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Mali: Voices From the Frontline of Climate Change
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
9 June 2008
Posted to the web 9 June 2008
Timbuktu
People living in the Sahelian band of West Africa are among those worst affected by shifting patterns of rainfall and desertification in the world, the UN says. IRIN asked five people near Timbuktu in northern Mali what climate change means for them, and these are their replies.
Hama Abacrinne, teacher, Bintagoungou village:
"We don't talk about climate change here, we talk about how we are lacking water and food. There is so little water and the community cannot support everyone. The nomads left long ago mostly to go to Mopti. Some stayed but either their herds got smaller or they just settled in villages."
Lactib, animal herder, near Goundam:
"I came to this region with my animals looking for water and food for them. Look, how small and weak they are. These days I either find water and no food, or food and no water, rarely both. This area is not good now - I will stay for two months and then move on. I don't know if I will come back."
Mohamed Elamud, farmer, near Bintagoungou village:
"All I want to have is water. I grow zucchini's but they are dry, withered, not good to eat and hard to sell. The corn is impossible now. Without water it's going to be hopeless. I won't leave though - I think it must get better."
Fatimata, mother, Bintagoungou village:
"The rain doesn't come often now and the canals are empty. We have to pump all the water we use and carry it every day. Sometimes even the pump doesn't give us any water. All the villages around here are the same and we are all threatened by it."
Boubacar Bankaro, farmer, Issafaye village:
"The problems we have here are hunger and poverty. The river used to flow all year right past the village, giving us very fertile land. For the last 10 years we have had less and less water to grow food and now sometimes even to drink."
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[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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