- 2 days ago
Millions depend on the Osun River—but its color reveals a dark secret. Plus: West Africa's water sachets—how waste can work for you. And save money on period products!
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00:04I mean look at these look at these gold and a little sparkle I love my earrings now gold
00:13is a symbol of power wealth and glamour now everyone wants a piece of this but have you
00:22ever wondered where your gold jewelry comes from Africa produces more than a quarter of the world's
00:32gold more than any other continent it has the potential to create real wealth but behind the
00:40glitter sometimes lies a darker reality
00:52this sacred river in Nigeria is being poisoned in 2022 this woman came under crossfire finding out
01:00why I'm trying to bring about change but did anyone listen or care millions depend on the water of this
01:11river and are risking their health we went back to find out who's poisoning it and why no one is
01:17stopping them the Oshon River is a major waterway in southwest Nigeria it's considered sacred and
01:26connected to the Yoruba goddess Oshon a deity associated with love and fertility it sustains
01:33millions of people just take a look how its color used to be and how it has changed to a
01:41murky yellow the Oshon River also runs through Oshokbo Oshon states capital this is the path through the
01:50city in 2016 the river is barely visible blending into its surroundings starting around 2019 a
01:58discoloration that was believed to be temporary appeared but it didn't go away changes in the wider
02:04area also became visible clearings cut along the river and discolored water the closer look
02:10reveals hundreds of pits dug along streams this points to one activity gold mining and not always
02:17legal Nigerian journalist Anu Adelako first investigated this issue in a documentary film in 2022
02:27what we discovered was truly alarming so we're going to say they have another site elsewhere
02:42she took water samples that revealed how the mining affects the river back in 2022 what we discovered
02:50was that there were heavy concentrations of heavy metals such as a mercury and there was cyanide and a
03:00couple of other heavy metals that so what happens is that they bioaccumulate in the system over time
03:06and so you don't get people falling ill immediately I mean apart from waterborne diseases and the
03:13ingestion of things like E.coli and you know things that will definitely get your tummy upset or land you
03:18in the hospital we want to find out has the situation improved since Anu's last visit or is the water
03:25still
03:25polluted a local resident offers us help to take a sample from the river we'll send this sample to a
03:34lab for a thorough chemical and microbial analysis well I think the heavy metals pollution will persist
03:44even in a worse dimension the problem with the heavy metal contamination it doesn't just vanish when the
03:53miners do the contamination in the water can enter the food chain and travel downstream like here to
04:01the ocean shock both sacred growth a unesco world heritage site once under pressure from urban expansion and
04:08cultural disregard it survived because local artists crafts people and defenders of tradition refused to let
04:15it disappear and every year thousands of worshipers come here to celebrate the water is believed to
04:22have spiritual power and is called ago meaning potion but the pollution from upstream could of course also
04:30reach this sacred place concerns have been raised before we asked people to stop drinking water from the river
04:40also i've written to the government of oshun state repeatedly to help stop the miners and the mining activities the
04:47government promised to take action but nothing has happened during our visit at the grove we saw no one
04:54drinking the water but using it for ritual purposes only the lab test will reveal if there's still a danger
05:01hidden within the sacred river but as we leave the grove we get a call from a local activist deji
05:07who is
05:08fighting illegal mining and advocates for more sustainable practices i just got on the phone with a local
05:15activist here with urban alerts and they just discovered a mining site a few kilometers away from the oshun sacred
05:26growth and he's got a community member who is going to take us in there to see things for ourselves
05:35we make our way to the disclosed site
05:41deji introduces us to the person who tipped us off he doesn't want to be recognized
05:47locals have been reporting mining activity in the area for some time and some arrests have also been made
05:58to the local residents head to the riverbank to get a closer look and another water sample
06:04there's a hum of heavy machinery in a distance
06:09our drone tries to see where the noise is coming from
06:15and then we find them not one but two sites with heavy duty gold washing equipment
06:30this has been going on for some time the resident tells us
06:39about two months ago we noticed that some people had set up machines here to mine gold
06:45at one point we didn't see the miners for two weeks
06:50but they came back they told us that the traditional ruler of ashokbo had been paid off and that they
06:58could pay us as well but they said nothing would stop them their activities have already polluted the
07:06water here and we're worried getting too close to these mines can be dangerous
07:15so anu knows that from personal experience when filming in 2022 she literally came under crossfire
07:25police group we were intercepted by a group of more uniformed men who pointed guns at us accusing us
07:33of kidnapping chinese nationals and so as soon as we hit the main road like a truck of other policemen
07:39just came thankfully i mean they didn't shoot directly at any human being but they were just
07:45shooting at the bullets could have hit anyone they were shouting where's the person you kidnapped
07:49where's the person you kidnapped you know and we had to tell them i mean we don't know what
07:52you're talking about we didn't kidnap anyone and i think it was just it was just the help of god
07:57that we we got off from there because you know how trigger happy some of these guys can be but
08:02um it was a very traumatic experience that i'll never forget we meet activist deji alabi from urban
08:10alert again the ngo has been trying for years to hold authorities and companies accountable
08:15with some success at least on paper but he's disappointed about the persisting gaps in enforcement
08:23publicly available data and a report by urban alert suggest that several companies hold legal small
08:28scale mining licenses or ssml's along the river yet completely ignore environmental and reporting
08:35standards deji also believes that these companies are behind suspected illegal mining sites like the
08:41ones we found a layman doesn't have to rent an excavator in a day runs to thousands of naira so
08:48these
08:49are not things that somebody who earns the minimum wage can afford that's the reality the law is very clear
08:56miners are not supposed to pollute water causes or ignore communities around mining sites but that's
09:02not what we're seeing here deji wants several things to be fixed one is to ensure that government monitors
09:11activities of miners ensure thorough follow or the the usage of the mining act ensure that deadly chemicals
09:22are not used then to the community what we're trying to let them know is that we organize training for
09:27them to ensure that they have an understanding of what they should benefit from mining with this and
09:35our water samples we leave a shock ball a few weeks later back in lagos the results from the lab
09:47come back
09:49and the water still shows heavy metal contamination close to the mining site arsenic levels were five times
09:57higher than permitted and lead exceeded the legal limit by almost 40 times posing a serious health
10:04risk i think this is highly significant what we have going on here lead is a heavy metal that should
10:12not be found at all you know in water because of its neurological impact on the human health you know
10:20in
10:21adults in children in children in children it affects their iq so i'm i just feel so sad just you
10:28know
10:28seeing that this is what we're still dealing with four years after bottom line the water in the ocean river
10:35is still dangerous but people like anu and deji ensure that this issue continues to be discussed in
10:42public because what's at stake here is not just a river but a vital water source cultural and spiritual
10:49heritage and the health of millions
10:58it's cheap convenient and for many it's safe that's why these sachets have become so popular
11:05but they are part of the global plastic pollution crisis but there is a creative way to deal with this
11:19who doesn't love a good party whether it is a wedding or religious event party goers tend to be thirsty
11:26in mali water is served in plastic sachets that later end up on the streets
11:35but not all of them stay there for fatumata diallo the bags are a valuable raw material
11:50so we're doing our bit to keep our neighborhoods clean and send a message about the need to look
11:56after our environment
12:02thousands of plastic sachets get a second life at her workshop they're washed cut up and turned into
12:09products sewn from locally sourced scraps or fabric the plastic is used for reinforcement and padding
12:14in stylish handbags computers and school bags
12:20they are especially popular at the start of the school year
12:23and the woman's handbags are a steady seller all year round
12:29with her motorized tricycle fatumata diallo and her team collect sashes across the city
12:41all over west africa these single-use plastics are a huge problem
12:45they pollute the land and water and break down into microplastics that can harm people and wildlife
12:52they also block drains plastic bags are not always suited to a circular economy
12:57that's why fatumata advocates for upcycling
13:03i recently trained nearly a thousand women in textile waste upcycling
13:10and as part of that effort
13:12i took the opportunity to let the women in our communities know
13:15that plastic waste can also be upcycled
13:23the bag business provides income for her and six employees
13:27each piece sells for between 4 and 15 euros
13:36the bag is great even if it rains you have got nothing to worry about the rain won't soak in
13:41because
13:42it's made of plastic
13:43the perfect accessory for that next party in bamako
13:55recycle or even better reuse it's easier than you think whatever the product
14:03our reporter in lagos has a good idea on how how much do you spend on your period each month
14:11one thousand one thousand four hundred three one five two thousand two thousand five hundred
14:15three five upwards let's do the math on an average a girl spends two thousand naira on a period per
14:21month and 24 000 per year but because we use every product just like this one can last up to
14:2710 years
14:28you can save 240 000 naira and fewer purchases mean less waste reusable products reduce plastic use
14:36and cuts down the number of disposable materials entering landfills and there's another impact
14:40some reusable products are made locally that means small jobs small businesses sustainable production
14:47reusable period care isn't just about comfort or costs it's about reducing waste quietly saving money
14:53supporting local businesses and making a real impact every month heaps of waste water pollution illegal mining
15:02many of these issues don't get the media attention they deserve in ghana a new generation of reporters
15:09is stepping up to investigate and shake things up when they are moving with a group it's an exciting
15:17encounter for both sides elephants and human wow ghana's elephant population has plummeted since the 1970s
15:28from around 30 000 to about just 1 000 30-year-old jakpa kojo abubakar is a burning environmental journalist
15:37he's here in the mole national park to report on how ghana's remaining elephants are being protected
15:44before it's too late so it's important to preserve those animals so making documentaries usually as
15:51i am on today is to send a message outside that there's the need for us to conserve otherwise we
15:57lose
15:58everything and future generation would come and finding out what is an elephant what is a monkey they've
16:04not seen it before joining him is in turn and dalatu from jakpa's home village she wants to learn from
16:11him how to tackle environmental issues the park ranger also hopes jakpa's report will raise awareness
16:18people in the nearby communities or the surrounding villages they don't take biodiversity very so
16:24serious they don't take it serious so when they come to talk about it i am happy because it is
16:29an
16:29education that goes to the communities and the people and that will show them the importance of
16:35biodiversity and keeping the environment for future generations in ghana's capital akra the center for
16:42sustainable transformation runs a program called young reporters for the environment it trains young
16:49people who want to shine a light on environmental issues but it's not just about learning how to be a
16:55journalist the aspiration for everyone who comes through the program is that you acquire the knowledge
17:01and skills and skills and also the agency to hold stakeholders policy makers accountable and not just
17:10that the ability to be able to contribute to national conversations on sustainability ghana urgently needs
17:19environmental reporting endangered species plastic pollution deforestation the challenges in ghana are immense
17:28important things 37 year old mahmoud mohammed nuruddin is an award-winning environmental journalist
17:35today he's reporting on mary bampo a cocoa farmer from the tiwa area in eastern ghana
17:46through the red plus climate program she earns money from planting extra trees among her cocoa crops
17:54these trees absorb co2 improve the microclimate and protect the cocoa from heat stress her harvest has quadrupled
18:07it improves the air around us and it supports the growth of the cocoa trees
18:14you can already see the impact in my farm
18:17many people especially women in my community are encouraged by what they see in my farm
18:26mahmoud believes it's important to report on projects that reward environmentally friendly
18:32behavior like here in the northern village of youwagu where the forest is considered sacred women receive
18:40medicinal herbs as a reward for not cutting down trees a simple appeal for more environmental
18:46awareness often isn't enough the challenge is that some people don't really care about
18:54the environment when you are educating them telling them that the practices they are embarking on
19:04is affecting the environment and so it becomes difficult for people to change you keep on telling
19:11the stories and they wouldn't want to change because they are gaining as a freelance eco-journalist he is
19:19constantly on the move at a friend's place nearby there is a room he can use to edit his cocoa
19:25story
19:25for a ghanaian news channel journalism alone can't support his family of three so as a trained agricultural
19:32scientist he also works as a farming consultant but eco-journalism is where his heart belongs and his family
19:40understands that they don't really complain about it because it's all about ending making impact and so
19:50if you are making impact it's good his biggest impact came when he uncovered the cause of illness in the
19:57village the drinking water was coming from a pond contaminated with animal fizzes after his reports
20:04an ngo installed a filtration system back in mole national park jackpa and his intern and dalatu wrap up
20:15filming now it's time to review the footage and decide which shots are the best shots for his newly launched
20:23blog because without an audience even the most urgent report won't make a difference
20:31so i'm going to take a perch a little sit down but you can come on a run with our
20:35reporter wachera
20:37mgonjiri through germany's capital berlin now it's all about clean streets trash bins all over
20:43but where has all the trash gone well wachera is on a quest to find out
20:50this is my morning routine for most days and being in a new country hasn't changed that
20:57i still get to do what i love
21:01i am mashara gonjiri a dw reporter from nairobi kenya
21:07the coolest part of jogging here the breathtaking views berlin is such a beautiful city
21:18but hold up one of my biggest culture shocks in germany trash in kenya i just have one bin where
21:26everything goes but here there's a blue one for paper yellow for plastics and packaging green for glass
21:33and black is for the rest it's like a color-coded game of sustainability
21:40no stop you're throwing away money yes you can bring it back to the supermarket and get the deposit
21:46back really i have so many in my house i think i need to do that where can i take
21:50them you can bring
21:51it to any supermarket okay thank you so much no problem i came to berlin with my sister
21:58and we drink a lot of bottled water every day
22:05now i know we can get money back for returning the empty bottles in any supermarket this system makes
22:12everyone think twice about plastic use the less plastic we demand the less new plastic gets made
22:23this is a found automat a deposit return machine it is one of germany's recycling superheroes
22:32here is how it works when you return the bottles you get your money back if you don't you lose
22:40it
22:44normally when you buy water in these bottles you will have to pay a little extra
22:53curious about what happens in the plastic sorting plants i visited one that is run by interzero
23:01today i'm meeting beyond shvish who is the general manager
23:08this is one of interzero's five sorting facilities in germany here waste is sorted by advanced machine that
23:16separate the different kinds of packaging waste into material streams the easiest material to to
23:22sort and to recycle is the mono materials
23:28they are very easy to to sort and to recycle and and as well template ferrametals and so on aluminium
23:37is as well included in the yellow bag not so good recyclable are the multi-layer packages
23:46the sorted plastics are pressed into bills and sent to recycling plants this process by interzero alone
23:53cut about 1.2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 according to franhofer institute
24:01one of germany's renowned research centers some experts argue germany still doesn't recycle as much
24:08waste as statistics suggest especially when it comes to plastic packaging according to official
24:15statistics only 46 percent of plastic waste is recycled while 53 percent is banned to generate energy
24:23that means turning plastic waste into usable heat electricity or fuel but recycling with the deposit
24:31system helps germany stay cleaner and greener i really like the refund automates in germany because that
24:40ensures that a pretty pure fraction with a high quality of pet bottles is collected we can even
24:47in our sorting plans we can separate pet bottles and pet cups as well but it's always better on the
24:54point of collection to separate it germany is promoting a circular economy through such deposit-based
25:01recycling systems and that's not all i'm learning here i just found out tap water is absolutely safe to
25:10drink and germany's tap water ranks among the best in the world so nowadays i carry my reusable bottle
25:18bottles everywhere and there's no need for endless plastic bottles
25:24that isn't the case everywhere as we know you can find more stories on all our vital resources and how
25:32we can defend them in our echo drop newsletter it's goodbye for now and if you have any ideas yourself
25:40we'd love to hear your suggestions just write to us at ecordw.com see you around
25:47how we can defend them and how we can defend them and how we can defend them and how we
26:00can defend them
26:01i've enjoyed real goats
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