Climate change: “If in 100 families, each of them plants a tree, you create an ecosystem of 100 plant species that will change the climate of the community,” Zarafilou Zoromé, CONAJEC coordinator

Lefaso.net: Tell us about the actions carried out by the National Youth Environment and Climate Coordination?

Zarafilou Zoromé: The National Youth Environment and Climate Coordination (CONAJEC) was born in 2015, after the 21st Conference of the Parties, during the revision of the Paris Agreement. The Conference asked young people to support different countries in achieving the global goal of reducing global warming by 1.5 degrees Celsius. CONAJEC was born in 2016. Since then, we have been acting both nationally and internationally.

Nationally, we are present in 13 regions. We have regional coordination with CONAJEC in Côte d’Ivoire, where the installation will take place in 2022, and with Mali, Togo and Benin, where the installation is ongoing. Since 2016, we have been leading the “LCOY”, the National Youth Climate Conference. This is the largest gathering of young people before the COP, with the aim of making their voices and concerns known to decision-making bodies, so that we can involve young people in all actions related to climate change.

LCOY Burkina Faso has been hosted by CONAJEC since 2016. Of course, every year there is a theme related to the police and current challenges. In addition to this, we carry out awareness-raising, information, training and advocacy actions. As a civil society organization, our strength is advocacy. For example, during the 2020 presidential elections, we led the advocacy campaign called “Green Footprint”, which involved various plans for election candidates to encourage them to reduce their environmental footprint. And for those who benefited to increase their involvement in the environment.

What are young people doing for the environment and climate?

We need greening of the environment because of over-deforestation and desertification, we need reforestation to fight drought. At the national level, we have regional coordination bodies in all 13 regions to carry out reforestation. So, at the micro level, everyone is doing it, that is to say, at the macro level, we have a lot of plants that have been planted. Since the creation of CONAJEC, we have planted about 500,000 plants and the number is still increasing. We are fighting for every deterioration of plant cover. They say that young people must be trained, and we also noticed that many people do not know what climate change is.

What challenges does Burkina Faso face in terms of climate change?

The challenges are huge. The first one that lies ahead of us is the decline in agricultural production due to irregular rainfall. Floods, soil degradation, and we are a Sahel country with a constantly encroaching desert, so action must be taken to address these issues. We are lucky, rest in peace, to have Yacouba Savadogo, an alternative Nobel Prize winner and a real fighter against the desert. He is a role model for all of us. In addition to desertification, rising temperatures are killing the most vulnerable. In recent years, we have also seen a correlation between insecurity and climate change, which is also an aspect to consider.

Do you think there has been an increase in general awareness of environmental and climate degradation?

When we look at the state of the environment now and what it was like 8 years ago when CONAJEC was created, we feel a big change. Young people are getting more interested in climate change because in 2015, when we talked about climate change, only farmers in the village could show its impacts. But now everyone is aware of the impacts. Burkina Faso, as a developing country, is suffering greatly from the harmful effects of climate change, which means we have a lot of adaptation actions. So there is awareness, but the climate is not getting better than in previous years.

Different tree planting events are held every winter. Do you think they help make our environment greener?

Indeed, this is a very important issue because reforestation alone is not enough, but we need sustainable reforestation. You first need soil that is conducive to reforestation, understand what type of plants to use and how to plant them correctly. In addition, you also need to have a regular watering system to have a high success rate. Otherwise, if we do folk reforestation, the publicity is just for show, and the success rate is bound to be low.

The first thing we do is training in reforestation. Normally, when you have 1,000 plants in the ground, the maintenance is high, but when you have it in a home, it is easy to maintain it and keep it alive. If in 100 homes, everyone plants a tree, it will create an ecosystem of 100 plants that will change the climate of the community. Currently, with the activities of the Ministry of Environment, we are seeing more groves. When we harvest groves, they are monitored to ensure the survival of the plants and increase the success rate of reforestation.

What is your appeal to Burkina Faso, especially young people, in the fight against climate change?

I would tell young people that reforestation is a problem of the future. It is an urgent issue that everyone must take very seriously. If no one invests, it is not obvious whether there will still be a good existence on Earth in 10, 15 or 20 years. So everyone must make their contribution through at least one plant at home. It would be a good thing if we could work on environmental issues alone because it affects the future of humanity. I end with a quote from Katherine Lambert, who said “The surest way to give your life meaning is to be useful to your community”. So I invite everyone to make a difference in their respective communities.

Farida Tiobiano

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