From Glasgow to Kamakwie – and back

Today, international political celebrities are arriving at the World Climate Summit in Glasgow. “It is one minute to midnight and we must act now,” urges British Prime Minister Johnson. And that is exactly what we are doing here in the West African bush!

Marion von Oppeln reports at the “Karene District Development Coordination Committee Meeting” about our planned reforestation in the “Sella Limba Chiefdom”. This involves a project area of around 30,000 hectares of (former) rainforest!

The people here in the ninth poorest country on earth are already clearly feeling the effects of climate change: the rainy seasons are getting heavier and longer, the dry seasons hotter. The water table is falling, crops are getting leaner, and the number and extent of bushfires are rising.

Let’s hope that the results in Glasgow will be as clear-cut as those in Kamakwie – here, after Marion’s presentation, all signs point to a start!

In the aftermath of Marion’s talk, there was this note in a regional WhatsApp group, which serves as a newspaper substitute here:

“A German National and wife enters Karene District to aid Afforest deforested areas. Council Chairman John Dito standing by the Humantarian…”