Youths described as crucial players in climate change mitigation
Edwin, 28, from Maviyo village, Traditional Authority (T/A) in Mulanje district, has stressed the need for youths to take a leading role in implementing efforts that help to mitigate impacts of climate change in Malawi.
He stresses that youths make a large percentage of the country’s population but only few take part in efforts that mitigate the effects of climate change while most of the efforts are implemented by elders and organizations in their areas.
“There are many youths in your country but they are very few who take part in environmental issues that help to deal with climate change. Most of the times youths wait for organizations to be carrying out such efforts in their communities while they are busy with other things,” Edwin stressed.
Some of the efforts that can help mitigate impacts of climate change include; reforestation and afforestation.
He adds that, youths can take the lead in environmental issues by forming clubs where they can be discussing issues of climate change and how they handle its impacts.
He suggests that youths should borrow a leaf from sports and entertainment clubs that are formed for a common purpose and apply that experience to the climate change fight.
Edwin who lost his mother to mudslides during the March 2023 cyclone Freddy, further suggests that if youths can actively participate in climate change issues, likelihood of having cyclones and other unfavorable conditions can he mininized.
He believes cyclones that have characterized the country in the past years are as a result of happening in the country human activities such as deforestation.
“If not checked, the country will continue to lose lives and their belonging due to the effects of cyclones which come as a result of climate change.
After the cyclone Freddy, Edwin has been finding it difficult to live his life since he has a responsibility to look after his 3 siblings yet he is not working and that the farm which they were using for commercial and subsistence farming was washed away by floods.
He explained that, “on the fateful day, they did not know what was happening since it was night and they could hear a huge strange sound which prompted them to start running away but it was too late since the mudslides had already started sweeping away their livestock and some of the neighboring houses were also already destroyed.”
He did not manage to rescue any of their belongs since it was too late and the only thing that mattered that time was their lives.
Edwin lost belongs such as kitchen utensils, clothes blankets, livestock that were also washed.
Currently Edwin and his 3 siblings rent a house in a nearby village where they are residing .
They are paying K5,000 per month but still finds it difficult to source out the money every month since they don’t have a reliable source of income and only rely on piece work.
Considering that the rainy season is around the corner, Edwin says is afraid because he thinks that the house they are living in now is not strong enough to withstand the harsh weather if the cyclones are to happen again.
In Maviyo village, T/ANjema, over 200 people are still missing since the occurrence of the cyclone Freddy while over 300 others are still living in make shift structures.
The cyclone freddy mostly affected Mulanje, Nsanje, Blantyre, phalombe, Chikwawa and Zomba districts.
Over 600 schools were damaged, over 2 million farmers lost their crops and livestock and over 1000 people lost their lives in the country.
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