Deforestation in N W Province Zambia around Mwinilunga

Sorry not to have blogged during 2015. Will explain in a future blog.

This is a long one! The full set of LINKS are in a separate blog.

In early October 2015 Cynthia & I returned to Zambia after 43 years. Charlie Rea very kindly met us in Ndola and flew us up to Mwinilunga. We were surprised to see that much of the Mwinilunga Secondary school farm, that Steve Bodsworth & I ran and developed, has been built on, the fish ponds are still there, but not being used. Mwinilunga is hardly recognisable with a new concrete bridge replacing the narrow open wooden one and a broad tar road replacing the red mud cart track of the 1970’s. The 1 bar and 2 shops have grown into a large town with serious markets, many shops and a bank. The township has enlarged significantly and many new communities with well built houses have sprung up alongside the new road. Much of the available land is cultivated where before it was bush or forest. The extent of the de-forestation visible from the air is significant. I was upset at how few trees there are where once I remember forest. No trees, no rain, no water, no rivers, no fish, no food.

Look at Nyangombe, using Google earth, and the tree cover around the Training Centre is clearly evident as an oasis of tree cover. The population has grown, Zambia is exporting maize, crops have to be grown. We saw a lorry loaded with pineapples bound for Lusaka, a store filled with maize ready to sell to the Gov’t, some excellent vegetable plots and a promising fish farm. Most villages had fruit trees, shelter trees and a church or chapel. A number of significant hydro-electric schemes provide their local areas with sustainable electricity. Some of the old PFAs Protected Forest Areas are still in place, but trees are chopped down for chitemene (slash & burn), to provide fire wood, to fire bricks, for building and furniture and to make charcoal (much of it for the towns and cities especially when the electricity is cut due to load shedding). Charles Sachikando who trains the carpenters talked about the increasing difficulty of getting hold of Mukwa timber but that Ikamba was readily available. His trainee carpenters are making quality doors and furniture.  He mentioned the old Lunda custom of planting a tree when a child is born and how that seems to have died out.

We were concerned to have found little or no sign of any tree planting schemes, tree nurseries or any initiatives to encourage agro-forestry in or around Mwinilunga. One or two people we spoke to are aware of the potential for NFT nitrogen fixing trees. No-one has heard of bio-char. We saw an abandoned Community Farming Project site near Mutanda Falls, outside Solwezi. Maybe they had tried forage plants, hedges and intercropping. We found a glimmer of hope meeting Anita, who works with Ross and Mel Ferguson at the newly formed, currently being built Orphanage, just above the river below Nyangombe. Anita has always been a keen gardener and has already started collecting seeds and planting them to produce saplings and grow fruit and vegetables. She knows about and understands the Miambo forest. Our hope is that with some help and encouragement she will be able to develop a local tree nursery in which the orphans can participate as they grow up.

Using the internet helped track down a few hopeful places in or around Lusaka. We had one day before our flight back. Sandy’s Creations Garden Centre sells good quality saplings and larger trees, mainly ornamental and fruit, for between K40 and K85. Casurina, the only NFT, had sold out this season and costs K45. After some serious phoning around and queries by our taxi driver we found the old Woodlands Nursery, the original Lusaka Forest Nursery from the 1950’s. The 1955 bulletins are available online for £30 - £50, so still in demand! David Masamo and his colleagues were very helpful, delighted to show us round and very knowledgeable about the numerous different saplings they had and their potential for agro-forestry, soil and crop improvement and re-forestation. Prices were K5 or K10. They were unable to give us any information about Tree Nurseries in either Solwezi or Mwinilunga. We didn’t get to meet anyone from CIFOR, but have since learnt of Davison Gumbo’s work at national and international level. Maybe we were looking in the wrong place and should have gone to the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection.

Sadly we didn’t have time to visit the following Zambian initiatives:

KATC,  Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre, 30km from Lusaka where Canadian Jesuits have been running farming and agro-forestry courses since 1974, started by Br Paul Desmarais. Interestingly they changed to organic farming methods in 1990’s and have an excellent collection of guides and manuals. Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre
An excellent source of KATC training manuals in pdf format. 
Also a recent 30min video, worth a look. Kasisi 2015: "The Art of Mimicking Nature" - YouTube
30 Apr 2015. How Kasisi Agricultural Training College is promoting organic farming in Zambia."

Trees for Zambia founded and still run by Adam and Claire Pope. About Us | Trees 4 Zambia
Based in East Lusaka. Indigenous tree nursery.

Conservation Farming Unit, now on Leopards Hill Rd, with influential director Peter Aagaard who has done much research and development, with some very interesting work on bio-char and information packs for Zambian farmers.          CFU Research   Important research articles about bio-char and other subjects.

"Our CFU Zambia web site  is for anybody interested in the promotion of Conservation Farming and Climate Smart Agriculture and we hope you will find it useful. In many parts of Africa, stagnant productivity, population pressure, environmental degradation and the threat of climate change suggest an increasingly bleak future for millions of African families whose livelihoods depend on farming."

We feel this statement summarises both the problem and potential solutions. It suggests that farmers will need to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change, make best use of existing forests and cultivated land, take control of their own seeds and saplings, and reduce their reliance on fossil fuels for fertilizer, farm work and transport.         
 This can be achieved by:

·         rolling back the effects of deforestation with extensive localised tree planting schemes,

·         continuing to develop small scale sustainable agriculture,

·         using local affordable resources to improve the soil, improve diversity and yields using techniques from:

·         agro-forestry (forest products such as timber, charcoal, bio-char, honey, fruit, jam, oil, soap, medicines..)

·         permaculture (planning for a particular terrain, minimum or no till, forest gardens..)     

·         organic farming, seed collection and distribution, natural pesticides, companion planting, intercropping

·         bio-char from hulled corn cobs, and                  

·         careful use of NFT nitrogen fixing trees for soil improvement, forage, food, shade and timber/firewood.  

This is a big ask for Mwinilunga District; can more of it be done?

A Peace Corps couple in Solwezi: annieandandrew | Andrew and The Wife in Zambia
This blog from Dec 2011 - April 2014 from a Peace Corps couple living and working in Solwezi Zambia helping the locals with agricultural projects, provides many examples of the work that can be done.

At the National and international level, there is a legacy of work from R K Hart (1955 Lusaka Nursery Bulletins), D B Fanshawe, (1971 Vegetation of Zambia), to Emmanuel Chidumayo (1995 handbook on miambo ecology and management) and Davison Gumbo, KATC’s Br Paul Desmarais, Peter Aagaard at CFU.... current initiatives include REDD+   (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation),   FAO Agroforestry, ......

Futher afield there is extensive quality information and help. Agroforestry.net, Tropical forages, Orton.catie.ac.cr, Trees for the Future » Resource Center , Why trees mean life - TREE AID , PLANT A TREE IN AFRICA .

Basically we feel that there have been promising initiatives and research by different groups and individuals, but little evidence of the theories, plans and promises being put into practice especially in the NW Province. This presents an enormous challenge, but we wondered if the information presented in this briefing paper might help to inspire the formation of tree nurseries in the NW Province alongside promised Gov’t initiatives. Do you know of any local tree planting initiatives or tree nurseries? Do you know of interested individuals who might be able to help in some way, or who might make a small start armed with some of this information? What might they need? A small patch of land, a supply of good quality seed &/or saplings, a handbook, some labour, plastic sleeves, compost, soil and water! As a family we are happy to try to make small initial contributions to help get individuals or groups started.

We will be very happy to receive any response to this briefing paper. hlieblng@gmail.com

Cynthia and Henry Liebling have just returned from a three week  trip to Nyangombe Training Centre near Mwinlunga in the NW Province of Zambia staying with their old friends Les & Jean White. Cynthia & Henry went to teach at Mwinilunga Secondary school in Dec 1969, after completing a secondary PGCE at the University of Zambia in Lusaka. In September 1972 they left Mwinilunga with a toddler and a baby to return to UK. Henry was head of Science and together with Steve Bodsworth ran and developed the school farm. Cynthia taught English.

Ireland's National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development, 2014-2020

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, T.D., today published the “National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development, 2014-2020”, Ireland’s first such strategy.

Education for sustainable development fosters and strengthens the capacity of individuals to make judgments and choices in favor of sustainable development.

The Strategy aims to ensure that learners are equipped with the relevant knowledge, and the key dispositions, skills and values to motivate and empower them to become informed citizens acting for a more sustainable future.

Eight ‘priority action areas’ have been identified. They include leadership and coordination, data collection and baseline measurement, and promoting participation by young people in decisions that affect them.

Each of the eight priority areas has a series of recommendations. These recommendations encompass all areas of the education system, from pre-school through to further and higher education, as well as non-formal and community education, and the Youth sector.

The ESD plan promotes greater participation by children and young people in decisions that affect them within the education sector, principally through student councils. This is in keeping with the Minister’s drive to ensure the voice of students is included in education. The establishment of more student councils at primary level will be encouraged, and the existing student council model at post primary level will be reviewed.

Welcoming the Strategy, Minister Quinn highlighted the importance of the Department of Education and Skills promoting sustainability in its own practice, “As an architect, I am delighted that the Department has won awards for sustainable design in our school building projects.

“This National ESD Strategy commits the Department to continue to build infrastructure that is cutting edge in terms of sustainability, as well as seeking to reduce its own energy usage and that of other institutions within the education sector.”

“I would like to extend my appreciation to those who generously contributed their time and expertise. In implementing the ESD Strategy, the Department will be seeking to work closely with you in this important area.”

An ESD Advisory Group is to be established, representing stakeholders, and chaired by a DES official, for exchanging best practice, building partnerships and mobilising stakeholders.

The publication of the National Strategy for ESD fulfils Ireland’s commitments under the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It is also one of the commitments in Our Sustainable Future, the National Strategy on Sustainable Development, which was published by the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government in 2012.


Eight priority action areas:

1. Leadership and coordination

2. Data collection and baseline measurement

3. Curriculum at pre-school, primary and post-primary

4. Professional development

5. Further education and training

6. Higher education and research

7. Promoting participation by young people

8. Sustainability in action

The report is available at http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/National-Strategy-on-Education-for-Sustainable-Development-in-Ireland-2014-2020.pdf
- See more at: http://www.education.ie/en/Press-Events/Press-Releases/2014-Press-Releases/PR14-07-04.html#sthash.Ci9YjTNd.dpuf

Disruptive Innovation Festival official launch video 2014

Do we know what we are doing? New online text and some other things!

Do we know what we are doing?  Reflections on learning, knowledge, economics, community and
sustainability.

 Rolf Jucker has just published what he terms "his farewell text on ESD" text online. I an impressed by the depth and breadth of his thinking. Do have a look.      http://rolfjucker.net/


Abstract: The discourse of education for sustainability has been severely limited by the fact that it
largely refuses to acknowledge important insights from other fields of learning and
knowledge. A denial to engage with central insights with regard to how the world and more
specifically how human interaction with the human and non-human world work means that
it has been to a large extent a self-centred discourse. It is tangled up in reflections on
education without contextualising this in the real world. My main point is that not just
education in general, but also so-called education for sustainable development (ESD) needs
to perform a radical paradigm shift and become communal learning in real-time in a real
place. And this necessitates a willingness to face some tough questions on the prevailing
denial.  (Berne, 2014)


Se-ed are continuing to do great things and are running a series of webinars at around £10 a throw.
http://se-ed.co.uk/edu/

Ellen McArthur is busy at Davos and Unilever have just joined her Circular Economy group. Also The Ellen Mc Arthur Foundation has just published the 3rd chapter of their work to try and mainstream Circular Economy thinking and turn it into practice.
 http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/project-mainstream

"Following the release of Towards the Circular Economy vol.3, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation announces Project Mainstream, a collaborative project which could help businesses to shift towards a circular economy and as a result save US$ 500 million in materials and prevent 100 million tonnes of waste globally."

Saw a 3D printer at work yesterday. Hard to believe what I was seeing and touching.Imagine wanting a part for a machine and living far away from the parts dept. A local 3D printer could be the solution. Find and download the software and away you go.
Here's a tale for you! In 1971 in Mwinilunga, NW province of Zambia, near the source of the great Zambezi river, we were working in a secondary school of 800+ students and  100+ staff when the town water-pump broke. We, well mainly my colleague Steve Bodsworth, kept the school and hospital going for 3 months until the parts arrived. Households had to survive on two buckets of water a day. Luckily we had just installed two 2000 gallon tanks on the school farm. These were uprooted and one placed near the school kitchens and the other by the hospital. Then making one out of two very old 250cc Villiers water-pumps useable, borrowing a 500 gallon water-bowser, putting onto a "donated" gov't trailer hauled by a borrowed land-rover, Steve filled up the two tanks nearly every day for months taking water from the river Lunga. The pupils washed in the river and kept a look-out for crocs!

The Global Learning Programme (GLP)

The Global Learning Programme is funded by the Department for International Development and runs from 2013 to 2017. It is managed by a consortium of leading global learning and educational organisations: Pearson (lead), Geographical Association, Institute of Education, Oxfam UK, Royal Geographical Society, SSAT and Think Global. The Institute of Education (through DERC) is leading on two workstreams: Continuing Professional Development and Research and Evaluation. 

We are delighted to let you know about the new Global Learning Programme (GLP) for England which launches this month. The GLP is a ground-breaking new programme which will create a national network of like-minded schools, committed to equipping their pupils to make a positive contribution to a globalised world by helping their teachers to deliver effective teaching and learning about development and global issues at Key Stages 2 and 3.

The programme supports teachers to help their pupils learn about the challenges our world faces and think critically about how to deal with issues such as poverty, inequality and sustainability. It helps pupils make sense of the world in which they live and to understand their role within a global society. It puts a primary focus on developing pupil’s knowledge and understanding of development and global issues through subject-based learning in key curriculum areas. It also recognises the important role global learning initiatives can have in encouraging pupils’ values and skills development.

 

The GLP offers schools in England:

• A free peer-led locally-based programme of support to enhance teaching about global issues and whole school approaches to global learning; 

•  e-credits which schools can use to pay for CPD from approved providers;

•  A specialised online audit tool for schools to highlight current global learning strengths and areas of priority; 

• An individualised action plan for schools to understand how they might enhance future global learning provision; 

• Curriculum guidance to support global learning in key subject areas; 

• Easily-accessible and approved resources available to support classroom teaching and whole-school global learning initiatives; 

• An online tool to assess pupils’ global learning; 

• Opportunities for teachers to become accredited GLP Lead Practitioners and for schools to become GLP Expert Centres;

• The Innovation Fund to support teacher-led research on a global learning issue.

To find out more about the GLP and to register your school visit: 

Website: www.glp-e.org.uk.

Email: glp@pearson.com 

Twitter: @glp-e

A Sense of Place

A sense of place

What might this mean to have “a sense of place”?

Is it somewhere we know, belong, relate to, feel safe in, are drawn to, feel at home in, long for, dream about, think about often, remember fondly, use as a reference point to compare with other places, place our heart upon, store our treasures there, feel treasured there, go to sleep there, meditate, make love, bring our friends, wish to share with others, keep secret, keep clean and tidy, look after, care for, feel a part of?

Is it large or small, low or high, indoors or outside, here and now or elsewhere, maybe always elsewhere? Is it where our roots are, where we were born and grew up, our parents home, our “heimat”, where our ancestors are buried or roam?

It is and can be all of these things

The scale can be from a mere fleeting thought, through heart-felt musings, a doll’s house filled with carefully placed ideas and memories, a photo album of the past, a room, sitting on a loving parent’s knee, a bench overlooking a mere with birds swooping, swans almost still, gently moving surface, breeze in the leaves of a willow caressing the lake’s edge on a cool Spring morning behind Rostherne church where I was christened.

It could be your first home or your last home, the backyard, street or garden, shared games with mates on a summer’s day, being called in to bed whilst it’s still light, but nearly 9pm.

The smell of pine forest, collecting and cooking wild mushrooms, so much knowledge transmitted by a loving parent, mediated learning of all that surrounds me.

The dales, each so different, yet so familiar, the field patterns, the cows and sheep, ducks and geese flying, dusk sounds of nesting and preparations for the night, open fires, baked potatoes too hot to hold, being part of a group, maybe a family old or new, maybe friends or better in some ways with strangers sharing a love of place, a refuge in the mountains.

Going for a “pee” at 2am, unzipping the tent, no light pollution, Ibex hooves clattering on the rocks below Mont Perdu above a frozen lake at over 2500 metres, the whole sky filled with stars, feeling in awe yet part of the universe. We are all star dust.

             

Write about your “Place”.

An autobiography in 10 chapters. Maybe just the headings with a brief comment on each. Perhaps start with a time line of your life. Then annotate it. Look for the “sense of place”. Could start with a list of “Places where I have lived”.

A set of photos, across time, old and recent and space close up and panoramic views. Could be images of just one place. Google sense of place and look at images.

Transition 2.0 to be shown today!

Willow and other materials for making baskets and plant supports.

What a boring title. I've been on two 1day courses for working with basket making materials.
Firstly, here in Bristol making plant supports and a willow ball (much enjoyed by Molly & Flo's two kittens Nim & Trixie. Imogen & I repeated the willow ball (with a small sponge tennis ball in the middle, removed once the structure was self suporting) and she made an excellent willow ball for her guinea pig. The plant support is holding up the huge pink Peonies by the front door. The larger, taller plant support will be for runner beans, transplanted yesterday.
The second workshop this April was given by our friends Jane & Peter at their place near Mirande in SW France, where they have been for 11 years now, teaching & practicing permaculture. A walk through their woods revealed many differnet materials which can be used for making things using basket weaving techniques. We gathered Hazel (thick & thin), Butcher's Broom (prickly with red berries but wonderfully straight and green), wild Clematis (old vines make excellent basket handles), Broom (covered in yellow flowers) and noticed the difference made by managing the woodland (also, badger setts, old tracks, ditches and  the remains of a large pit alledgedly used for an arms cache by the Resistance during WWII). I spent a morning with them coppicing two old Hazel coppices, using some of the material for a bean frame. Yes I know we should be harvesting in late winter when the sap is not rising. After an excellent lunch, (we all brought food to share, amazing how this always seems to work with no planning), we made frames for the baskets and then set about weaving them. Jane had plenty of dried bullrushes dampened and wrapped in old wet towels. I have never used rushes before and found them to be a wonderful material to handle. She also has rows of different willow growing, some of  which had been harvested, stored and then put in an old bath to soak for a few days prior to use in order to soften them. I made a little basket from fresh Hazel, Butcher's Broom and old dried (redampened/softened) rushes. We swapped some different willow cuttings.
It is hard to convey the atmosphere of joy and frustration, satisfaction and wonder amongst the group mostly making a basket for the first time. I am more determined than ever to teach the grandchildren how to make things themsleves using natural materials (often found) and basket weaving techniques.