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Eco Africa - Environmental Challenges n Problems
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00:00the world is facing so many environmental challenges right now you might see some of
00:22them on your very own doorstep like trash but you might not be aware of others like biodiversity
00:30loss and if you don't know what the problems are you can't fix them welcome to echo africa we will
00:37be showing you not only the crisis our planet faces but the ways to solve them i'm alama mukonde
00:44in losaka zambia and a warm welcome from me too here's what we've got coming up
00:55in uganda former poachers are now protecting mountain gorillas
01:01solar power is helping save babies lives in cameroon
01:09and conserving albatrosses in south africa
01:15here on the show our mission is to turn the spotlight on the causes and the impact of the
01:25climate crisis but across the world these issues don't always get the media attention they deserve
01:31we head now to ghana plastic waste illegal mining disappearing forests the country's
01:38environment is under pressure now a new generation of reporters is stepping up to investigate and
01:47their work isn't just about making headlines it shows that when environmental reports or stories
01:53are told well they can drive real change it's an exciting encounter for both sides elephants and human
02:03well ghana's elephant population has plummeted since the 1970s from around 30 000 to about just
02:131 000 30 year old jack pakodjo abubakar is the bird and environmental journalist he's here in the
02:20mully national park to report on how ghana's remaining elephants are being protected before it's too late so it's
02:28important to preserve those animals so making documentaries usually as i am on today is to
02:35send a message outside that there's the need for us to conserve otherwise we lose everything and
02:40future generations would come and find out what is an elephant what is a monkey they have not
02:46seen it before joining him is in turn and dalatu from jakpa's home village she wants to learn from
02:53him how to tackle environmental issues the park ranger also hopes jakpa's report will raise awareness
03:01people in the nearby communities or the surrounding villages they don't take biodiversity very so
03:06serious they don't take it serious so when they come to talk about it i am happy because it is an
03:11education that goes to the communities and the people and that will show them the importance of
03:17biodiversity and keeping the environment for future generations in ghana's capital accra the
03:23center for sustainable transformation runs a program called young reporters for the environment it trains
03:30young people who want to shine a light on environmental issues but it's not just about
03:36learning how to be a journalist the aspiration for everyone who comes through the program is that
03:42you acquire the knowledge and skills and also the agency to hold stakeholders policy makers accountable
03:51and not just that the ability to be able to contribute to national conversations on sustainability
03:59ghana urgently needs environmental reporting endangered species plastic pollution deforestation the challenges in
04:08ghana are immense 37 year old mahmoud mohammed nuruddin is an award-winning environmental journalist
04:17today he's reporting on mary bampo a cuckoo farmer from the tiwa area in eastern ghana
04:28through the red plus climate program she earns money from planting extra trees among her cuckoo crops
04:34these trees absorb co2 improve the microclimate and protect the cocoa from heat stress her harvest has quadrupled
04:49it improves the air around us and it supports the growth of the cocoa trees
04:56you can already see the impact in my farm
04:58many people especially women in my community are encouraged by what they see in my farm
05:08mahmoud believes it's important to report on projects that reward environmentally friendly
05:14behavior like here in the northern village of youwagu where the forest is considered sacred women receive
05:21medicinal herbs as a reward for not cutting down trees a simple appeal for more environmental
05:28awareness often isn't enough the challenge is that some people don't really care about the
05:37environment when you are educating them telling them that the practices they are embarking on
05:46is affecting the environment and so it becomes difficult for people to change you keep on telling
05:53the stories and they wouldn't want to change because they are gaining they think they are gaining from
06:00from the whatever practices they are doing coordinating with the cameraman manas is just
06:07starting out in echo reporting and is passionate about making a difference the 23 year old is reporting
06:14from a neighborhood in accra next to a notorious plastic and textile landfill this is a community that
06:20are living by these landfills at the end of the day they are going to bring in these toxic gases so
06:26as a filmmaker what i can do is also report on the environment so that people will also get to see
06:32the kind of environmental situations or environmental health impacts that we are facing as a problem
06:38so that you can act upon it back to mahmoud muruddin as a freelance echo journalist he is constantly on the move
06:47today he is stopping by his grandfather's house in kumasi his nephews and niece are also there at a
06:54friend's place nearby there is a room he can use to edit his cuckoo story for a ghanaian news channel
07:00journalism alone can't support his family of three so as a trained agricultural scientist he also works as
07:07a farming consultant but echo journalism is where his heart belongs and his family understands that
07:13his biggest impact came when he uncovered the cause of illness in a village the drinking water was coming
07:32from a pond contaminated with animal fizzes after his report an ngo installed a filtration system
07:40and so sometime i watched that i watched the story and i was like did i do this story i was so excited
07:48that i i did that story back in mole national park jackpa and his intern and dalatu wrap up filming now
07:59it's time to review the footage and decide which shots are the best shots for his newly launched blog
08:06because without an audience even the most urgent report won't make a difference so i just finished
08:15filming this story and i must say that it was very interesting telling the story about my colleague
08:21journalists seeing their passion that they bring to bear in telling these stories and one thing that
08:27stood out for me really was that their work is impacting communities and i was impressed also to see that
08:32local communities are now adopting indigenous solutions that are working next we head to uganda the country
08:41is home to more than half of the world's mountain gorilla population over the years however these gentle
08:48giants were threatened with extinction by disease deforestation and poaching the communities in and around
08:56the national parks where they live where they are worst enemies but guess what not anymore this mountain
09:03gorilla lives in pundi national park in uganda it's one of only two places in the world where the species
09:11is formed just a few decades ago it was on the brink of extinction due in part to illegal hunting
09:19this man used to be a hunter who killed game and gorillas until he realized this was wrong and he joined
09:31a group of reformed poachers dedicated to preservation of these endangered creatures coexistence and improving
09:39livelihoods as reformed poachers we take care of this park because it provides an income our people get
09:51employment and we benefit financially visitors and tourists come to the park and the country gets an income
09:59and thanks to revenue sharing our children can go to school and we have hospitals and improved
10:06growth infrastructure that's how we benefit compared to when i was a poacher
10:21buindi national park and the surrounding region are home to many protected plants and animals threatened
10:28not just by poaching but also habitat loss and disease awareness rising projects among local
10:36communities are key to conservation efforts their participation has helped stabilize the gorilla
10:42population this year a census is underway peter to message joins park rangers to count the gorillas
10:50in windy national park as a former poacher peter knows the area like the back of his hand the group
10:58carefully follow the tracks of the gentle giants and here they find some
11:13a band of gorillas enjoying a snack
11:15they don't seem bothered by being watched not even by someone who used to hunt them
11:28before becoming a gorilla guardian peter to message like many others used to hunt using snares like this
11:36while others pushed gorillas deliberately for rituals or illegal trade he trapped game in order to provide
11:44food for his family like antelopes bush pigs and forest hoax but the trap doesn't choose what it catches
11:53when we set traps to catch edible animals we would sometimes trap other non-edible animals such as foxes
12:07chimpanzees or even gorillas by accident i would find them in the traps but this was not intentional
12:14the region around the national park has also benefited from tourism it has helped fund several
12:22conservation and development projects a revenue sharing scheme ensures that 20 percent of tourism
12:28revenue in the national park goes directly into community projects providing locals with a sustainable
12:35livelihood meanwhile the mountain gorilla census continues in the forest the final number won't be
12:44based on sightings alone but also with the help of dna analysis fickle samples from nests provide
12:52information about the number and relationship of the mountain gorilla troops in the park the results of
12:59the great ape census will be published in 2026 in the meantime the rangers and conservationists in and
13:07around windy national park keep up their work to ensure that humans and apes can continue to live side by
13:14side in harmony we go now to cameroon where a power outage is nothing unusual in some hospitals a sudden
13:26blackout can be a matter of life and death especially for the tiniest patients in our latest doing your
13:33bits we'll see how innovation and determination are improving newborn care and offering hope for families
13:48little nahma was born three months premature she owes her life to this incubator
13:53it creates a microclimate in which humidity and temperature are regulated
14:01her body has everything it needs to grow just like in the womb
14:07the fact that incubators function non-stop at this hospital in the town of fumble is not a given
14:13thing here in cameroon power outages are common
14:23before we got these hybrid incubators we used imported ones but they were too sensitive to power cuts
14:33the incubators are built locally in cameroon they can run on solar power batteries and mains electricity
14:40the idea came from entrepreneur serge ju he witnessed firsthand how a mother lost five babies because
14:46of power outage the tragedy spurred him into action we knew that for a viable solution for us here we
14:56needed to use renewable energy which is cheap and reliable so we opted for solar power and built a hybrid
15:03incubator that can function fully even in remote places or places with no reliable power supply
15:11thus saving lives the locally made incubators are also creating long-term jobs production of the mawao
15:21incubators started in yaonde two years ago the models have proven effective and more than 200 have sold so
15:28far they're also boosting the use of solar power the hospital in funbo for example now operates three
15:36wards with solar power one of which is the maternity ward the incubators were financed by an ngo they cost
15:46the equivalent of around 4 500 euros that's a lot of money but nothing compared to the many lives that
15:53have been saved nahma is also coming on well she's already breastfeeding a huge relief for her mother
16:05when i see my child so healthy and how she's developed so wonderfully compared to the first day i saw her
16:11i'm really proud it's a big change and what better reward for the nurses and the incubators inventors too
16:23here in lagos we're near the coast and seabirds are a common sight but their populations are under threat
16:33from habitat loss pollution disease and the warming oceans it's a problem not just here we head north to
16:42norway in europe and a remote region in a country where a local fisherman has come up with a new way of
16:50giving seagulls a better chance of surviving welcome to the seagull hotel in vadu there's no room service
17:00and only self check-in but the accommodation is a popular choice among seagulls and other seabirds
17:08it's been there for three years now the first year there was 55 nests last year which was 74 and this year
17:16we have 76. fisherman jan vida hansen built the hotel so seabirds could nest safely for puffins and other
17:27birds the cliffs in norway's easternmost town of vadu used to be a haven but nowadays seabirds here are
17:34under siege from climate change predators and disease
17:4170 to 90 percent of of the seabirds is gone during the last 30 years lack of food
17:50during the bird flu that's been pretty hard the last three years there
17:55vadu is known for its birding tourism
17:58a short boat ride away lies honoya island thousands of bird watchers flock to this uninhabited
18:06spot which is home to 100 000 seabirds during breeding season but the island's seabird population
18:13has also declined dramatically food has become scarce due to overfishing and rising water temperatures in
18:19the barren sea fish that need colder water are being pushed further north and the migrating pattern of other
18:27species have been disturbed it's a bit scary to see that there is i was seeing birds that usually eat
18:34fish on the tundra that they start eating berries because they don't have their normal food tourism can
18:46also have a negative impact visitors can cause the birds stress disturbing them when they're nesting
18:57so they don't have to worry about it but closing the island to bird lovers is not really an option
19:02it would have a huge impact on vadu's economy every small business in in the town it's uh depending on
19:10on the tourists to to come and visit the island and and stay in the town and shop and use the gas station
19:17and use the small restaurants and some smaller gull species have actually moved closer to people
19:25in search of protection from non-human predators like the guests in this bird hotel
19:38back to africa now and another threat facing seabirds now in south africa over 10 000 of them used to be
19:46killed as bycatch in commercial fishery a disaster because seabirds like albatrosas help maintain the
19:54balance of both marine and coastal ecosystems but thanks to simple but effective methods there has
20:02been a huge reduction in these deaths in recent years a newborn albatross on marion island 2000
20:10kilometers southeast of the south african coast albatrosses often only have one chick at a time
20:17and care for it devotedly sometimes for over a year
20:20once finally mature the young bird will head for the waters of south africa with their abundance of
20:27fish
20:30but in that search for food they're up against some daunting and dangerous competition
20:36trawlers which tow their gigantic nets via steel cables called warp lines incoming birds eager to catch
20:44some fish sometimes fly into the cables and can even drown from their subsequent injuries
20:50a silent tragedy that only properly came to light around the turn of the millennium
20:55it was only once we started doing dedicated observations or putting cameras over the the
21:01works that you can see this happening um so it's not a huge number every trail but it's enough that
21:09over all the trawling effort we were seeing thousands of albatrosses being killed every year
21:15by these warp strikes in south africa alone up to 14 000 albatrosses perish every year part of a global
21:24disaster that costs the lives of over 700 000 seabirds annually the simple looking solution bird scaring lines
21:33suspended between the lethal steel cables the yellow hose pipes and streamers form a visual barrier that
21:40deters birds from entering the danger zone the idea dates back to the 1970s but has been adapted to
21:48use with trawlers by the albatross task force of ngo bird life south africa we were able to reduce
21:54the mortality of albatrosses by an incredible 99 percent there is nowhere on the earth that this has
22:01happened there's it was the first example of conservation success of this magnitude although
22:10that success didn't happen overnight the albatross guardians tested the technique at sea while winning
22:16over trawler crews and finally managing to get bird scaring lines made mandatory in south africa in 2006.
22:23the lines are cut to size and assembled here by people who have disabilities but no shortage of
22:33skill and dedication over a thousand have been made since the launch of a special social project
22:39covering the demand for 60 percent of south africa's deep sea trawlers for many of them a first step
22:45towards meaningful work giving them a renewed sense of purpose for the members it's been great they've learned
22:52so much and they actually feel that what they're doing is contributing towards saving the sea life
23:04for future generations it also gives them an incentive you find that the members actually have
23:11money to take home so it enhances their capacity in their families but while bird scaring lines are
23:18mandatory they're not always used a situation that fisheries expert see learn congo wanted to set
23:26straight he invented a sensor that detects when the nets are deployed encased in a weatherproof shell
23:33it measures the tension in the main pipe that the likewise yellow streamers are suspended from
23:39that data is transmitted in real time revealing whether or not the deterrent lines were actually deployed
23:44like this one a win on the conservation front and for fisheries that want to prove their eco-friendly
23:51credentials to be awarded globally recognized sustainability certification
23:58it's on a vessel's best interest to ensure that they can comply they can confirm that the vessels have
24:05been compliant with deploying the best carry lines so the device comes very handy to the companies as well
24:12we require that evidence for our marine stewardship council certification and the standard is in
24:20future going to require that we actually provide that evidence these yellow colored lifelines are also
24:26mandatory in the likes of namibia argentina and chile but on the global scale protection is still
24:32insufficient the moment the count is 700 000 seabirds are dying as a result of seabird bycatch annually if we
24:42can collaborate through collaborations and work collectively to achieve every single vessel to get
24:50every single vessel to use mitigation measures we will have done our work albatrosses off the coast of
24:57south africa are now much better protected but worldwide more than half of the 22 species of the bird are
25:04still endangered i can't imagine a world without sea birds let's hope the protection work takes off in
25:13other parts of the world too that's it on ecoafrica first time don't hesitate to get in touch and let us know
25:22what you think about our stories at eco at dw.com i am chris olems goodbye from me in lagos nigeria
25:31and goodbye from me too malama mukonde in lusaka zambia now don't forget to check out our social media channels
25:39well this is where we say our goodbyes so see you next time
25:52my
25:54my
25:58my
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26:14my
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