Climate change is making floods and many other forms of environmental disasters across the whole world more severe. Everyday, there is at least an incident of landslide, droughts, bushfiring etc and Cameroon is no exception. In July 2023, the world woke up to the devastating effects of climate change in Limbe city, particularly in Mowoh, Lower Mowoh, Southeast Community and Cassava Farm. Videos and images circulated the social media of how these areas were all covered with flood and muds resulting in thousands displaced persons, including deaths and loss of properties.
Reports indicated that the neighbourhoods worst affected during the July flood and landslide were, Church Street (700 people), Mowoh (400 people) and Down Beach (500 people), making a total of about 1,600 people directly affected by the flooding. The flooding was largely due to run-off water, poor drainage channels, and unplanned constructions preventing running water from circulating normally. Other damage included the destruction of goods in shops, and more seriously, the suspected disappearance of an adult, 05 people injured and 02 dead.
As a government’s response, a radio announcement released from the Limbe City council of July 20, 2023, by the Lord Mayor Mr. Paul Ngale, advised residents in the affected areas to evacuate with immediate effects and cautioned that the municipality was in the process of developing an emergency evacuation plan.
Months later, residents of these areas are still living in the risk zones, struggling to recover from the flood and landslides. With most of the victims being women and girls whose livelihood and source of income were all destroyed due to the flood and landslide.
As an organisation working and amplifying local community climate actions, it was important for the women leaders of the affected communities to be part of the designing and drafting of the evacuation plan. By so doing, a team was set up, constituting of the following organisations: Solidarity Health Foundation (SHF), ASOMEF, MIFALI and Women for a Change, and GenEgaliteECCAS, who worked collectively to organise series of outreach visits and engagements, including focus group discussions, interviews as well as a policy dialogue that held on 13 November 2023 between the climate affected female leaders and key stakeholders such as Limbe City Mayor, Municipal Mayor, Regional Delegate of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Ministry of Land, Quarter Head, and the HRM Chief of Limbe and members of the press etc.
Organised under the theme: “women’s meaningful Inclusion in local climate solutions”, the event aimed at supporting 45 women leaders from the flood and landslide affected areas in developing policy recommendations as well as hosting a policy dialogue with the municipality on the evacuation plan. The policy document had 5 key recommendations. These ranged from meaningful inclusion and participation at all stages of the evacuation plan planning to capacity development to better respond to climate disasters and early warning, to access to adequate sexual and reproductive health care services and products during climate emergency and humanitarian settings.
The project undertaken in Limbe to address the landslide risks and repercussions of climate change in the Mowoh area stands as a testament to the power of teamwork and collective action for common good. It reveals that by combining technical expertise with community engagement and policy dialogue, solutions are inevitable.
