By Christian Aid | Fri., November 25, 12:33 PM | Comments ( 1 )
Chipata, Zambia
We crossed the Tanzania / Malawi border two days ago in the searing mid afternoon heat. 'Malawi is the warm heart of Africa' someone told me on arrival. 'No kidding,' I thought, as I panted over to a patch of shade.
But the welcome we received did full justice to the country's reputation. The Malawian Caravan team made the six hour drive from Lilongwe to meet us, and performed a dance in our honour: jumping and flailing to a beat hammered out at breakneck speed on a sheet of metal (watch the video).
And yesterday's official event in Lilongwe was an upbeat blend of climate change ceremony, pop concert and picnic. Yesterday afternoon, hundreds of people in Climate Justice-branded straw hats bobbed happily along to a reggae band. They looked like a particularly funky bunch of farmers; I was very sad to leave.
But Zambian hospitality has also been wonderful, and at a time when our spirits still needed reviving after so many overnight bus journeys.
Most of our events so far have been held in big cities, but this morning we sat under trees in a beautiful village just outside the town of Chipata. Women farmers greeted us with a cappella singing and then shared their accounts of how unpredictable rains are playing havoc with their way of life.
Their stories of hardship felt at odds with the idyllic setting but they were also depressingly consistent with what we have heard so far.
We wished them well, they wished us well too and the Caravan groups from each country planted a tree at the edge of the village. Then it was back onto our buses and onwards to our next stop: Lusaka.
Photo of the day
PHOTO: Zambian women farmers welcome the Caravan
Lusaka, Zambia
12 days and 7 countries after we pulled away from Bujumbura stadium, it feels like we are about to enter the home straight. We are now four coaches, around 150 people strong, and my used shirt rotation system isn’t fooling anyone; I desperately need to do laundry.
As we get closer to Durban, everyone’s thoughts are turning to the UN climate change negotiations whose arrival in Africa this year inspired the caravan. Today, at our event in Lusaka, the Zambian minister for the environment said: ‘All the African presidents, all the African ministers, all the members of civil society will go with one voice and claim what is ours.’ But no-one is under any illusions that it’ll be easy.
The first period of the Kyoto Protocol, the fairest system we have for ensuring industrialised countries reduce their carbon emissions, comes to an end next year, and the future of the agreement is on the rocks.
Some industrialised countries are trying to replace it with a weaker deal, even though – under the terms of the KP – they are obliged to negotiate for a new commitment period. Saving the protocol will be one of the toughest battles that negotiators from developing countries will have to fight.
The debate on funding to help poorer countries develop without harming the environment, is also expected to be a fierce one. There is a lack of financial commitment between 2013 and 2020 and although developed countries have agreed to mobilise $100 billion - itself an inadequate sum - each year by 2020 many questions still remain.
So the Caravan will culminate at Durban but the Caravanites understand that Africa’s fight for climate justice is unlikely to end there too. The campaigning momentum that we have built up on this journey will need to keep rolling on.
Read more about the UN climate change negotiations on our campaigns blog.
Photo of the day
PHOTO: Mithika Mwenda, Head of PACJA, addresses the caravanites
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