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Women counselled on preventing the impacts of climate change find they can play a role in making it happen
Firewood and other fuels are essential items that women need to use in their daily tasks, especially cooking.
In the area around Volcanoes National Park, most residents either steal trees or cut them down in suburban areas.
“We used to go to the forest to cut firewood and then make a mess of it because we thought there was no use for it other than burning it,” Nyiransengiyumva Marie said.
Those who destroy the forests are on one hand looking for fuel, on the other hand they are burning the forest for the sake of the people as it will bring many consequences to them.
“I don’t cook, food makes my eyes water and my head hurts because of the constant pain,” Odile said. “For those of us who care about wood, it’s hard for us to clean it properly because we’re always smoking in ashes and smoke, but these talks were like a wake-up call for us, so most of us decided to get rid of it and adopt cooking methods that monitor fuel and pay attention to using modern stoves that monitor wood and protect the environment”.
The destruction of trees through deforestation, burning of trees when cooking, and other activities such as throwing rotten and decaying waste wherever they are found, they were told during these discussions, plays an important role in reducing the respiration rate of the park, which is considered to be the cause of weather changes in areas near the park, usually in the form of sunshine that causes scorching heat or rainfall that causes disasters and floods; affecting them.
Akuredusenge Valerie, director of the NGO Conservation Heritage Turambe, joined the Women’s Earth Alliance, which brought together 30 other women in these discussions, representing areas such as Kinigi and Nyange, near Ibilonga Park, in addition to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Going back to why these women were considered, he said: “We think that considering them as people who are at a low level in life, who are still in the process of development, because when climate change comes, it will really take them away from life. The fact is that they have nothing to survive on, they don’t know how they remember because they have no choice”.
“When the consequences of hurting them came, it was also very disturbing because they affected him and he was poor, so it was not easy for him to deal with them. So we took the time to make it all understood and for them to see the ways they could deal with it”.
Despite the growing awareness among park residents in protecting the park, as indicated by Oreste Ndayisaba, a Volcanoes National Park staff member in charge of coordinating park and resident activities, specific measures are still needed to prevent deforestation, prevent agriculture from damaging rivers and streams, not mix rotting and decaying waste and prevent it from spreading and covering the places where they are found, protect natural water resources, and not engage in illegal activities in the park to protect it from fire and other violations.
Ngendahayo Jean, the Musanze Regional Minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources, encouraged women to understand that it is in their interest to prevent climate change.
He said: “It is very important to protect the environment from the neighboring Volcanoes National Park, especially because without Volcanoes National Park, their lives seem to be threatened. It is good that the work they do outside the park, such as agriculture or breeding, should be done in a conservation way. For example, if someone plants trees, focuses on fruits, clears the soil in the fields, riverside, burns in a controlled way, proper waste management and engages in environmental and income-generating activities.
The women also said that the level of awareness had improved previously, so now they would focus on agriculture, handicrafts, breeding and other projects related to environmental protection.
During four days of talks attended by women representatives, they were reminded that the effects of climate change will soon be felt, so if they do nothing to combat the causes of climate change they will find that progress continues to slow them down.
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