Help Tanzanian environmentalist Mathias Lyamunda to attend COP 29
The developed world must listen to warnings from Africa about climate risks
I first met Mathias Lyamunda when the UN climate change congress COP 26 was held in Glasgow. We put him up in our flat as part of the homestay initiative to accommodate the thousands of delegates who poured into Scotland, many from the developing world. It was a magical time in many ways, with all kinds of people from all kinds of places making connections. I learned a lot and we are undoubtedly not the only hosts who have stayed in touch since the event. Mathias is now trying to raise the money to go to COP 29, which is in Baku this November so today I am launching a crowdfunder to help him attend and continue his important work.
One of the things that I learned was that we in the developed world have to listen to people like Mathias because they are desperately trying to warn us that if we don’t help them to fix ecological issues now that will lead to more problems down the line.
The mass movement of people leading to large numbers of refugees is one of the issues roiling politics in the US and Europe right now - climate breakdown is going to make that worse. We tend not to think of climate change as a cause of violence but it is. Environmental degradation doesn’t come alone - it blows hard on the embers of tensions and disputes and turns them into wars.
We are seeing the awful result of this in Sudan where underlying conflict has been worsened by climate collapse - unpredictable rainfall means drought in one part of the country and increased flooding in another. People who depend on highly climate-sensitive activities like subsistence farming and fishing are especially vulnerable. Society breaks down along with the food chains.
Sudan is on the brink of the worst famine the world has seen since the days of Live Aid
The unfolding tragedy in Sudan has displaced millions of people. Famine is raging. Thousands of children are dead and millions are at risk. We are on the brink of the worst famine the world has seen in 40 years. The world is failing to respond - or even to pay attention.
The conflict is often reported as a complicated battle between opposing forces but it has been intensified by ecological collapse. When rains fail and animals die, other things start to go wrong. Trees get cut down - increasing desertification etc. Groups that were already at odds fight over scarce resources. People are forced to move. Big refugee numbers arriving in other areas put pressure on resources and grievances intensify.
It is much harder to deal with these issues once the worst has happened. At previous COPs, including in Glasgow, Mathias worked together with other delegates from East Africa to try to get the developed world to pay attention to environmental risks and how to help before disaster strikes.
Tanzania faces deforestation which leads to desertifcation
When Mathias was staying with us we would send him off in the morning with the packed lunch we were asked to provide and in the evenings he would tell us about the conference and about his country. I remember him telling me “the trees bring water to the sky”. This is true, I looked it up - tree cover plays a role in precipitation.
Tanzania is a country of lush green forest, wild animals and birds. But in the last 20 years it has lost a tenth of its tree cover. When Mathias was a child, in Makanda village in Dodoma, his school was in a forest clearing - there were areas they were afraid to go because of the risk of meeting cheetahs and lions. There was no shortage of food then - crops were grown in fertile clearings, shaded by the canopy. But now it is desert. The children attending his old school go hungry all day.
One reason for the loss of tree cover is illegal logging. Another is the poverty of the people - almost the entire population relies on burning biomass for cooking fuel. People cut down trees, turn them into charcoal and walk into the capital Dar es Salaam to sell it. The circuit of where the charcoal comes from has expanded hugely - from 60km to 300 km.
Since COP 26, Mathias has been part of an initiative to try to reduce the impact of this need for cheap fuel by providing more efficient cooking stoves. The stove they distribute has a small fan powered by solar electricity which increases the heat that can be provided by small particles of charcoal which heat stones. The stones stay warm long enough to cook a meal.
Our crowd funder to help Mathias to attend COP 29
Mathias is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Environmental Management and Campaign Against Poverty (FEMAPO), whose purpose is to promote environmental protection and support community resilience against the impacts of climate change. He is an active member of various working groups and civil society networks in Tanzania and East Africa.
Mathias has managed to get funding to attend the last three COPs but he has struggled to get backing this year, as a small charity in straitened times. So we decided to start a crowdfunder. The budget is £1800, £850 for flights, £600 for accommodation and the rest for living costs while attending the conference.
Mathias said: “I would be very grateful for your help in attending COP 29. Our organization is small, and it does not have sustainable funding, so we depend on well-wishers to support us to attend these International meetings.
“Through my participation in COP meetings I have built networks at national and International level where we advocate a global just transition and demand support for a just transition to clean renewable energy for underdeveloped Global South Countries.”
‘’I have been invited to different forums to speak to share knowledge on the impacts of climate change, COP learning experiences and what climate actions we can take as community members to address the challenges resulting of climate change.
“My involvement in the COPs has brought significant changes into the direction of policies on climate change. Due to our advocacy work and participation in post-COP country meetings we have influenced the directions of Tanzania policies into renewable energy.
“Tanzania launched a Clean Cooking Strategy this year 2024, in part as a response to the advocacy efforts we and others have made since COP26, COP27 and COP28. The Clean Cooking strategy is meant to address the challenges of cooking energy whereby more than 86% of Tanzanians depend on biomass as the main source of cooking energy, which results in cutting down trees for charcoal making and firewood, which is one of the main sources of deforestation in Tanzania.
“At FEMAPO, in collaboration with other stakeholders, we have supported women in the local communities of Karanse in Siha Districts to access cooking stoves that use rocks as fuel for cooking. These rocks have lower emission and they can be reused several times before they run out of energy. This technology have helped women in Karanse community to access clean cooking energy but also save time that women use in finding fire woods for cooking. FEMAPO also trained young people in Karanse Village with the skills of making cooking stoves. The aim of FEMAPO is to scale up this project so that more women and youth can benefit from this project not only in Karanse but also in other regions where the environment in under pressure as a result of accessing cooking energy.”
Please donate to help Mathias to attend COP 29 (no need to accept the suggested tip to Just Giving)
Further Reading
Climate change and conflict in Sudan