The West African caravan Right to land, water and peasant agro-ecology: a common struggle! is a framework for popular mobilisation of social movements in West Africa that aims to influence decision-makers in favour of legislation on land, seeds and, more broadly, natural resources that is beneficial to the people and not to elites and private investors.
Social movements mobilise against climate change
Following three (03) editions of the West African caravan in 2016, 2018 and 2021 respectively, with tangible and innovative results in terms of raising community awareness and lobbying the authorities of the countries along the way, the Regional Coordination of the CGLTE OA is organising the 4th edition. It will kick off in Burkina Faso and continue through Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Senegal, ending in Mauritania, with the central theme of “climate change, one of the environmental, social, economic and agricultural challenges facing Africa”.
The event will be held from 25 October to 20 November 2023 and is part of the process of the previous regional caravans in 2016, 2018 and 2021, and the national Community Climate Drum caravans in 2022 in 33 African countries.
The caravan will provide a forum for advocacy and a synergy of community action against land grabbing in general and against the grabbing of natural resources in West Africa in particular. It aims to contribute to social change in West Africa by mobilising grassroots communities to call on decision-makers for responsible and inclusive land governance.
Over the course of three weeks, 300 caravanners from at least 15 countries will criss-cross the five countries along the itinerary, stopping off for activities in each country along the way. These stopovers will be punctuated by popular conferences, debates on themes, marches, film screenings and exchange meetings with grassroots communities, members of parliament, local elected representatives, administrative and customary authorities.
The emphasis will be on raising awareness among communities of the need to change their environmental, social, economic and agricultural behaviour in order to live together better, through strategies to protect the land, water, farmers’ seeds and forests, which are also common assets. In addition, a plea will be made to the West African authorities for inclusive and participatory policies to combat climate change and access to water.
The climate is everyone’s business, not just that of governments!
As long as we do not change our approach to climate change, the continent will suffer from it year after year, resulting in growing poverty. More than 13.5 million people in the Sahel are living in precarious conditions or are displaced because of the climate. This situation jeopardises the stability and development of our countries. And yet the African continent is responsible for only 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions. This risk is increasing with the grabbing of millions of hectares of land for bogus carbon solutions or so-called aid with its cohort of deadly loans…
But we don’t have a plan “B”. We only have plan “A”, in our hands, we Africans and in particular the communities: our land, our water, our peasant seeds. So let’s commit ourselves to taking responsible action in harmony with nature, in peace and social cohesion with peasant agroecology.
Follow the latest updates from the West Africa Caravan journey:
- Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/caravaneterreeau
- Dedicated website: https://caravaneterreeau.info/
