For the past few weeks extreme heat has been recorded in the West African sub-region. Experts have said that this is linked to climate change which is affecting almost everything in the world nowadays.
Many countries and international organisations are doing a great deal to combat this problem. They are doing this in different ways such as creating awareness among the people of the world, making efforts to safeguard forest covers and planting of as many trees as possible. Here in the Gambia, one menace that contributes to climate change is bush burning. In rural Gambia, many villages find the bushes burnt very soon after the rainy season. In other places, it is around this time when people are clearing their fields in preparation for the cropping season that the bushes are burnt. Bush burning is an evil which has multifaceted negative effects on the climate. For one, it reduces the number of trees and wild vegetation which causes a lot of harm to the environment. It also produces a lot of smoke which goes into the atmosphere increasing the destruction of the ocean layer. Bush burning is not the only evil that contributes to climate change. The importation into the country of secondhand vehicles is another issue which needs to be looked at and controlled. Secondhand refrigerators also have a very negative impact on the environment. In the urban areas, one can hardly walk for ten metres without seeing loads of the refrigerators scattered in the streets. All this is to get cheap materials which ultimately cause more harm than good. The government therefore must make comprehensive policies and enact laws meant to protect the environment and by extension prevent or minimise climate change or at least it’s rapid spread in the world. Protecting the environment is protecting ourselves.
