Telling the ECSA Story

Sister and her daughter Siyapula operating her biodigester powered cooker. Deforestation in Zimbabwe continues to spread at a high rate due to the over reliance on firewood in the rural areas. Indicators attribute this to be a key factor in some of the extreme weather change patterns that have affected several parts of the country. Climate change-induced drought has been traced in the southern parts of Zimbabwe like Mwenezi where people are inevitably forced to rely on wood for both cooking and selling to earn an income. This has several negative impacts not only on the environment but also on the health and safety of women and girls.     The time-consuming responsibility of fetching firewood is assigned to girls leaving them vulnerable to abuse and at a disadvantage when it comes to studying as they have less time.   Indoor pollution from open fires exposes women and children to smoke and soot leading to respiratory diseases.   Use o f wood as a source of ene...

  Amina in the IDP camp in Lower Juba. CARE/Saddam Mohammed Under the blistering heat, and being heavy with child, 28-year-old Amina walked over 100 kilometers for 11 days with her children as life at home had become unbearable. This was as a result of losing all their 50 cows and 30 goats, their family’s sole source of livelihood, due to the ongoing drought in Somalia. Amina found refuge at an Internally Displaced Peoples (IDP) camp in Lower Juba and has since then not been able to communicate with her husband who she left behind. “Sometimes my children go to bed hungry as I have nothing to give them and because their father is not here to help as I am pregnant. We have lost everything to this drought. Life used to be easy for us when we had our livestock. We could sell some to buy what we need. We ran out of water and pasture, and it was sad seeing all our livestock dying right in front of our eyes. Now we don’t even know what our next meal is going to be and when we will have ...

Simanjiro district is one of the very dry areas in Manyara region with unreliable source of water and long-term dry seasons because of climate change effects.   As the changes continue, it is critical for stakeholders to improve their management of climate variability, change and uncertainties to be able to develop approaches for resilient livelihoods adaptation. Stakeholders need to access climate information and gain the knowledge for informed decisions while in planning processes.   CARE International in Tanzania is implementing Our Land Program II, which aims at addressing climate change issues with a focus on building local community’s capacity and systems to support resilience and adaptation in Olchoronyori, Korongo and Magadini villages. This is done through Participatory Scenario Planning (PSP), a mechanism for collective sharing and interpretation of seasonal modern climate forecasts provided by Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA). PSP brings together meteorolo...