The Spirit of Umoja Gambia delegation comprised of African-Americans have organized a daylong symposium on climate change and environmental protection geared toward pacing and cementing cordial ties between the Umoja visiting community and the Gambian people.
The seminar provided an opportunity for the visiting delegation to connect with their roots and better understand the cultural heritages of The Gambia and ways of attracting them to explore chances in the country in many areas of interest.
The symposium was organized in the form of a ’ Bantaba’ discussion which symbolizes unity, harmony and motivation for the visiting delegation to exchange ideas with their Gambian counterparts, especially in the area of climate change and its impact on our societies.
The head of the visiting team, Madam Qusemah Boston has described the importance of the gathering arguing that they want to maintain some of our cultures in their day-to-day activities urging the young ones in her delegation to learn from the visit and be better prepared to showcase such cultures.
“If we are better connected with our roots and culture, we will never be misled. We cherish our heritages and are ready to leave on them even if we go back to America” She stated.
The event was marked with a presentation on the impact of Climate Change on our daily lives and ways of mitigating the menace.
The young people from the visiting delegation dilated on the health risks associated with climate change, air pollution, sea level rise and destruction of the savanna grasses which were deemed to be human activities causing climate change in the Sahel.
Present at the symposium was the Village Development Committee Chairman of Toubakolong, Mr Ousman who highlighted the importance of afforestation and its importance to human survival.
He argued good practices of afforestation help humans to leave without risk of limited rainfall and economic hardship.
“The causes of climate are mainly bushfire, indiscriminate cutting down of trees without replacing them and a lot more. Humans have a symbiosis relationship with plants so, humans should not be destructive to trees without expecting a negative impact. While humans live on trees for survival, trees too depend on us. Under these circumstances, we should protect trees to avoid climate change and its hazards” he stated.
Speaker after speaker highlighted the effects of climate change in today’s societies and gave possible solutions to mitigate the menace.
While the visiting Umoja delegation expressed gratitude to the attendees and hospitality accorded to them, they will be visiting cultural heritage centres in some parts of the country including Toubakolong under the guidance of Kemo Jatta and explore means of investing in the country for the wider interest of all.
The issue of climate change has resulted in drought and increased food prices which led to a food crisis in the region in recent years.