Coastal Villages Sensitised On Climate Change

Adaptation for Coastal and Climate Change (ACCC), an NEA global environmental facility project, under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), last Saturday and Sunday, respectively, held a two-day sensitisation seminar on climate change in the villages of Tanjeh and Madiana.

The two-day sensitisation seminar, which attracted villagers from the two villages focused on eco-tourism principles and its values in the local communities.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Doudu Trawally, ACCC's Coordinator underscored the importance of the project, noting that the project would equip participants on the dangers of climate change and its impacts on coastal areas.

He pointed out that the purpose of the seminar was to discuss issues pertaining to the climate change, which he said, have serious impacts on the coastal villages. He noted that it can make livelihood of many residents in the coastal villages difficult, because of serious sea erosion.

"This is why our donor partners UNDP and UNEP come with this wonderful suggestion, through NEA and ANEJ-Gambia, to sensitise them about the sea erosion and the fact that people go to beaches and mining the sand and also cutting the mangroves for the building of the houses," he stated.  According to him, these are some of things which need to be addressed, among others, in the coastal villages.

"Climate change has brought a lot of problems in the coastal areas because all these heavy rainy falls have contributed to the climate change," he said, adding that climate change is a potential cause of destruction.

For his part, Sheikh Alkinky Sanyang, the Coordinator of African Network of Environment Journalists Gambia Chapter (ANEJ-G), said the goal of the project is to develop and pilot a range of effective coping mechanisms for reducing the impact and vulnerability of climate change.

He noted that inter-governmental panel on climate change (IPCC) latest report has revealed that the impacts of climate change are already being felt around the world. These communities, he added, are often the least responsible for causing the problem, noting that they have the fewest resources to adapt to the rapid changes.

"Global warming and climate change has caused a lot of negative consequences and will continue to create more unless stopped by man himself," Mr. Sanyang said, adding that climate change is indeed a major threat to national well-being.