There is an excellent film by South Africa-based photojournalist Jeffrey Barbee that will hopefully get quite a bit of play in Copenhagen.
It explores how African forests and woodfuel efficiency can play a big role in reducing CO2 emissions while improving people’s livelihood. We were especially interested to learn through this film about a stoves project in Malawi which is not only improving the lives the local inhabitants but also providing valuable carbon credits to an eco securities firm for sale on the voluntary carbon market. (The segment about Malawi and the stoves begins at 5:40 on part 2 but the whole film is very worthwhile.)
It is one of those cruel ironies that the people who contribute the least to climate change (Africans) are the ones who can expect to be most severely punished by the consequences of a rise in temperatures. And nowhere is the link between human well-being and the environment more apparent than in Africa. We do hope that the delegates negotiating a final resolution will look at this film and make a big push to ensure CDM forestry projects and simple energy efficiency projects are expanded to benefit the poorest of the poor.
Watch the video here.
English 
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