IUCN-Mali and Wetlands International Mali sent a joint team for a field mission to meet with stakeholders in the Mopti Region in general, and the Inner Niger Delta in particular, to assess possibilities for the project implementation in the current crisis. All stakeholders were unanimous on the substantial improvement in the security situation in Mopti Region. Signs of improvement in the security situation include the UN system activities resumption, banks opening and measures taken by the armed forces to secure demarcation lines with the Timbuktu Region in the north. Read the rest of this entry »

The Malian population consumes more than 6.5 million tons of fuel wood per year. Bamako city alone consumes more than 600 000 tons. This trend will continue increasing because the transition government removed the subsidy which allowed many families to use butane gas. Mali annually loses 500,000 hectares of forest because of logging, including 400 000 hectares for only fuel wood and 100,000 hectares for agricultural clearings. In this context I filmed two organizations carrying out actions to stop deforestation by combining logging and tree planting. Read the rest of this entry »

Magui Lake is a wetlands site located in west of Mali. Despite its small surface, Magui Lake has some similarities with the River Niger inner delta. This lake is an important migratory birds staying site during the winter time. Difference between these two wetlands sites is that Magui isn’t yet a Ramsar Site. A national NGO is working to save resource of this important wetlands site with the support of IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands since 2002. Read the rest of this entry »

Representatives of United Nations, African Union, the European Union (EU), the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), but also those of neighboring countries such as Algeria and Mauritania met on Friday in Bamako and expressed their total solidarity with Mali, largely occupied by armed Islamists. The meeting decided to resume Mali cooperation with international partners suspended following the 22 March coup AU and the UN will open permanent offices in Bamako to better coordinate their respective activities. European experts are in Mali since Monday 22 October 2012 for a week to see what are the weaknesses of Malian army and how to upgrade. Meanwhile in Paris, another discrete high-level meeting began Monday, October 22 including representatives of the African Union, ECOWAS, the European Union , the United Nations, the senior officer for Africa Foreign Affairs in Washington and the head of strategic planning in the Pentagon command for Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m back from a three days trip inside the Niger River inner delta. The objective of this mission, which I conducted with the staff of Wetlands International Mali Climate Change Project, was to achieve a participatory video with Noga village community in the Dialoubé rural commune.
Before going to the delta, we initiated the project field staff to carry out a participatory video.
When we arrived in Noga, September 15, we found a community highly motivated and enthusiastic for doing participatory video. They had already selected three men and two women for this activity. We began by initiating these people in video shooting and writing a story. Then, the community chosed the topic on which the film was to be achieved.
The Noga community made a film about the restoration work which the project has performed in their village.
Before we left the village, we projected on screen, the video they produced themselves.
To make this work, we used my Sony camera, my Sony photo camera (the one Jhein and I bought in July in Amsterdam) and a photo camera Lumix from Wetlands. All these materials produce the AVCHD video.
After one day break, we must go to the Konna area (north of Mopti) for doing the second participatory video. I will edit the two films once the shooting ended.