Africa's environmental duty set out

Somali activist urges the continent's governments to seek China's help to protect natural treasures

A Somali-born environmentalist is urging African governments to "negotiate" with China and Chinese firms operating on the continent in order to mobilize resources to protect the local environment.

In an interview with China Daily in Nairobi shortly after being named the first Somali to win a top United Nations environmental award, 67-year-old Fatima Jibrell says although Africa needs China for economic development, African governments have an obligation to engage the Chinese "to support the protection of natural resources".

"If the African governments were asking (the Chinese) to support the protection of natural resources they would do that," says Jibrell, founder of Adeso, a non-profit organization working in the Horn of Africa to bring environmental and social justice to war-torn regions and communities.

"It's up to the governments in Africa to negotiate. China will not negotiate for us," she says.

Stirred by the devastation of the decades-old bloody civil war in Somalia, Jibrell founded her organization in 1991 to help improve the environment of pastoralist communities in the war-torn country. She fled to the United States at the tender age of 16 and returned to Somalia in 1994 to oversee the operations of her organization.

According to the United Nations, her work has been instrumental in ending the charcoal trade in northeastern Somalia, which had been decimating the region's acacia trees and shrubs. Through her program, 80 percent of thousands of young people have been equipped with new skills to better conserve environmental resources and to become more self-reliant through enhanced rural livelihoods and peace.

"If African countries are asking for highways only, and they don't care how that highway destroys (the environment) by cutting trees, then you can't blame the Chinese," she says.

Citing development activities that China has extended to Africa from exploring oil and gas deposits to building massive infrastructure such as roads, railways and buildings, Jibrell says the continent stands to benefit if "governments negotiate proactively" while engaging the Chinese.

"We need development, yes, and China is the place now to go for development," she says, adding that Africa needs to stand firm to protect its local environment.

"For the protection of the local environment, it's up to the Africans to protect their own resources. It boils down to the African people to be proactive and to hold their governments to account."

Jibrell won the Champions of the Earth award this year for her tireless efforts to protect Somalia's fragile rural environment. The prize is the United Nations' flagship environment award recognizing outstanding visionaries and leaders in the fields of policy, science, entrepreneurship and civil society.

The laureate for the field of science and innovation will be recognized in an awards ceremony in Washington on Nov 19.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/14/2014 page29)