GGCA Gender and Climate Change Training Manual - Women's ...

land degradation, which cause
inadequate agricultural yields. Three
villages (Santhie Sérère, Kessoukhatte
and Landou) have been selected
as pilot sites for erosion control
within the framework of the Agrobio
Niayes Programme by ENDA PRONAT
(Environment and Development
Action in the Third World). The project
was initiated by local people, and
women in particular, following
consultations on the problems of, and
solutions to, erosion; the disappearance
of arable land; uprooting of crops
and trees; water scarcity; and
inaccessibility of villages. Committees
were established according to
priorities. The Anti-erosion Committee,
in which women are very active, is one
of these.
To control the flow of water, they
have built barriers and undertaken
reforestation. The barriers are built
around the edges of pools of captured
rainwater, and consist of stone
borders, half-moon canals, bundles
of brushwood, infiltration ditches, and
open trenches that slow the water
down and direct it towards infiltration
points.
active in building stone barriers. All
their hard work has had an immediate
effect – ground water has been
recharged, water bodies have been
created and soils stabilized, rain water
flow has slowed down; the vegetation
is regenerating; and the diversity of
the surface vegetation is increasing.
The president of the organization said,
“Now, there is a lot of water in our
wells, and this year we are spending less
time drawing water, meaning 1 to 1.3
hours to recharge the well compared
to 2 to 3 hours last year. We will continue
our anti-erosion campaign for better
results”. Agricultural yields have
improved and women have begun
trading herbs and other plants, which
they had not done in a long time.
Source:
The Women’s Environment and Development Organization
(WEDO) with ABANTU for Development in Ghana,
ActionAid Bangladesh and ENDA in Senegal. (2008).
Gender, Climate Change and Human Security: Lessons
from Bangladesh, Ghana and Senegal. Retrieved from the
World Wide Web from:http://www.wedo.org/files/HSN%20
Study%20Final%20May%2020,%202008.pdf.
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Women are interested in solving the
erosion problem because in addition
to affecting agricultural productivity, it
also makes it difficult to access clean
drinking water. If they were given a
choice, their priority would be to have
more water resources. They are very
Instruments and techniques / Module 6