SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: REPORT AND REGIONAL BLUEPRINT FOR CHANGE Part I: Draft Concepts of "Regional Blueprint for Change" Preamble: Community sustainability is a serious challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. We define “sustainable development” as a process where social, environmental and economic actions are integrated in a balanced way with flexible prioritization for rapid recovery, so as life be preserved and enhanced over time.” This definition encompasses economic, environmental and social aspects, takes into account disastrous eventualities and implies that resilience is key factor of sustainability. Following this definition, we can now define a “sustainable community” as one that can maintain and strengthen harmony and peace among its members in all situations, and has the ability to organize for self-promotion and to assure individual well-being over time.
In general, the large majority of the populations (over 85% in Burkina Faso) live on agriculture and livestock production, using wood and hay as their sole sources of energy and construction materials. While this is contributing to vulnerable buildings and infrastructure, it is also leading to rapid desertification and increased frequency of droughts in West Africa, global warming imparts a large part of extensive floods in Southern Africa, seriously impeding human livelihood and development. In either case in effect, crop production is jeopardized and the populations are forced to migrate to new sites where the addition of needs for natural resources adds to local population growth and malpractices to complicate the pressure on the lands, further extending desertification and causing social conflicts. Meanwhile, the residual populations at the emigration site strive to survive on scarce resources, as most of the valid laborers are gone and malnutrition and diseases become predominant.
In the dry Sahelian region, despite the imminence of chaotic ecology, the land tenure system does not encourage tree planting. This results in unsuccessful reforestation efforts.
Climatic variations and malpractices have greatly impacted human health Conditions in the region. In general, the latter is characterized by high morbidity and mortality resulting from parasitory and infectious diseases. By far, women and children are the most affected. In Burkina Faso for instance, about 43% infant mortality was recorded in 1991 due principally to endemics, epidemics and malnutrition. Overall, the living conditions have become disastrous, causing changes in social relations, family dislocation, conflicts and increased youth migration to urban areas where their ultimate impact is on insecurity. With the involvement of politics this rapidly evolved into widespread civil unrests and wars, further impeding long-term community sustainability.
Sub-Saharan Regional Leadership Team: · Tri-Chair: Salibo Some · Tri-Chair: Joseph Sedgo · Secretariat: Owen Shumba · Resource: Daniel D. C. Don Nanjra
I. INTRA-REGIONAL ACTIVITIES--2002-2007
A. Activity: Establish Regional and Sub-regional Centers of Excellence for Sustainable Development
Purpose: Develop Sub-Saharan Africa Blueprint for Change
Objectives: · Implement Blueprints for Change · Conduct inventory of other worldwide organizations having similar objectives · Determine training needs throughout the region · Plan for future activities in global perspective
Who is going to do it: · The Workshop Leadership Team will drive the intra-regional process initially, enlisting others to implement the objectives.
When: · We will start immediately.
Process: · Organize regional workshop · Develop communication and coordination plans · Involve the people in the decision regarding centers of excellence, with a decision by April 2002 · Develop training programs that are focused on needs of the region · Raise funding.
Potential investors/donors (traditional and non-traditional): · United Nations organizations · Philanthropic organizations
B. Activity: Improving Community Sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa
Purpose: To improve long-term sustainable development
Objectives: · Demonstrate the value of ad hoc regional and sub-regional "centers of excellence" for sustainable development and to plan and prepare for future activities in global perspective · Enhance public awareness and civic education · Involve communities in vulnerability and risk assessments and in the development of "Community Blueprints for Change" · Promote risk-reduction education programs, building on ongoing programs and new initiatives · Promote the mitigation of the interaction of natural hazards and ecological systems · Develop public health case histories · Learn how to apply loss estimation models · Demonstrate the diversity, complexity, and beauty of nature in Sub-Saharan Africa · Encourage community-wide activities such as planting of trees
Stakeholder Countries: · Forty African countries
Who is going to do it: · A partnership between Africa's Sustainable Development Council (ASUDEC), Southern Alliance for Indigenous Resources (SAFIRE), the Heifer Project (HP), and regional and international partners to be enlisted
How we are going to do it: · Strategic partnerships and alliances · Improved public awareness · Involving key actors · Environmental clubs · Ecosystem learning sites · Give-a-Gift program
What will success look like: · Risk management practices are being implemented at the community level throughout Sub-Saharan Africa
II. INTER-REGIONAL ACTIVITIES--2002-2007 . We will be in a position to contribute to inter-regional activities for the benefit of other regions during this period as a result of our intra-regional activities described above.
PART II: BACKGROUND
A. GLOBAL BLUEPRINTS FOR CHANGE
1. In Sub-Saharan Africa, we live with political instability, which is exacerbated by natural and technological hazards and environmental degradation. The hazards posing the greatest threat to our fragile infrastructure are: desertification, droughts, floods, disease epidemics, crop pest invasions, and global warming. 2. We especially need Blueprints A.4 (public awareness), A.2 and B.2 (vulnerability reduction), A.3 (Education, with a focus on risk reduction), A.9 (mitigation of interacting natural and ecological systems), A.7 (public health), and B.5 amd B.6 (loss estimation) 3. We want to promote regional and sub-regional centers of excellence for sustainable development. For example, the long time rain insufficiency and slow silting of stream beds have caused the people to change the geography of their crop distribution along the hill slopes to a preference for lowland areas, especially in the Sahel region of West Africa. Moreover, this has also led many generations to lose their house building skills, resulting in vulnerable dwellings. Despite, large numbers of inhabitants in search of water sources move down to settle in watersheds or closer to streams. With the pressing climate change, this is causing disastrous floods during the short rainy season while water scarcity continues to worsen year after year during the dry season, further complicating sustainability. 4. We want current and new Blueprinters to know that equity is first priority, Environmental concerns are second because of the need to re-humanize the environment to limit or avoid further consequences such as disease epidemics. It is only when people feel safe and are in acceptable survival conditions that economic growth can be sought to improve their livelihood. This scenario assumes that the victims have no other alternative than to rely on outside interventions to survive until new stability is established. In certain disaster situations, such as droughts or crop pest invasions in the Sahelian region of West Africa where all yields may be destroyed, economic growth may come before environmental issues after equity. In these special cases, alternative socio-economic activities can be sought against eminent famine. Disasters are often unavoidable events even if they are predictable and some of their effects avoidable or reducible.
B. PROPOSED "INTERNATIONAL MEETING" IN 2002
1. We welcome the proposed congress and will help to design it and share in it so that we can highlight our goals, priority objectives and the activities named above. 2. The priority themes and topics that our region would like to have included in such an "International Meeting" are named in the table above. Some have little knowledge of drought issues. Likewise, we from Africa have little knowledge of earthquakes and landslides. Because we compose an epistemic community dealing with different disaster issues, we needed to have general understanding of all disaster factors so that we all know little bits of any phenomenon the different conferences will be referring to. It would be helpful if there could be a way to provide some basic backgrounds on the major disaster factors. A proceedings of such a conference would become a valuable reference on disaster issues.
For example, a lecture series is envisioned on topics such as: · What causes earthquakes and why some regions of the world are more prone to earthquakes than others (Identify these regions)? What are some precursor signals pf eminent earthquakes if any? · Fundamental causes of landslides? It is impressive and scary to watch an entire hill side slide down with buildings, humans and animals on it. · The different wind systems along with their favorite regions. What is ELNINO, Tropical storms, Monsoon, etc. their damaging capacities and favorite regions? · Although floods are common to all regions, their effect on diseases and food security may need illustrations. Case stories can help everyone understand the scope of the risks attached to floods. · While excess rainfall threatens lives in some regions, drought predominates in others. The effect of drought on food security, pest and diseases would be enlightening. · The predictability of the different types of disasters, with special emphasis on related difficulties, the institutions/organizations concerned with the issue, and the problems encountered in the coordination of their actions. · What can be done before, during and after a disaster to minimize risks depends on the type of disaster? .
C. REGIONAL FORUMS, ONGOING PROJECTS, AND CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
1. We will plan and undertake regional forums, new projects, and centers of excellence, as stated above, with the long-term goal of contributing to sustainability throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. |