The recent COP27 in Egypt brought together a number of Tropical Biology Association alumni who were there to make the case for conservation in Africa. Our alumni were representing NGO’s that were part of our capacity building programme in the Guinea Forests of West Africa, funded by CEPF.
Particularly active were members of our programme on empowering women in conservation. For example, Ernestine (photo above shows her presenting at COP27) led a group called Cameroon Gender and Environment Watch who took part in side events on women and climate change, as well as running a series of pre-COP awareness workshops.
The Ajemalibu Self Help group presented their work (see photo above) and participated in negotiations in the Africa pavilion. With them is Mike David, one of TBA’s trainers and mentors. He took part in discussions on food security.
TBA alumnus Marcelin Abu, president of Action pour le Respect et la Protection de l’Environnement (ARPE) from Cameroon, led a delegation of eight people. His team took part in a meeting entitled “Disrupt Hunger: Innovating for People and Planet”.
Young Volunteers for the Environment sent 30 delegates to COP27. This is a group that received mentoring from TBA under our West African project. These young volunteers had five days of exhibitions, and were involved in three public demonstrations (see photo below) as well as providing training and coaching to African groups attending COP27.
These inspiring stories are more evidence that TBA alumni are using their experiences to make an impact on conservation issues at the highest level.
