Posted
on 27 November 2009 - Viterbo, Italy - In
Kericho, Kenya, Christmas always used to
be celebrated in heavy rain. “Today, Christmas
is usually dry,” said Mrs Nelly Damaris
Chepkoskei, a 53 year old farmer who works
extensively with the women of her community.
With 10 days to go to
the opening of the Copenhagen climate summit,
Chepkoskei is one of 10 climate witnesses
now in Viterbo, Italy for a Greenaccord
event to enable journalists to share information
and learn from experts about climate change.
WWF’s climate witness
programme has supported people from diverse
communities in many countries to tell the
world of the growing impacts of climate
change on their lives.
“I have witnessed many
changes myself and what is disturbing us
most are changes to the weather,” said Chepkoskei.
“Rainfall patterns have
changed drastically in the last decades.
Here in the Kericho District we used to
have rainfall throughout the year. I remember
clearly that my family celebrated Christmas
when it was raining heavily, but this has
changed completely.”
Many of the climate
witnesses now telling their stories at Viterbo
are travelling on to Copenhagen, hoping
to dramatise to negotiators and Heads of
State the human costs of not concluding
a binding legal agreement to limit emissions
and assist developing nations in particular
adapt to climate change impacts.
“This place was really
beautiful, when I was young,” said 67 year
old herder Mrs Marush Narankhuu of her homeland
at Tsagaan gol (White river) at the Chandmani
soum of Khovd aimag in Mongolia. “There
was grass everywhere and we had great and
rich summers, winters, spring and fall.
“The herdsmen used to
come from the nearest soum, Mankhan, Chandmani
and Zereg for the pasture.
“Khar Us Lake has evaporated dramatically
within the last four to five years. Even
small hand-wells have dried up. There were
many small ponds around the lake. None of
them exist now.”
Diego Redini, 30, who
lives at Canneto sull’Oglio, a small village
of the Padana Plain in Italy, noted that,
”In the last few years summer temperatures
have reached very high levels and have been
accompanied by a strong humidity, which
is a bad climate for cattle.
“In these conditions,
in the summer a milk cow produces one third
less milk compared to the winter.”
Climate Witnesses are
already active in their lives and with their
communities taking action to deal with climate
change impacts and towards reducing their
carbon emissions. They are joining with
WWF to call on world leaders to also take
strong action on climate change and have
the courage to sign a new global climate
deal in Copenhagen.
