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This special consists of five articles: Dyeing For Batik - Ghana, Tortoise Trouble
- Senegal, Waste Watchers - Senegal, Sand Warriors - Mali, Radio Active
- Ghana
Dyeing
For Batik - Ghana
Batik tie-dye
is a practical craft which can be easily learnt and
needs only a small amount of space for production.
It is a relatively cheap means of producing fabric
because there are only a few inputs that go into
batik making compared to the mechanised form of printing.
A batik making business can be established at home
with only a reasonable amount of capital required.
Batik clothing is really popular and it has the potential
to develop into a small scale industry which provides
employment and income to young people.
Tortoise
Trouble - Senegal
Over the past 50 years, the African spurred tortoise, Geochelone
Sulcata - the world’s largest land turtle
- once common across the Sahel, has become increasingly
rare. This is partly as a result of the general
depletion of their habitat, such as desertification,
deforestation, bushfires and overgrazing - the
loss of ground cover exposes the young tortoises
to birds of prey and rodents. Their numbers have
also been reduced through poaching and capture
by local people who keep them as pets, or sell
them to dealers abroad for up to US$300. In times
of drought, the tortoise has even been used as
a source of food.
Waste
Watchers - Senegal
Environment and sanitation are real problems in
Senegal because rubbish litters the streets and,
in the wet season, the sewage overflows and causes
a lot of illness.
The collection of rubbish is something that is taken
for granted in some countries but in Rufisque, a
city about 30 kilometres from Dakar, the capital
of Senegal, there is no door to door collection of
rubbish. Rufisque is below sea level and it has a
high water table. Blue skips are available for people
to dispose of their rubbish but these pose a serious
health hazard and the rubbish often blows away.
Sand
Warriors - Mali
In Mali, in what is called the "Bend of the River",
is Timbuktu (Tombouctou) located 7 kilometres from
the Niger River. Timbuktu is a UNESCO heritage site
which dates back to the 12th century when it was
settled by the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara.
It became the last trading point before the desert.
Over the last ten years, the Saharan sands have
encroached further and further into the town. In
Toya, one of Timbuktu’s neighbouring villages
situated on the banks of the Niger, many of the houses
have already been abandoned because of the invading
sand.
The presence of sand is a sign of drought, desertification
and degradation of the eco-system. It is a plague to
the people of Timbuktu and its surroundings because
it hinders their development. Niarga Keita, of the
Ministry for Water and Forestry in Mali, is responsible
for leading the fight against the desertification of
this area and the development of forestry in Northern
Mali.
Radio
Active - Ghana
Deforestation is the deliberate removal of natural
forest and grassland plants by human activities.
Logging, land clearing, bush burning, mining and
quarrying, and settlements have all contributed to
the deforestation in Ghana. The adoption of non-sustainable
practices of exploitation of natural resources mean
that Ghana’s rich forest reserves are dwindling
by the day.
Environmentalists have responded by becoming more
active, leading to the reawakening of environmental
consciousness where it once existed, or introducing
it where it has never existed before. Techniques
that preserve the resources, protect the environment
and favour economic development need to be implemented
to stop the ecological degradation as well as guaranteeing
self sufficiency and food safety for the local communities.
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