| People think of Bolivia as a country of llamas and snow-capped mountains, but three quarters of the country is covered with tropical rainforest. People in the lowlands face increased flooding, and in the highlands warmer weather is rapidly melting the glaciers on which cities depend for drinking water. The scale of the challenge posed by climate change is so huge that we have to work together. In Bolivia, we’ve been working with Christian Aid and Oxfam to support indigenous people’s movements, representing millions of people, to speak out at national and international levels about how climate change affects them. It’s not always easy to get agreement, but has achieved far more than working alone. It amazed me to see how Bolivia’s role was reported after the Copenhagen climate talks. This small, and politically marginalised country, was accused of wrecking the global climate deal, because they refused to agree to the undemocratic and hastily-agreed Copenhagen Accord. In April, I joined 35,000 people from over 140 countries at the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change hosted by Bolivia. It was really challenging to allow so many people to influence the final agreements. But compared to Copenhagen, where all but a select few were shut out, indigenous people showed patience and willingness to listen. The only limit on who could take part was how many people would fit in the room! The declaration from the World Peoples’ Conference has been called unrealistic because it calls for such radical action For example, for 50 per cent cuts in carbon emissions on 1990 levels, instead of the two per cent voluntary cuts agreed at Copenhagen. But I think this declaration shows that politicians in Copenhagen are the ones being unrealistic by not taking climate change seriously. Climate change cannot be separated from other environmental impacts. For example, for the indigenous peoples of Latin America, drought caused by climate change must be looked at alongside the exploitation of water sources for mining or for large-scale agriculture for export. That’s why we’re researching new ways of development, similar to the principles behind LiveSimply, which respect the rights of indigenous people and of Mother Earth. Karen Luyckx is CAFOD’s country representative in Bolivia.
| Water was all around me as a child. I grew up in Western Kenya at the edge of Lake Victoria. There was lots of rain and good farm lands which meant enough food for my family and for the community I grew up in. My mother sold fish brought in daily by the fishermen on the lake. When I started this job five years ago, I visited CAFOD partner Diocese of Maralal in Northern Kenya. I was so shocked at what I encountered. The land was so dry after prolonged drought, it was cracked and yellow. There was not enough water for the home, to feed the animals, or even to drink.People in the dry region of Northern Kenya are affected by recurrent and droughts, floods and conflict between different communities. Being a pastoralist community, animals are people’s only wealth. The communities I met with were fighting over the few water sources and the few grazing areas for their livestock. There was not enough food, and you could see how thin the people and their animals had become. Life was so stressed that one ethnic group would attack another to steal their cattle. People were dying from lack of food but also because of the cattle rustlers. Despite the difficulties, I was struck by the hope and optimism of the people. People were looking for opportunities where they could change their lives through working on new ways to make an income, like making handicrafts. They also were trying to reduce violent conflicts among ethnic groups, by working through traditional mechanisms of sharing water and pasture. I went back to that same community in the Diocese of Maralal last month, five years since my first visit! I found a community that was in charge of its own development and had re-established their livelihoods. They had organised local groups which were in charge of crop production, managing dairy goats and peace-building. I look back and feel proud and privileged that I have been part of this great work. The communities in the Diocese of Maralal have demonstrated that through strong partnerships, we can deal with the lack of food together, even in the most difficult situations. Tom Onyango is CAFOD’s East Africa Regional Justice and Peace Programme Officer
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