Women take the lead to protect Senegal’s Saloum delta
The Saloum delta is a coastal region in Senegal that is a veritable labyrinth of islands, characterized by rich vegetation, but this magnificent ecosystem is threatened by the ramifications of climate change and damaging environmental practices.
We want to highlight the impressive efforts of a group of women in Senegal’s Saloum delta to protect this unique environment that is recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Women living in the delta are tackling these threats thanks to a project conceived by the local organization Nébéday and supported by the Centre de solidarité internationale (International Solidarity Centre) of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and the Roncalli International Foundation.
The project supports women who are members of economic interest groups in the villages of Thialane, Siwo and Bassar in adapting to climate change and sustainably managing resources. The women are taking the lead in their communities in using technologies that produce low greenhouse gas emissions (GHG emissions), and taking up the practice of agro-forestry.
The project is promoting social change, by reducing the community’s use of wood, while also providing new economic possibilities for the women to earn a livelihood. There were trainings provided on how to make better stoves that use wood more efficiently, which is vital in the fight against deforestation, and has led to a 50% reduction in the use of wood for heating. In addition, the introduction of biofuels, produced essentially from straw, has helped to minimize the number of brush fires and avoid a reliance on precious mangrove wood.
The Roncalli International Foundation supported the women’s groups with $27,800 in funding to acquire equipment and materials to jump-start these new activities as part of their efforts to preserve the delta’s threatened ecosystem, and reduce their carbon footprint.
The women have seen an improvement in their living conditions, a reduction in GHG emissions and an increase in food and forestry yields. Their next goal is to promote the wider use of these new techniques in their communities to ensure the preservation of this environment they call home.