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CHAD / ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
STORY: CHAD / ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES
TRT: 3:46
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 3- 4 APRIL 2009, IRIDIMI REFUGEE CAMP, EASTERN CHAD
1. Wide shot, woman walking in desert
2. Wide shot, women walking in camp
3. Wide shot, Sadia Abakar chopping wood
4. Wide shot, old and faded UNHCR sign reading “Bienvenue au camp” (Welcome to the camp)
5. Various shots, Sadia Abakar with kids, washing up
6. Wide shot, cars in desert
7. Pan right, cable leading to machine
8. Med shot, Mamadou Diallo using machine to look for water
9. SOUNDBITE (French) Mamadou Diallo, UNHCR water specialist:
“Faced with this deep problem, we tried to drop back a bit towards the camp, inside the camp, but there, I promise you, we hit 80 meters deep without a drop of water.”
10. Med shot, man attempting to start drill
11. Wide shot, drilling in desert
12. Wide shot, drill striking water, bystanders jumping back
13. Wide shot, water trickling across sand
14. Med shot, women collecting water
15. Close up, water coming from tap
16. Various shots, women loading donkey and walking with water
17. Various shots, camp
18. SOUNDBITE (French) Ana de la Varga Fito, UNHCR, Chad:
“The lack of natural resources leads us to more conflicts for the natural resources, and we need to resolve these conflicts and promote harmony between the two communities.”
19. Various shots, lorry bringing wood
20. Various shots, refugee women unloading, taking wood
21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sadia Abakar, Refugee in Chad:
“Often women leave the camp and meet with sexual violence. Outside the camp the locals often threaten them and take their things, their animals.”
22. Med shot, fuel efficient stove
23. Close up, Said Abakar putting wood into fuel efficient stove
24. Med shot, NGO woman cooking with solar powered cookers
25. SOUNDBITE (French) Marie Rose, President of Chad Solaire (NGO):
“And we want to protect our environment, so we cannot use wood often. The sun is always there, so we prefer to use it because it’s free.”
26. Wide shot, woman walking past acacia thorns
27. Wide shot, kids on donkey in desert
28. Wide shot, camp scene
29. Wide shot, mother and daughter carrying water
30. Wide shot, donkey taking riders through desert
They survived the violence in Darfur, but now they are waging a daily battle with the environment. The quarter million Darfuri refugees exiled in eastern Chad wrestle each day with how to survive with a minute amount of water, food, and fuel. The UN refugee agency manages the camps and attempts to manage extremely scarce resources in an effort to keep the peace between the refugees and the locals.
The sweltering desert in Eastern Chad is a difficult place to be, where day to day survival requires luck and ingenuity.
But for refugees like Sadia Abakar and her five children, it’s also a refuge. She fled here from Darfur in 2004 when the janjaweed militia killed her parents. And now she must survive this environment.
The refugees receive some humanitarian aid, but basics like fuel and water are extremely scarce. Mamadou Diallo, a water expert, says sharing these resources with the local population creates tensions and finding new sources is a hit and miss proposition:
SOUNDBITE (French) Mamadou Diallo, UNHCR water specialist:
“Faced with this deep problem, we tried to drop back a bit towards the camp, inside the camp, but there, I promise you, we hit 80 meters deep without a drop of water.”
After several attempts, Mamadou finally hits water but this doesn’t mean there are endless reserves. Like the other boreholes, this one will eventually run dry. So Sadia and the other refugees are frugal with their water. Every drop is precious.
The 18,733 refugees in Iridimi camp get just seven liters of water per day for all their daily needs. The average European, on the other hand, uses more than 20 times that amount each day. But Chad is far from Europe.
Desertification and populations on the move have created extreme pressure on the region’s fragile environment. Analysts say competition for limited resources, such as grazing land, is a major factor in Darfur’s war. And in eastern Chad, the influx of so many refugees has added to the burdens of local villagers.
SOUNDBITE (French) Ana de la Varga Fito, UNHCR, Chad:
“The lack of natural resources leads us to more conflicts for the natural resources, and we need to resolve these conflicts and promote harmony between the two communities.”
In addition to water, fuel is another resource in short supply. To reduce the impact on local communities, firewood is brought to the refugees, but it isn’t always enough. And although it’s illegal for them to leave the camp, these refugees often venture out in search of other wood.
Sadia says when women go searching for wood, they are often at risk.
SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sadia Abakar, Refugee in Chad:
“Often women leave the camp and meet with sexual violence. Outside the camp the locals often threaten them and take their things, their animals.”
To help protect the women and to conserve wood, fuel efficient cookers have been introduced. The most popular are those requiring reduced amounts of wood. But solar cookers are also in use, capitalizing on an easily available and renewable resource, the sun.
SOUNDBITE (French) Marie Rose, President of Chad Solaire (NGO):
“And we want to protect our environment, so we cannot use wood often. The sun is always there, so we prefer to use it because it’s free.”
These conservation efforts help, but they cannot fix the shortages of water and wood. Chad may be an extreme example, but desertification threatens many sub-Saharan countries, provoking conflict over resources and even more refugees.
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