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| Group Picture: BAJ Gambia with Basse Community People |
Biodiversity Action Journalists Gambia
Upper River Region (URR) chapter in collaboration with Basse Area Council and
other institutions such as the regional forestry office, water resources
office, town development committee and a cross-section of the local communities
in Basse, gathered to clean Basse major praying ground as part of observing
World Environment Day 5th June, 2014 an initiative organised by
BAJ-Gambia and supported by Basse Area Council.
The celebration attended by key
institutions and local communities was part of BAJ-Gambia’s activities in
observance of World Environment Day, according to Abdou Rahman Sallah,
executive director of Biodiversity Action Journalist Gambia in an interview
with reporters during the exercise in Basse URR.
“In the past we celebrated World
Environment Day through match past and speech presentations but this year we
decided to celebrate it by taking practical actions as action journalists by
organizing massive cleansing exercises not only in Basse but also Soma in the
Lower River Region,” he added.
Mr Sallah also talked on the
importance of the day, noting that the day was observed worldwide, as a result
BAJ Gambia joined the rest of the world to celebrate the day through massive
cleansing exercise.
According to Sallah, his
organization was committed to compliment government efforts through its
relevant ministries and agencies not only through publishing or disseminating
information about the environment but take part in practical exercises such as
cleansing exercise, tree planting among others.
Biodiversity Action Journalists
Gambia is a registered environmental and natural resources media organization
founded in 2010 with membership journalists from print and electronic media
(bloggers and Community Radios) across the country with the technical support
from Department of Parks and Wildlife Management.
The objective was to raise public
awareness on the issues affecting the environment in a bid to encourage public
participation in the protection and conservation of natural resources (marine
and terrestrial) through advocacy to ensure its availability at all time,
Sallah said.
The Chief Executive Officer, Basse
Area Council, Pa Ansu Ceesay, said the beauty of it all was the fact that
BAJ-Gambia themselves initiated the cleansing exercise, which he described as a
resounding success taking into account the active participation of the
communities and the relevant institutions.
The exemplary action by the
organization, he said, serves as an inspiration to other villages.
Ceesay expressed gratitude to
BAJ-Gambia for initiating this type of event for the first time in the history
of Gambian journalists, noting that it was about time that people take control
of their waste and be in charge of their surroundings rather than wait for
someone to come and do it for them.
He advised them to stop the war on
the environment by cutting down trees, setting bushfires, poor waste
management, among others.
Mamadi Sanneh, BAJ-Gambia regional
focal person for the Basse region, said the organization’s mission was to
advocate for sustainable use of the country’s biological and natural resources
to ensure its availability at all times.
Nuha Badjie, chairman of BAJ-Gambia
URR branch expressed satisfaction of the level of turnout of the people to
participate in the event, which he said, was encouraging.
Mr Badjie also highlighted some of
the achievements made by the organization such as capacity building trainings
for local farmers, journalists, relevant stakeholders on environmental related
issues which had improved the understanding of the people on some of these issues.
Mr. Sisawo Sabally of regional forestry
said educating the communities on the proper environmental management and
bushfires prevention and management was very important in the crusade.
To him, the forest cover was
dwindling on a daily bases because of bushfires, illegal logging and other
forms of environmental exploitation.
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