Kampala, Uganda- Tuesday 14^th of May-The first regional meeting to prepare the GPS took place on Tuesday May 14, 2013 at Serene Hotel in Kikoni. Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda attending the GPS as a team were all represented at the meeting.

The delegations from Burundi and Rwanda arrived Sunday night not only to take part in this meeting, but also for the process of visa applications for the trip to Turkey. There is no Turkish embassy neither in Burundi nor in Rwanda. We then took the road to Kampala -16 hours road trip – and at the arrival we were all exhausted. But as far as I’m concerned, I was not worried about tiredness. I couldn’t wait to see the great commercial city Kampala. The city is too noisy with a high traffic of cars and motorcycles that run at full speed without worrying about accidents that could happen. In short it is a very hectic city!

The country mapping exercise was mainly discussed during this meeting in Kampala

The next day, Aaron (350 organiser and part of the Uganda GPS team) led us to the Turkish Embassy to submit our visa applications. There we were told to come back next Monday for the answer. But in the meantime, we kept preparing to meet other Ugandan participants at the GPS because apart from Aaron, who’s now serving as an escort and guardian angel to us, we don’t know the rest of team members.

The meeting was held at the hotel where we got off Valentine and I. Landry and Richard, who lodge with Aaron, were the first to arrive at the place of the rendez-vous, and we expected others to arrive soon. The agenda was announced and each participant gave the status of GPS preparations in their countries. The country -mapping exercise was at the top of the discussions. Will we have enough time to gather all the information required? How are we going to proceed? Can both regional and national country mapping be done at the same? Isn’t mapping the climatic state of a country a very scientific work? These are the questions and concerns that were flying by and across the conference table. But Landry reassures: “It is the methodology that you will use and how you will involve other partners and engage in the task that will determine all. If you get the best methodology I’m sure you’ll make it on time!” And there is no doubt, we will! Full commitment and willingness could be read on all faces. Then the dice is cast! Each participant promised to directly get started with the country mapping exercise by the moment I’m write this blog post, one participant told me that he has already started and is progressing very well. Very encouraging!

At the end of the meeting, we enjoyed a little to share and discuss about various points and mostly the Do the Math Screening to be held on Thursday 16. And from what I heard from the organizers here, this will be a great success! By then I can’t wait to see this event happening and be back to you soon with some great news!

Were we excited to meet?  Yes. Tens of emails and two Skype calls later, it was a first of many meetings to come. Obviously energized to start up, we were lucky enough to host two attendees (These are not part of the participants going to Turkey, but key allies in the national climate movement.) After brief introductions, the meeting kicked off.

 The discourse ensued firstly tackling the overall climate-related challenges faced in Kenya including inter alia; severe droughts, information gap, limited access to energy, little progress on green economy, youth involvement in climate activism and corporate engagement.

GPS Kenya participants and allies during their first face-to-face meeting in Nairobi

Participants then had the opportunity to express what they felt needed to be done by the different groups and stakeholders. Issues with the youth which emerged were: need for information and participation, mobilization and systematical organization in order to amplify effectiveness in the climate work.

The representative of PAWA (a youth organisation in Kenya) in the meeting informed the participants that the organization is working at finding climate-related information on the various processes and passing it on to the people, especially the youth. PAWA is also working on how to use technology to ensure that the information gets to everyone.

The enthusiasm in that meeting was great and members present didn’t wait for the country mapping exercise to kick-start officially. They have already started compiling names of organizations and institutions that they would want to partner with in building the national climate movement. We hope to have more details on the progress of interactions and networks with the identified groups.

Please check and join in the Facebook discussion on http://www.facebook.com/GlobalPowerShift and engage with other GPS teams from all over the world, traditional 350 supporters and other environmental activists in the upcoming steps, starting with Do the Math screen on May 16.

As Warriors came together to show their strength by not giving up, people from around the world showed their support and solidarity with these great photos. 

Warriors in Fiji

Micronesia

Warriors in Palau

Warriors in Tokelau

Marshall Island stick dance

Activistes climatiques burundais témoignant leur solidarité

Comme le résume un des sympathisants qui a envoyé sa photo « Plus nous nous mettons ensemble pour la défense de ce monde et de ses créatures contre ceux qui voudraient gâcher ce paradis pour leur profit, plus nous plaçons la puissance pour le bien entre les mains de gens de ‘bonne conscience’».

Je vous invite à contempler ces photos sur http://350dotorg.tumblr.com/. Certaines ont été prises en groupe, d’autres individuellement et d’autres encore soumises par des anonymes, mais toutes expriment un même message : Solidarité en faveur du Climat, de la Planète et de la Vie.

Les moments forts de cette journée ainsi que d’autres images de solidarité sont consultables sur http://350.org/en/about/blogs/photo-highlights-pacific-warrior-day-action et la page flickr de cette action.

The No to Coal Crane Protest Action took place more than 100ft above ground, in Quatre Bornes, Mauritius on Monday, 4th Feb 2013.

The Operation with code name LEV LATET (Chin Up) was conducted by activist group AzirMoris, to raise awareness about the coal issue and to pledge against the construction of a 110MW Coal Plant (CT-POWER) located close to residential areas and a popular touristic spot Albion, in the north western part of the island approximately 10 minutes from Port Louis.

Three activists, Anshika Sawaram, Alain Bertrand and Jameel Peerally, who stood ground from 5:00 am until 5:30 pm, were arrested and then released on parole around 9:00pm that night. On Tuesday, 5th February, they were found guilty under an old slavery law, rogue and vagabond and fined MUR 1000.

AzirMoris has vowed to keep up and intensify the pressure with a series of punctual actions and public meetings in various towns of the country, with the aim of organising a massive demonstration later during the year.

Therefore, it gives me great pleasure to share this blog post which Amena wrote about the workshop (cross-posted from http://www.climateambassadors.net/ )

On January the 3rd 2013, 18 media enthusiasts from all over Egypt came together in Zad Al Musafer in Tunis- Fayoum to explore possibilities of communicating climate knowledge. From Sinai in the east to Alexandria in the west, and from governorates all over Egypt, they had each experienced the indirect and in some cases the direct impacts of climate change. With the help of Frank Thor Straten, Danish media and communication consultant, Mostafa Hussein, trainer in the field of Environmental professions, the Egyptian DEMENA team and 350.org volunteers, they went through a 3-day workshop to sculpt their skills and utilize them to encourage citizen journalism on Climate Change.

The global climatic crisis is the most demanding issue facing humanity in this era of environmental oblivion, and that’s why there’s a need for strong Media products communicating the issue, the ramifications, the consequences and the solutions.

Egypt is one of the countries most vulnerable to Climate Change, even though the river Nile passes through Egypt, in a lot of places water is an extremely scarce resource. Egypt’s share of the river Nile water has been 55 million cubic meters since 1995, which wasn’t enough for the entire population then, and it sure is not enough now that the population tripled. Add to that rising water levels of salty sea water submerging parts of the Nile Delta, and salinating massive parts of agricultural land and submerging parts of the coastal cities. Other than water issues, Egypt faces a lot of health challenges as a result of deteriorating air and water quality and escalating energy insufficiency issues.

The current political and economic scene in Egypt is very turbulent, which gives very little space for climate change and environmental issues in the public arena. But if we fail to draw the connection between environmental issues and economic issues then we fail to solve either problem, Egypt has recently changed from a gas exporting to a gas importing company, which will take an incredible toll on the national economy and clearly shows that our dependency on conventional energy resources no longer works.

There’s a grave need for localized climate solutions in Egypt including spreading environmental awareness, which pushed for having a Media workshop, and Fayoum was the best place to do it. Fayoum is an Agricultural governorate overlooking Qaroun Lake, a salt water lake. An extremely peaceful Tunis city in Fayoum was definitely an inspirational and resourceful place to hold a workshop to spread the word about environmental problems in Egypt. Participants went through a 3-day training and brainstorming to come up with the best topics to tackle and the methods to tackle them with, and here’s what they came up with!

The enormity of the problem makes it surprising how simple the solutions are. Mobilizing local communities towards a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly ways of living would soon enough change national tactics. And what is the world but a community?

A two day sensitization lecture was organized by Forward in Action for Conservation of Indigenous Species (FACIS) on the 20th and 21st of November in Bauchi. The aim was to educate community members at rural level the connection between low yield of farm produce, heavy rain falls resulting in floods, excessive heat and cold weather to changes in the climate.

Farmers from 3 villages were invited to share in their experiences of heavy rain destroying many of their farm lands and agriculture.

Au moment où les abonnés de la REGIDESO (Régie de Production et de Distribution d’Eau et d’Electricité) sont soumis à un système de délestage répétitif, les énergies renouvelables représentent une alternative réelle mais leur coût demeure élevé pour la majorité des habitants.

Obscurité, travail ralenti et baisse de production, telles sont les conséquences liées au délestage dû à la pénurie du courant au Burundi.

Heureusement, certaines compagnies et multinationales commencent timidement à proposer des solutions énergétiques à leurs clients et partenaires. C’est le cas du Groupe Ladak. Il y a deux ans, il a commencé à distribuer une variété de produits à énergie solaire pour alimenter aussi bien les ménages que les entreprises.

Selon le chef des opérations Colours &Lights Mr Joseph Anish  les produits qu’offre sa compagnie sont durables et écologiques. En plus ça diminue le coût de la facture de la REGIDESO.

Cependant, même si certains se précipitent pour se procurer ces de produits, ils ne sont pas pour autant abordables pour tous les burundais vu leur pouvoir d’achat faible. A titre d’exemple, il n’est pas facile pour un fonctionnaire de l’Etat qui touche 150.000Fbu ($ 100) par mois de se procurer un kit solaire de 10.000.000Fbu ($ 6.667) pour alimenter sa maison.

Toujours selon Mr Anish, si ces produits sont chers, c’est parce qu’ils ne sont pas exonérés comme dans le reste des pays de l’East African Community.

Burundi, un gisement solaire inépuisable 

Dans un pays où comme le montrent les études, l’ensoleillement moyen reçu annuellement approche   2.000 kWh/m², il n’y a pas à s’inquiéter. Même les grosses entreprises peuvent fonctionner grâce à l’énergie solaire seulement.

«Jusqu’à présent nous n’avons rencontré aucun problème lié à l’insuffisance d’énergie. Tout l’hôpital est alimenté et nous pouvons brancher tout notre matériel sans aucun problème ; même les blocs opératoires sont servis.», déclare Guy-Claude Nkundabahizi, chef du Service Technique et Maintenance des Equipements au Centre Hospitalo Universitaire de Kamenge (CHUK).

Guy Claude montrant les plaques solaires installés au CHUK de Bujumbura. Photo: Genny Ndayisenga

Pour un petit rappel, depuis Septembre 2012, le CHUK est alimenté en énergie par une centrale photovoltaïque de 403 kW octroyée par la coopération japonaise (JICA). Pour des raisons écologiques, un système d’accumulateurs a été consacré pour préserver la santé des patients. Partant, comme l’hôpital ne peut pas consommer la totalité du courant produit par cette centrale à elle seule, le surplus est cédé à la REGIDESO.

L’énergie, un secteur peu exploité au Burundi

 Le Burundi est un pays du défi énergétique. L’accès à l’électricité de la population burundaise reste très faible (10%) comparé aux autres pays de l’East African Community. Cependant, le potentiel hydroélectrique est de 1 700 MW, dont 300 MW sont des sites de plus d’1 MW. A l’heure actuelle, seulement 32 MW sont exploités.

En attendant que la REGIDESO honore ses engagements envers le consommateur, des solutions plus écologiques et durables existent pour pallier à ce problème énergétique : les lampes à économie d’énergie ou à faible consommation, l’énergie solaire et éolienne.

Mais malheureusement, tout ce potentiel n’est pas exploité. Alors qu’elle devrait se présenter comme un atout, la saison sèche au Burundi est un vrai calvaire pour les abonnés de la REGIDESO.

«Chaque année, j’affronte la saison sèche avec la peur au ventre. Avec le système de délestage je perds beaucoup. En temps normal, je peux avoir une vingtaine de personnes qui entrent dans mon salon ; mais maintenant, je peux même passer toute une journée sans que personne n’y entre car il n’y a pas de courant.», se lamente Omar B. un jeune coiffeur d’un quartier sud de la capitale Bujumbura.

Omar n’est pas le seul à subir les conséquences du délestage, il fait partie d’une multitude de burundais qui comme lui en ont assez de vivre dans l’obscurité.

«Il faut que le gouvernement songe à résoudre ce problème d’électricité. Les résultats scolaires de mes enfants ont baissé car il ne m’est pas du tout facile de les faire réviser avec les délestages. C’est un environnement qui perturbe et qui n’est pas favorable aux élèves et étudiants.», déplore Mme Gaudence Ndikumwami, mère au foyer.

L’offre en électricité reste largement inférieure à la demande de plus en plus croissante. Ce qui est évident pour le moment c’est que la REGIDESO ne peut satisfaire à elle seule toutes les sollicitations.

Encore peu développé au Burundi, le secteur de l’énergie solaire offre des opportunités considérables aux investisseurs. Ainsi, le moment d’intervenir pour ceux qui s’intéressent au secteur est optimal.