Community Based Climate Change Mitigation in Bumaji Clan, Cross River State, Nigeria - Nigeria

This activity is working with the Bumaji Clan of Nigeria to promote more sustainable practices. The Bumaji Clan has significantly contributed to deforestation and degradation on the very land they need to survive. This activity has set up trainings centered on climate change mitigation and adaptation to ensure that the Bumaji Clan will have increased farm productivity and food security.

Fast facts:

254 women have directly benefitted from the workshop on climate change causes and effects and mitigation;
15 women have directly benefitted from capacity building in agroforestry;
50 women have directly benefitted from financial support for crop cultivation;
36 women have benefited in sustainable hunting and agriculture and 80 women were trained in the construction of efficient fuelwood cook stoves;
Altogether, 435 women have directly benefited from this activity.

The problem

The people of the Bumaji Clan, particularly women, are predominantly farmers and forest gatherers. Their occupations have significantly contributed to the deforestation and degradation of the mountain tropical ecosystem they depend on daily for survival. Deforestation and degradation also contributes to increased carbon emissions, drought, fire, biodiversity loss, landslides, decreased farm productivity/food insecurity and poverty. The inherent inhalation of smoke by cooking indoors with firewood has also resulted in high mortality rates.

The solution

This activity is raising awareness on climate change causes, effects and mitigation, providing training in agroforestry and empowering people to raise cocoa and tropical trees for economic development, regenerate deforested areas to restore the forest, reduce deforestation and maintain the ecosystem through sustainable farming, construct efficient firewood cookstoves to reduce carbon emissions, and raise seed capital for the rearing of goats as an alternative source of protein to minimize the impact of hunting wildlife.

Helping the planet

This activity is decreasing carbon emissions by encouraging more sustainable practices.

Helping people

Women play a very important role when it comes to addressing climate change, and this activity supports their leadership and participation. This activity aims to build capacities of women when it comes to using the forest in a sustainable manner. By raising women’s awareness on climate change causes and effects, women have had the opportunity to take the lead and enable the application of mitigation measures at the local level to combat climate change.

Scaling up

This activity will scale up by conducting needs assessments in more communities and regions to identify climate change problems, its enormity and the number of people affected. It will also engage in participatory planning with target communities and regions on what activities will be implemented, the associated costs, community in-kind contributions, regional contributions, role responsibilities and gender issues.