Stakeholders met in Yaounde last Friday to discuss the role of access to environmental information for decision-making. Climate change is a phenomenon in Cameroon, presenting in different forms such as decreases in levels of rainfall, desertification, drop in agricultural production leading to food scarcity, famine and the advent of new diseases caused by high temperatures.
Torrential rainfalls cause widespread flooding leading to the outbreak of epidemics such as cholera. Climate change is a reality that has not only mobilised governments but also the civil society around the world to seek solutions in governance and information to prevent human suffering and economic losses.
It was in this context that more than twenty civil society organisations gathered at the Conference Hall of the Chamber of Agriculture in Yaounde last Friday, February 4 for a workshop to address the complex linkages between the environment, climate change, agriculture, access to environmental information and governance. Organised by the Bioresources Development and Conservation Programme Cameroon, BDCPC the workshop was intended to gather suggestions of civil society leaders for contribution to the government’s draft implementation decrees on access to environmental information as well as prepare Cameroon’s participation at the World Social Forum that started in Dakar, Senegal yesterday.
A number of presentations highlighted the origin of climate change and attributed the causes to the emission of greenhouse gases such as carbondioxide, methane and nitrous dioxide. Haman Unusa from the Ministry of the Environment and Nature Protection, MINEP, underscored the necessity to create security stocks for grain, increase the use of improved seedlings and modify the agricultural calendar to solve the economic effects of climate change on food production. Augustine Njamnshi of BDCPC analysed the existing legal framework and gaps on access to environmental information and public participation in environmental decision making in Cameroon. The workshop reached a climax when another presenter, Jonas Kemajou, expounded on efficient strategies at the local and national levels to organise the Cameroon civil society for effective participation in environmental decision making.
