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| A fisherman in Limbe, Cameroon |
Ana
Faustor, a middle-age Peruvian lady takes a passionate bite of grilled fish as
she follows deliberations at the UN Climate change talks in Lima – just outside
the hall where the negotiations are taking place. Inside the hall, officials
reflect on how dangerous climate change has become to mankind and insist that
the time to act is now. But Ana`s thoughts are buried in the nostalgia of the
days when fish was caught in abundance and how she used to go fishing with her
father in Chimbote, in the countryside of northern Peru.
She
laments; “Things have changed now. Fishing is becoming difficult and fishes are
disappearing,” regretting how good fish is becoming rare in Peru, a country
that holds second place in worldwide production of aquatic species. As the UN
Climate change conference closed in Peru, December last year, Ana hoped for an
outcome that will mitigate the impacts of climate change across the globe.
“That
is why I attended the conference. Things are getting out of hand. We do not
know what to do” She says.
Thousands
of miles across the Ocean in Limbe, a town in the West African country,
Cameroon, Enoh Joseph shares her sentiments. An empty net lying beside him
tells a story of hopes and dashed hopes.
“My catch has reduced drastically. I often stay
for days without going to fish because of bad weather. It was not like this
before; fishing was good and I was wealthy and suddenly the sea became angry
with us. Sometimes I wonder what we have done wrong to Mother Nature” says Enoh
who has been fishing for over two decades. Ana may be worried about the
decreasing fish catch in Peru, but for African fish traders and fishermen like
Enoh, it is a question of life and death. These are perilous times for him and
his family.
“Fishing
is my life. I feed my family from fishing; send my children to school from
fishing, in brief all my life is about fishing. I fear for the future so much”
says Enoh.
A Vulnerable Industry
The
West African region is home to about 43% of the total population in Sub-Saharan
Africa. The fishery sector plays an enormous role on the national economies of
the region and constitutes the main livelihood for a majority of people living
along the coasts and in riparian areas. Countries like Senegal, The Gambia,
Sierra Leone and Ghana largely depend on fisheries for their national economies
and as a major source of foreign revenue. In Cameroon, Benin, Ghana, Mali,
Mauritania and Senegal, more than half of the population consumes fish products
daily. According to a report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO),
in 2012, high demand for fish and associated products led to more than ten
million fishers, fish processors and fish traders in the region, besides other
jobs such as boat building and small scale business in the fishery sector. In
Cameroon, fishing provides jobs for marginalized groups mostly women who
dominate processing, retail and local trading of fish products. But climate
change is threatening the flourishing industry.
“The
scientific report has made it clear that the impacts of climate change will be
more intense and more frequent and the fishing industry is not left out.
Because of rising sea levels and floods, fishermen are finding it difficult to
go fishing with the boats in the troubled waters. Many have to stop fishing”
says Robert Chimambo, a member of Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA),
a continental coalition of Civil Society organisationsdefending the position
ofAfrica in climate changenegotiations.
“In
Cameroon forinstance, fishermen arecomplaining they can`t gointo the sea
because of thewild waves. As a result themarket supply is affectedand that goes
acrossAfrica” he adds.
Menace to Food Security
Forecasts
of fishproduction in the futureindicate that majority of thefisheries will be
affected byclimate change and maycause food insecurity. Withregional fish
stocks alreadyon the decline, per capitafish consumption hasdropped. FAO
speculatesthat demand for fish willexceed supply in WestAfrica, with an
annualdecrease in fish supply by4% per year, leading to asupply deficit of 3.6
millionin 2015.
“The
fishery productivity ofWest Africa is highlyvulnerable to projectedimpacts of
climate change.The region is ill-prepared tosafeguard the fisherysector from
theseprojections. Consequently,the traditional supportprovided by the
fisheriessuch as food security isthreatened if not indeterioration, and it is
notwell known whether theregion would be able tomeet its nutritionaldemands
under the worstcase scenario of climatechange” says RobertKatikiro who
hasresearched broadly on theimpacts of climate changeon the fish industry
inAfrica.In a study conducted in2012, Katikiro and EdisonMacusi found that
themagnitude of the problemin terms of its severity andproportion of the
populationaffected differ from countryto country even athousehold level.
Accordingto the study, foodproduction has dwindled incountries such as
Liberia,Sierra Leone, Ghana, andSenegal leading to theirdependence on food aid.
“The
reliance on foreignfood staples means that no country in the region is self-sufficient
in terms of foodproduction” says Katikiro.FAO estimates that Africawill need
adequate foodsupplies for 18 millionadditional people each yearand to improve
thenutritional status of the 94million people currentlyundernourished if it is
tomeet the MillenniumDevelopment Goals.
African position
Experts
are unanimous thaturgent actions need to betaken to improveawareness of fishers
andfishing communities aboutthe impacts of climatechange on their livelihood.
“Concerted
efforts shouldbe taken from local toregional levels to addressadaptation to
climatechange. Fishers and fishingcommunities should beempowered to make
theirventures to other livelihoodoccupations and theirFisheries should
beclimate-proofed” saysKitikiro.Chimambo is committed toensuring that activities
thatmake people, ecosystemsand infrastructure lessvulnerable to the impacts
ofclimate change are raisedand fully addressed andencouraged by the
UnitedNations FrameworkConvention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC).
“Basically
the wholeprocess of adaptation is totry and raise those issues.How do our
people getcompensated for thisdamage? That is why thenegotiations for loss
anddamage are crucial. Andour people (Africans) didnot cause the damage;they
are victims of climatechange which is causedprincipally by developednations.
The technologythat we were using whenthe sea was normal isgetting out of place.
So weneed research to introducenew methods of fishing.And that
requiresinvestment, not fromAfrican governments’budgets but developedcountries
that areresponsible for climatechange” he says.
Certainly,
there is a lot atstake here. Genuine anduniversally accepteddecisions need to
be takento rescue people like Anaand Enoh from perishing asa result of climate
change.
“We
are keen onadaptation but adaptationshould not delay mitigation.We need a text
on how theagreement will look like.We want what is good forAfrica. We want
agreementand commitment” saysRuth Mitei of CAREInternational.
Financial concerns
Africa
is confident that if itsposition is implementedthen it will substantiallyreduce
the adverse effectsof climate change but thisrequires money, lots of
it.Developed countries havecommitted to mobilizing$100 billion in
climatefinance per year by 2020 tosupport climate adaptationand mitigation
indeveloping countries butthe African Group at theUN Climate change talks is
concerned that thepledge is far belowexpectations but it`s firmthat it is the
baseline for theclimate negotiations.
"Recent
pledges to theGreen Climate Fund are asmall first steps, butfunding around $2.4
billionper year is not close to theactual need, and is a farcry from the $100
billionpledged for 2020" saysSeyni Nafo, African Groupspokesperson.The
money is expected tocome from a wide variety ofsources and depends onmeaningful
mitigationaction and transparency onimplementation bydeveloping countries. It
isintended to bridgedifferences between richerand poorer states thathobbled
prior talks. The AfricanGroup made itclear though the money isimportant, Africa
is moreinterested in limiting theimpacts of climate change.Africa hopes that
theConference of Parties(COP21) to take place in Paris in December this year
will seal an agreement on howto fight against climatechange that will respect
its position.
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