In case some people on this planet
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haven't realized yet, we all face
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challenges connected to the environment.
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Some challenges are greater than others.
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But with ingenuity and resilience, there
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is always potential for a greener and
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more empowering future. Hello everyone,
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I'm Chris in Lagos, Nigeria.
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and I'm Malama Mukande in Lusaka,
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Zambia, wishing you a warm welcome to
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Echo Africa. Coming up... [Music]
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In many parts of the world, it is easy
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to take certain things for granted, like
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a drink of water. Not so in places like
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northern Kenya, where climate change is
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worsening conditions that were already
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tough. Take the salty desert lake
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Takana, which is actually growing
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despite the severe drought around it.
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Now, for the hundreds of thousands of
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people in the region, managing a safe
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supply of water is a daily test of their
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resilience.
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It's 6:00 a.m. close to the village of
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Moite at Lake Turkana.
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Aino Lobok and her friend Elizabeth
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Atapar are on their daily trek to
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collect water for their families.
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They must walk more than 2 km to reach
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the hundag C of the Moa
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River that are the only source of
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drinking water.
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They have to scoop the water carefully
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to avoid collecting sand.
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[Music]
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The water is not safe to drink, but they
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have nothing else.
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The water is not good because it's
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consumed by both the people and the
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animals and is always left uncovered.
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The water causes health problems in
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children and adults like diarrhea. When
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you go to the hospital, they diagnose
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you with things like typhoid or
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amibentry.
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Not far away on the lake shore, people
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also struggle to find something safe to
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drink.
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Turkana may be the world's largest
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permanent desert lake, but its water is
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salty
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and it's growing. In the last 10 years,
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it's eaten up some 800 km of land and
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villages along with infrastructure built
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by international donors.
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Climate change is causing extreme
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rainfall in distant catchment areas
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driving the expansion.
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Deforestation and farming mean the land
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retains less water which has compounded
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the problem. Local people, especially
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the women, spend hours each day fetching
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water.
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We need help accessing clean water.
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We are forced to close our businesses to
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go fetch water and during that time we
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lose customers.
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The water we do get is dirty and tastes
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bitter. I urged the government to
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provide clean water for the health of
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both children and adults.
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A community water project was supposed
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to bring change.
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But again, the water is salty. People
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use it for their animals, washing
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utensils and clothes, and if there's no
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other option, even for drinking.
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An aid worker interviews Aino Lobok as
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part of a survey of local communities to
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find out exactly where people get their
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water from and how much they need.
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Project officer an Lande says such
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community specific experiences are vital
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if future projects are to succeed.
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I don't know.
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So right now what we are doing we are
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going to do a physibility study to
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identify potential areas where we can
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intervene in terms of coming up with
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either boho or uh is it is it feasible
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to treat the the the lake water.
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Another project on another part of the
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lake in the town Langalani supplies
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water to over 3,700 households, schools
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and businesses.
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But even here, poor infrastructure
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management has led to leaks in the pipes
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and the lakes's rising water levels are
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causing more problems here too.
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One of the paradoxes we're talking about
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the lake which is coming up and so we've
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seen quite a lot of infrastructure that
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has already been submerged uh because of
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the rising water lakes and so this is
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now becoming a challenge because uh just
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within a year you can find quite a big
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difference. Today you're able to access
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a particular site and tomorrow that site
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is uh already submerged.
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Fishing is a vital source of income and
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food for about half a million people in
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the lake region, but it's been hard to
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develop a reliable fishing industry.
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The Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research
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Institute is studying how the water and
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the fish talks are changing as the lake
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expands.
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What we are doing basically is to
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collect fish data which will support
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you can call it uh food security collect
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water quality data to monitor how it
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actually changes and then link these
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two. So the water quality data and the
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fisheries data to see whether if where
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the water quality is good how is the
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fish populations is the fish species and
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many other things.
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Of course, an increase in the fish
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harvest would also require
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infrastructure to cool and transport the
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catch to reach markets farther away. For
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now, life on the shores of the
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unpredictable Lake Turkana remains hard.
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The hope is that the more precisely
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targeted aid interventions can make it
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easier for people to meet basic food and
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water needs for their families here.
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Let's face it, the effect of climate
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change are affecting women worse than
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men across Africa and elsewhere. In many
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societies, women generally have fewer
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education options. A harder career path
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and earn less money. That makes it even
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tougher when food is short or extreme
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weather disrupts life. But it doesn't
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have to be that way. As a growing group
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of women in Gambia are showing.
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Seen from above. This is increasingly
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what the Gambia looks like.
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Solar modules and roof are no longer a
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rarity. But it is rarely women who
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install them. Patton Joy is a pioneer in
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her field and wants to lead by example.
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Women can contribute in the fight of
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climate change because we are the energy
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users at home.
For example, I would-
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