00:00They all want the same thing, to do something about climate change.
00:07The disaster youth brigade is challenging traditions in their community of Nanyeri,
00:12because the dry seasons are lasting longer and the harvests are getting smaller.
00:18The rainmaker, however, still relies on old rituals.
00:22We are keeping the tradition of our forefathers.
00:28Whenever there is drought, we need to perform sacrifices to our ancestors.
00:32That's what they were doing to get abundant food and rain.
00:35If you don't perform these rites, it won't rain properly.
00:42Due to human-induced climate change, weather extremes are also becoming noticeably stronger
00:46here in northeastern Ghana.
00:48The normal rainy seasons are failing to occur, replaced by sandstorms or torrential downpours.
00:54In the Nanyeri community, more and more farmers have planted their fields right up to the
00:58banks of the river, where the land is more fertile.
01:02But during the heavy rains, the river overflows its banks and crops are often lost.
01:07This is why the youth brigade marks out the riverbank areas that are not to be planted.
01:12The young people are volunteers who have been trained by the National Disaster Management
01:16Organization, or NATMO for short.
01:18NATMO people educate us and form this group.
01:23So we are able to talk to our chief and the elders, and they are supporting us.
01:27So they say, any effort we should do so that the flooding will reduce, and we say then
01:35this year we have to measure a limit away from the river so that if we are not farming
01:44close to the river, the flooding will reduce.
01:48Growing crops too close to the riverbed has negative consequences for the environment,
01:53scientists warn.
01:56When they farm close to water bodies, the size of the water body begins to reduce.
02:03Then also erosion takes place, and you have deposition of silt in the bed.
02:09Once the water body reduces, it means that the amount of, invariably it will affect the
02:14amount of rainfall you have in an area.
02:18Rainfall is also affected by rampant deforestation.
02:21When harvests fail, the sale of firewood and charcoal is the only alternative source
02:25of income.
02:27Then the villagers cut down even more trees, a vicious cycle.
02:31Because the fewer the trees, the less it rains.
02:37The volunteers of the brigade discuss all these issues with the villagers.
02:41Bushfires are a recurring theme.
02:43People set them during the dry season to make it easier to hunt game.
02:50When there is a fire outbreak, we go to put it out and investigate the cause.
02:57If someone deliberately set the fire, the person is summoned before the elders and fined.
03:05Keeping a good environment is the best way to enjoy our lives here.
03:11The campaigners raise awareness among villagers.
03:16We've been getting fewer rains in recent years, and instead severe storms that destroy
03:21our homes.
03:22That's why I believe the young people, if they tell us to plant trees instead of cutting
03:25them down, it's better than our old practices.
03:28Sumaila Nashiro is proud that his messages are being heard.
03:32The villagers used to regularly cut down trees here.
03:35The landscape was bare until they started reforesting three years ago.
03:41The villagers now only take individual branches for firewood instead of cutting down the whole
03:45tree.
03:47The youth brigade received support from both national and international sponsors.
03:51Together with the villagers, they were able to plant five more hectares of acacia trees.
03:57This is the acacia park land.
04:01As we stopped the women from cutting the trees for firewood and also burning charcoal, so
04:08we planted this acacia for the next three years or two years coming, so they can get
04:15firewood for preparing their food.
04:20The local organization's project managers regularly visit Nanyere to find out how things
04:25are going.
04:26They also give tips on how the villagers can protect themselves from storms or floods,
04:31such as plant more indigenous trees to create windbreaks.
04:34After three years, the program manager makes an initial assessment.
04:38We believe that this is an important strategy and initiative that should be adopted by other
04:42actors.
04:43One community at a time, we can manage climate change.
04:47It's all of us, our efforts together that will ensure that our environment is safe for
04:52us and for future generations.
04:56This also includes regularly collecting plastic that would otherwise be blown around by the
05:00wind.
05:01Such youth brigades now exist in five communities in northeastern Ghana.
05:05Twenty volunteers are always active there, taking the many small steps together with
05:09the villagers to at least counteract anthropogenic climate change on a local level.
Comments