Name: Julia Kafyontha
Age: 16
Sex: Female
School: Ezondweni Community Day Secondary School
Tell us a little about your environment and community
Our environment and community are hilly and made up from people of different tribes. Most people depend on commercial farming as a source of income, some people have small business which service the farmers
How has your community been affected by changes in the environment or climate?
The environmental changes affect the maturity and growth of the plants. Any plant which requires sustained rainfall fails. As a result, crop production is low.
What are the knock on effects of these changes for:
- You, your family and your community
Changes in the temperature and climate has resulted in in people loosing their jobs - especially on the farming estates due to low crop production. There is hunger in many families due to lack of food from the crop production. Famine leads to starvation which leads to high school drop out rates as children are forced to go to work to try to provide food for their families. Children can also not
concentrate on their studies when they have no food inside them.
What are the main risks which you think climate change / local environmental change poses to your life?
Low crop production leads to a shortage of food. Inadequate rainfall has caused water problems in many areas. There is a shortage of animal feeds - when the animals die, farmers loose their livelihoods.
Describe any steps that you or your school have taken to reduce these risks or describe one way that you and your community could be better equipped to adapt to the consequences of climate change
Our school has been planting trees and grass to replace the vegetation cover. This will help conserve water in streams and hold the soil together. This will help the water table to rise and the bore holes to fill - giving us better water security. The community should be encouraged to grow drought resistant varieties of suit the new longer hot spell. This will improve food security for everyone