BUILDING A GREEN COMMUNITY

Community building entails individual and collective commitment. I envisage a “Green Community” that combines natural and human factors where irrespective of all controversies that surrounds a united front towards protecting the environment, progress can be made at local and national levels.

Going by a Chinese proverb, “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a songbird will come”. A green community can act as a connecting belt between humans and nature and carve out a new dimension that will develop future green leaders. I forsee the possibility of a green community where each and everyone is conscious of how to use and dispose waste, how to plant natural plants that regenerates soil fertility, how to practice `farming of no waste` where everything that comes out from the farm gets back into it, how to modernize our living environments with green and food supporting trees for sustainability, and above all a green environment where artificial flowers will make way for natural flowers and reconnect humans to nature. I imagine a green community where local leaders, church leaders, leaders of common initiative groups , youth representatives will all stand up together and raise their voices that ` its time to go green and follow not the shadow but the image`.

We can think local and go global, turning ghetto ideas to think tanks and become engineers of change. A good example of a local initiative of going green in Cameroon that has caught the attention of many people is the “Chua Chua Botanical Garden” in Nkambe in Donga-Mantung division of the North West region of Cameroon which started in 1999 by an individual. This garden has become a self sustaining entity that is gradually changing the lives of the community. It has become a research center for students and it provides research for botanists, it conserves indigenous and exotic plant species, benefit bee farmers, and researchers believe the garden has improved the aesthetic qualities of Nkambe town. After gaining recognition in 1996 by the Nkambe rural council, Mr. Dieudonne Tantoh Nforba, the brain behind the project went a step further in 2009 when he became one of the privileged Africans to participate in the Summer Environmental Program in the United States and Russia. In 2010, he attended training in organic farming in Green Bay Wisconsin. Green development is in our door steps and it needs just a little effort to pull on the trigger.

At a more advanced level, the “Green Growth “initiative of South Korea is outstanding. In 2009, Korea enacted a Framework Act on Low Carbon Green Growth.  This act is held as the first in the world. It equally adopted a National Strategy for Green Growth and a five year plan for Green Growth. These strategies bring to the drawing board business leaders, the civil society, academic, government and other stakeholders who debate on green revolutionary ideas like the promotion of green consumption, expansion of ecological space, implement a green transformation system and a green path towards a sustainable future.

The promotion of green consumption is oriented towards a market-driven green economy. For example the ministry of environment has been working to adopt plans for a pre-evaluation system for materials and structure of packaging materials where manufacturers of beverages and industrial products will involve recyclable materials that are environmentally friendly. Those who abide to this policy receive substantial benefits from the state.

On the academic sphere, students are encouraged to take research topics abroad that are linked to green growth and such reports are submitted to the Presidential Committee on Green Growth (PCGG). During the 2009 Asia Pacific Cities Summit that took place in Incheon city Korea, Korean students emerged first in the Young Professionals Forum that was held alongside the Summit. Their victory was in recognition of a project they presented on how university campuses around the world can go green and raise greater awareness for the protection of our planet.

During the 60^th anniversary of the Republic of Korea, President Lee Myung-Bak stressed the importance of a green dream for Korea. He remarked that “...today, on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Korea, I want to put forward `low carbon, green growth` as the core of the Republic’s new vision. If we make up our minds before others and take action, we will be able to lead green growth and take the initiative in creating a new civilization…”

We notice in the Korean example, a government that is fully committed to turn dry land into green space. Road infrastructures in Korea are constructed with respect to the environment where green tunnels are spotted everywhere. Koreans are where they are today with the continuous fight for green growth because they started the fight from somewhere. We can change our communities by following the examples of others. In the words of Norman Vincent Peale, “Have great hopes and dare to go all out for them. Have great dreams and dare to live them. Have tremendous expectations and believe in them.

NFOR CANICIUS NDI