CFA (45 Family farming produces more than million Euros), it has allowed for the 70% of world food production. training of 15,000 young people in Additionally, family farmers represent agriculture and raising livestock. 40% of the active world population.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Family agriculture: the new wave to food security

PAGE

4

CECOSDA SENSITIZING YAOUNDE TIDAL SENSITIZATION

“Farmers around Yaounde are increasingly farming on marshy lands as a result of low rain fall and changing seasons”.

C E C O S D A

Tidal flats as new frame of urban agriculture

Y

aounde

urban

FLATS FARMERS

famer

Juliana NUMFOR has six plots of land where she grows maize, cassava, sweet potatoes and leafy vegetables. The soil in which her crops grow is moist and visibly marshy, and a stream of water runs near it. Thanks to these marshy plots she makes a year round harvest because of the available water, Numfor explained to CECOSDA on the occasion of the World Wetland day on February 2, 2014. Juliana is not alone on the fields, other men and women are also farming with her on the wetlands. They explained that farming in wetlands enable them to maintain a sustainable livelihood, by raising money to pay childrens’ school fees, house rents and hospital bills. Wetland farming besides being an important

C E C O S D A

Julia transportant la récolte de son champ

source of living, it however has some health and environmental threats. But these farmers have little or no idea about it.

educated them on how crops from these fields can be watered with naturally filtered water, the same water but which passes through the ground filters. They equally received lessons on how to avoid direct contact with waste water flowing directly from homes.

This practice poses a threat to them because the water that runs into urban marshy areas is from domestic waste which contains pathogenic organisms and disease vectors that can live on crops and the CECOSDA asked skin. The risk is not only to the women to be good the urban agriculturalists, but ambassadors of sustainable also to the consumers of the development by passing crops grown on these fields. these important lessons to While sensitizing other farmers. these women on the health dangers of farming in these waters, CECOSDA staff also

REVITALISING THE TIDAL FLATS: A CONTINUING COMMITMENT FROM PUBLIC ACTORS

T

he awareness of the

C E C O S D A

Tidal Flats: an important vector of employment and food security SUSTAINABILITY

importance of the tidal flats was notable in Cameroon via the creation of a Program to Revitalise the Tidal Flats (PVBF) by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural

Development (MINADER), financed by the MINADER’s public investment budget. The PVBF aims at the revitalisation of 4,000 hectares of land in irrigable and swampy zones, duly identified and mapped throughout the territory of Cameroon,

in order to contribute to the increased protection of fisheries and commercial gardening in the country. Beyond guaranteeing food security, this program aims at creating jobs, specifically for youth.

CECOSDA 0001

TRAININGS

PAGE

YOUNG FARMERS FROM LOBO LEARN TO SUSTAINABLY USE PESTICIDES AND FERTILISERS “The studies revealed that there is a

I

t is difficult to wander through the

countryside, during this period of productivity optimization, without seeing a farmer spreading pesticides and other fungicides on their fields. If the importance of these inputs helps improve farm yields in the rural world, it remains clear that these products, when poorly used, can be highly toxic. As such, in its role in accompanying rural actors, the Centre for Communication and Sustainable Development for All (CECOSDA) organized a series of field studies relating to the knowledge of rural populations, in the Lobo region in the Lékié Department, about pesticides in general and their Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) levels in particular. The studies revealed that there is a misunderstanding about the use of pesticides in general, and more specifically about the rational and reasoned control of levels and knowledge about POP levels.

The village of Nkolmelen hosted the educational talk, with planters from the region taking part. Exchanges also dealt with the knowledge about POPs, the identification of agricultural products containing them, the presentation of dangers linked to their exposure, conservation measures in domestic milieus, and alternatives to chemical pesticides.

misunderstanding about the use of pesticides in general, and more specifically about the rational and reasoned control of levels and knowledge about POP levels.”

After reinforcing capacities, the CECOSDA team evaluated their learning. The subsequent phase included the demonstration of the efficiency handling of spreading tools for phytosanitary products. This activity was followed by the distribution of information fliers about POPs, about the local production of biological pesticides and the distribution of samples of these pesticides.

The preceding thus justified extensive fieldwork by the CECOSDA team. This work, which was both theoretical and practical, aimed at: an educational talk and a demonstration session about pesticide spreading.

C E C O S D A

PESTICIDE POPS: A PERSISTENT THREAT IN CAMEROON Many pesticides, in particular dieldrin, are still largely used in agricultural zones in Cameroon. In the face of their banning in developed countries, these polluting pesticides are fraudulently exported to countries in the South. With the interdiction of

POPs of pesticides

POPs, the certain remaining stocks were under-estimated, which causes a significant problem. In reality, pesticides containing POPs are toxic as, given that they are poorly stored, they filter into the environment, contaminate soils and water. Additionally, given their persistence, these pesticides can remain active over long periods of time.

are very hazardous to famer’s health and the environment

C E C O S D A

5

PAGE

6

FOCUS

CECOSDA WHO ARE WE ?

Th

e

Centre

for

Communication and Sustainable Development for All (CECOSDA) has been created by a group of volunteers, specialized in communication for development. It is an apolitical nongovernmental organisation. It is a communication for development (C4D), public policy, sustainable development and document resource centre. The work of CECOSDA is focused on three specific areas, notably: supporting institutions, governments and other development partners involved in sustainable development; leading short and long term communication and outreach operations, including communication campaigns. CECOSDA also seeks to carry

out, encourage, support and lead research, as well as to promote the use of scientific, technical and other types of communication knowledge to achieve economic and social progress in Cameroon and Africa in general.

C E C O S D A

OUR VISION C E C O S D A

T

he establishment of the Centre for Communication and

Sustainable Development for All (CECOSDA) is part of an overall vision for sustainable solutions towards current and future development challenges. Communicating for sustainable development and increasing awareness about the environment and other international development issues can encourage citizens to reconsider their thoughts and decision making in the context of sustainable development. Although sustainable development naturally concerns protection of the environment and natural resources, it is also linked to peace, human rights, education, equality, health, culture and nutrition. It is therefore an opportunity to bring solutions and contributions to the table to ensure success; and CECOSDA positions itself in that perspective.

SUSTAINABILITY

CECOSDA 0001

PAGE

FOCUS CECOSDA

OUR MISSIONS

T

he

mission

of

CECOSDA

is

to

contribute to the attainment of sustainable development objectives by working with institutions and organizations concerned with sustainable development issues. To that end CECOSDA intends to jointly develop communication, research and training strategies to ensure that development efforts have a more significant impact on the targeted populations. The Centre therefore looks forward to playing an increasingly important role in communication and knowledge generation, as well as availing skills to address the numerous development needs and challenges in an adequate manner, all of which would help improve the livelihoods of populations. The Centre is development-oriented in terms of

application of recommended communications techniques within the framework of C4D. The success of such a mission relies on a series of realistic objectives adopted by CECOSDA, in line with the sustainable development objectives outlined in the Brundtland Report.

C E C O S D A

OUR OBJECTIVES

T C E C O S D A

he

objectives

of

the

Centre

for

Communication and Sustainable Development for All (CECOSDA) are to:

• Support programmes through communication in view of behaviour change; • Make

sustainable development accessible and understandable, and share results-oriented

communicative skills and knowledge through publications;

• Improve access to information and share knowledge to step up sustainable development efforts; • Ensure better use of research results; • Emphasize the educative and training aspects of sustainable development.

7

C4D MOVE!

THE ROLE OF COMMUNICATION IN THE ATTAINMENT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

Achieving sustainable development is a challenge for the Communications is constantly being instrumentally used world, especially for developing countries like Cameroon. In in various fields of society, notably in attaining political, such a context, Communication stands as a key strategy to institutional or commercial objectives. It can also be used to ensuring behavior change and involvement of all serve development. The link between communications and stakeholders, including the communities.

T

he complexity of sustainable development

objectives requires a collective engagement from everyone, including individuals, communities, NGOs, international organisations as well as governments, and the use of communications tool, the potential of which is often times neglected or under-used. Several efforts have been undertaken at the local and international level with regards to sustainable development. We have already noted international programs linked to contentious environmental questions, and to its associated problems, initiated by governments and international governmental organisations and NGOs, and implemented to offset a population’s difficulties. It is here that communications can play a role as catalyser for the operationalization process of sustainable development projects. It can be decisive in promoting development that takes into account the human dimension in the climate of social change that characterises the current period. To achieve this, planning and implementation of true communications development programs serving development must be encouraged.

development has already been identified by Colin Fraser and Jonathan Villetin Communications for Development with a Human Dimension (FAO, 1994) in the following terms: “If development can be compared to weaving material by millions of human beings, the communications thread can sustainably weave the fabric.” Communications is as such one of the catalyzing factors on which the implementation of sustainable development programs must rely in order to attain set objectives. It contributes to various priority questions – such as climate change, health campaigns dealing with pandemics and endemics or even the MDGs, with the goal of sharing information, coordinating and developing messages and responses, and implementing communications campaigns. Communicating about sustainable development establishes dialogue and social debate within the context of important changes, supports the best possible way desired changes can be brought on by international programs and the growth of modern societies. This relies on a strategy that takes into account both the modern communications methods and instruments, and traditional methods specific to different social communities to (1) transmit new social messages to very large audiences and (2) help populations understand new issues, adapt to them and acquire knowledge and skills necessary to face them. Lastly, in the context of communication for development, communication means must also be used by the population itself to lead the change. As indicated by different manuals in this field, by offering new means of expression and dialogue to actors involved in the development process at all levels of society, communication will allow for a deeper engagement on the part of the population, which represents a determining factor for adapted and sustainable development. .

Headquarters : CAMEROUN-Yaounde (Biyem-Assi) PO. Box : 30975 TEL : 33 26 13 66 Website : www.cecosda.org Email: [email protected] Communicate for a sustainable future For more information on sustainable development in Cameroon, please visit the webpages of the following organizations: CECOSDA, FAO, UNDP, UNEP, IUCN, MINADER, MINEPDED, CIFOR.,