The Cholistan Desert area is one of the largest deserts in Pakistan and is home to a semi-nomadic population and their livestock. The primary source of income for Cholistan is cattle breeding. The climate of the desert area, with scanty and unpredictable rainfall as well as long periods of drought, makes water a limited resource. To address the issue of water shortages and to secure access of water to livestock, the people of Cholistan have created water ponds, called “tobas”. However, due to their vulnerability to extreme weather conditions and infiltration, the ponds storage capacities are low. There are around 1500 water points (tobas) in the entire desert out of only 500 were in running condition. Most tobas are not constructed in proper places because their present localities have not been identified on scientific basis to receive maximum rainwater.
The Youth associations of Cameroon selected by the COY Steering Committee to organize a Conference of Youth (COY) in Cameroon met on August 13th, 2016 to agree on the preparation of the 12th Local COY.
A total of 15 leaders from six Cameroon Youth associations such as Women In Development (WID), Association of African Students (AEA); Voices United To Serve Forest and Environment (USFE); Synergie/Action des Jeunes pour l'Encadrement et la Promotion des Hommes Complets (SAJEPHCO); GIC FOREDEV and YEMA actively took part in the consultation meeting which was the second of its kind and held on preparations for the Local COY12.
The meeting aimed at gathering the views of stakeholders on the realism of the guidance document of the Local COY 12 and especially defining the strategy to tie up the final preparations for this global event in order to implement it at national level.
It also provided the framework for an exchange / experience sharing between participants on the previous COY. GWP -CAf staff to provide them with advice on the development of projects related to climate and present them the vision and mission of GWP.
During this meeting, a brainstorming was done around the different activities likely to be part of the agenda of the event. There was among others a series of refresher training workshop on the ins and outs of COY12, then on the concept of climate change as well as the organization of power walk finally a panel discussion/conference on climate.