he unpleasant treatment nature has received so far once again was brought to the fore recently,

as trainers, activist and volunteers from SCI branches and partners met in Lagos-Nigeria for the

camp coordinator training: Lead for Nature in and with Peace, hosted by Voluntary Workcamps

Association of Nigeria (VWAN), to ascertain the threat of human induced climate change and to

extrapolate ways and practices that can promote a climate that supports peace. We can identify on the

global picture that communes in the so called ‘Global South’ are more vulnerable to the impacts of

climate change while they have little financial and technological means to offer more resilience to climate

change, holding the training in Lagos is seen as a way to promote volunteering as a way for young people

within the local context to raise their voice on climate issues in their local communities, also to be heard

globally and seen in their communal struggles with the impacts of global warming.

SCI is sowing solidarity among its worldwide network, the Create a Climate for Peace campaign is

initiated to concert and dedicate many activities in response to the biggest challenges of our time. On the

theme of the training - “Young Citizens Building Global Communities – Lead for Nature in and with Peace”

there is a clear statement of the idea of the Create a Climate for Peace Campaign within SCI, many young

people who participated in the training are involved in the worldwide campaign through various follow

up Workcamps/local activities that aims to encourage more eco-friendly lifestyles, while also stimulating

more awareness of global climate issues through online and offline platforms. At the end of the year we

T

will be able to connect the dots of all the Workcamps and activities that is held within frame of the

campaign at the visibility event taking place in Poznan-Poland, during October 8-12, 2014; several

activities connected to the campaign that have taken place worldwide will be exhibited and evaluated.

There is the need for everyone to raise to the challenge of climate change, this need cannot be over

emphasized, the future of the earth’s climate (our home) depends on how quickly and effectively people

can substantially reduce those activities that are warming the globe, since further greenhouse emissions

will have much more devastating consequences on future generations. We have to advance in our

relationship with nature (the natural world) and quit, or as the case may be, reduce lifestyles that

continue to violate our natural environment. Create a Climate for Peace campaign presents a call towards

Climate Justice and Peace for all and sundry.

The training has over-seen a convergence of young SCI activists from across the globe to engage in

methods and be equipped with insights to lead sustainable follow-up activities in their local community

with their local organisations under the framework of the Campaign. Participants were engaged to

critically assess their roles as future camp coordinators and as earthlings.

The main aims of the training course are:

• To empower young people to lead and facilitate community youth projects as part of peace work

• To help young people to gain a new and improved appreciation of nature and to understand that by

respectfully treating nature social justice and inclusion can be strengthened

• To deepen young people’s understanding about the nature and dynamics conflicts and giving them

practical skills and tools to transform conflicts in youth work and learn from them

The methodologies employed by the trainers did not addresses only the environmental aspects of climate

justice, also the awareness of its social and economic dimensions was triggered by the use of experiential

methods and workshops in the microcosm of global tendencies to strengthen the pedagogical and

practical aspects of the course. Facilitating collaborative participation was central to the sharing of

knowledge and experiences among the pretty much diverse group of participants; this provided a

platform for cross learning between the duality of North and South.

The training was also about exchanging best practices, successful stories and solutions from already

existing practicable examples across Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, about how other individuals

and organisations have been able to work sustainably for climate justice and peace. It is glaring that living

sustainably would imply a radical shift in some of our attitudes and choices, the context we live in may

already pose a challenge, just as we experienced on the training: a common idea is to promote the use of

less fossil fuel based products and shift more bio degradable , on the contrary almost everything in the

local market is packed in layers of plastic, confronting these realities and finding more climate positive

solutions was the subject of much confab, from which we can draw more inspiration for our present and

future actions to support and sustain an climate friendly approach to our consumer choices. During the

training visit was made to a local project Permaculture Forest Garden in Badagry-Lagos, to gain practical

experience within a best practice community.

According to Nnimmo Bassey of

Environmental Rights Action -

Friends of Earth Nigeria; “Africa

is in the line of fire of climate

impact”. The impacts are already

being felt if we look closely; the

rising temperatures, crop

failures, desertification, floods,

succession of heat waves,

coastal erosion and shift in

rainfall patterns we experience

results to more ecological

hazards, conflicts over resource, IDPs, climate refugees and other chains of ominous events that

continuously threatens. As these impacts are oscillating to intensify we can expect more adverse effects if

we fail to break the reliance of our economic development on fossil fuel to advance towards more

sustainable energy sources, change the way we currently consume to being more conscious of our

choices. In the overview, it is obvious that the existing policies, programmes, actions and measures by

governments and institutions are insufficient to address the level of risk posed by climate change. We see

the need for everyone to respond with a positive attitude - through sustainable living, practices and

activities to mitigate the effects of global warming.

Author: Femi Aganran

2014