Refugees, UN, NGOs tackle environmental degradation

Charcoal burning was one of the issues coming in for special mention at ongoing awareness sessions which continued this week in refugee camps in southern Guinea.

The sessions on environmental protection were among activities conducted in camps in Albadariah, near Kissidougou, between Monday and Wednesday in commemoration of World Environment Day (5 June), UNHCR reported.

There has been widespread charcoal burning in and around refugee camps in the area, especially after a network of charcoal traders set up shops in the camps, which host a total of about 40,000 people.

In recent weeks the practice has declined, however, as a result of the awareness programme, UNHCR in Kissidougou, 600 km from the capital Conakry, reported. The fight against charcoal burning and other factors that fuel environmental degradation has also been taken to schools in the refugee areas.

This week’s World Environment Day activities kicked off in the refugee camps with the launch of an environmental education programme in schools in Telikoro, one of three camps in Albadariah. Activities also included tree planting and protective marking, and recreation.

UNHCR and NGOs such as the British Concern International and German BMZ financed the environment protection programme since the camps were set up in 2001. The programme includes marking trees to discourage people from cutting them, reforestation and awareness. Close to 1,800 ha of trees have been marked, UNHCR reported.

Trees have also been planted on more than 84 ha while 150 ha of land is being reforested. Some 12,000 improved clay stoves (which use less fuelwood) have been built in Albadariah and Kissidougou for refugees and people in surrounding villages.

UNHCR said 120 ha of forest and fruit plantations had been maintained and replanted, while 22 ha had been rehabilitated in former refugee camps. In conjunction with WFP. UNHCR has been involved in a project to rehabilitate areas affected by the prolonged presence of hundreds of thousands of refugees in the Parrot’s Beak, an area which juts into Sierra Leone.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is also involved in the environmental rehabilitation effort.