The World Day for Biological Diversity was celebrated on May 22. Biodiversity is the basis of current and future human well-being, and its rapid decline is a threat to both nature and people. The 2019 global biodiversity assessment report by UNESCO demonstrated the role of human activities in the degradation of biodiversity, which amounts to 75% for terrestrial ecosystems. The assessment also indicated that solutions exist and that it is not too late to act.
On the occasion of the 2020 edition of the World Day for Biological Diversity, a contest for the best report brought together radio stations broadcasting in the Mayo Kebbi West province in Chad, around the theme ‘our solutions are in nature.’ An initiative of the Giz project of the BSB-Yamoussa cross-border complex, a program of German cooperation, in connection with the Sustainable Forest Management Program in the Congo Basin (COMIFAC) and the support project for the Binational Sena Oura complex in Chad and Bouba Djidda Yamoussa in Cameroon. The Giz-BSB Yamoussa 2 project is currently involved in the preservation, management and conservation of Sena Oura National Park in the Mayo Kebbi West province in Chad.
On the recommendation of the project, each of the three competing radio stations produced a report of less than five minutes submitted to the jury for evaluation. Radio Soleil’s report focused on the nutritional, therapeutic and cosmetic benefits of the shea tree and the threats to this fully protected plant species in Chad. This report called on the community to work for the conservation of this species that has high economic potential and is locally referred to as “the gold of women”.
Radio Soleil de Pala won the first prize consisting of a 3 Kva generator. The two other radio stations, notably Radio Développement Global (RDG) and Radio Terre Nouvelle of Pala, having occupied the 2nd and 3rd rank respectively, each benefited from an Android telephone.
Radio Soleil’s Station Manager Abdelaziz Daouda Abassi welcomed this initiative of the Giz-BSB Yamoussa 2 project, which is the first of its kind in Mayo Kebbi West province, and encouraged his staff to put in more efforts in designing useful reports for the community despite the current logistical and financial difficulties the station is experiencing.
Radio Soleil of Pala is a community radio station set up in 2006 with the assistance of La Francophonie in the city of Pala, capital of the Mayo Kebbi West province in the Republic of Chad. This station broadcasts on the frequency 98.0 MHz from the Yatelim neighborhood in the 3rd district of the city of Pala. It’s waves cover a 100 km area with about 800,000 listeners mainly engaged in agriculture, livestock, trade and the artisanal gold mining.
Foka Mapagne, author of the winning report, holds a Bachelor in Human Resources Management obtained at the University of Moundou in the south of Chad in 2013. He has worked at Radio Soleil of Pala for 07 years and now holds the position of Head of the Programs Department.