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Durban 28 November: "Beware of bursting storm water drains!" warned a sign along the route taken by gender activists marking the start of the Sixteen Days of Activism campaign with a "Take Back the Night" march in Alexandra, Johannesburg last week.
The notoriously polluted Juskei River that runs through this densely populated, low- income neighbourhood next door to the plush suburb of Sandton in Southern Africa's largest metropolis has witnessed some of the worst cases of rape and murder in the City.
The lighting of candles along the banks could hardly have been more symbolic as the world descended on South Africa for the other major event here this week- the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
An estimated 30,000 UN bureaucrats, celebrities, policy-makers and activists are in Durban, South Africa's second largest city, for the make - or - break talks as the first commitment to the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.
South Africa's Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa has compared the country to a student waiting to take an exam. The negotiations will determine whether the fraught efforts to get rich countries to commit to reducing carbon emissions will hold.
Next year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit that forewarned the dire consequences of the unjust and inequitable consumption of the world's natural resources. In South Africa alone, according to the government National Climate Change Response White Paper, temperatures are set to rise by three to four degrees along the coast, and six to seven degrees in the interior by 2050, with huge implications for poverty, food security and the fragile efforts to create a more just society.
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the Sixteen Days of Activism campaign that runs from 25 November, International Day of No Violence Against Women, to 10 December, Human Rights Day. COP 17 runs from 28 November to 9 December. Is there any link, activists are asking, between the rape of the environment, and that of women?
Though the dates are coincidental, the issues are closely linked, and have led to Gender Link's slogan for this year's Sixteen days: "Peace begins at home: Gender and climate justice by 2015" - the target date for the Millennium Development Goals, and for the 28 targets set by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development.
The links are plainly evident in Alexandra, one of the most polluted and degraded living environments in South Africa; also one with the highest rates of gender violence.
A high-density suburb of 150 000 people mostly living in shacks and make shift homes; Alexandra comprises a roughly rectangular piece of land located about 16 kilometres to the north of central Johannesburg. The area is unique in that it is the only black Johannesburg township located in close proximity to industry and a range of characteristically urban amenities.
The environment plays a role in both physical and psychological health. There is an on going association of Alexandra with crime and violence. Data from the South African Police Services shows the levels of murder, rape, and robbery and housebreaking exceed the average for the nation as a whole.
While the Juskei River should offer opportunities for recreational activities for members of Alexandra and other communities, water quality investigations have indicated the river to be extremely littered and polluted, posing an eyesore and serious health risk to all who use it.
Flooding affects Alexandra annually. A large number of informal dwellings have been erected within the flood lines of the Jukskei River. The water level rises rapidly during periods of heavy rainfall, washing away dwellings along its banks. Women and children are the worst affected by the dislocation and attendant diseases- cholera, diarrhoea and other water borne diseases.
The struggles for climate and gender justice in this neighbourhood are like twin sisters. Since 2010, the provincial department of agriculture, City of Johannesburg and City Parks have launched the Upper Juskei River Clean Up project that has involved a high proportion of women, door -to- door awareness and education.
Thanks to the work of ADAPT, a community-based gender justice NGO that has been especially successful in engaging men for change, levels of gender violence and crime are gradually declining. As part of a programme called Letsiba, community members have formed a 24 hour neighbourhood watch. "Serious crime in Alexandra has stabilised," says the Alexandra Community Policing Forum chair Thomas Sithole. "We are going to make sure that crime does not escalate."
At the "Take Back the Night" march speaker after speaker talked about the need to reclaim the soul of this historic township, a relic of apartheid era injustices, through environmental and gender justice.
From 28 November to 9 December GL, through its 100 Centre's of Excellence in Gender Mainstreaming in Local Government, will link up with councils around Southern Africa through cyber dialogues that will focus both on climate and gender justice. The voices of citizens will add weight to a call by the Southern African Gender Protocol Alliance for an Addendum to this binding sub-regional instrument on Gender and Climate Change.
Think globally, act locally, share regionally: this age old slogan comes alive this week as Southern Africa gears up for an event bigger in numbers than Soccer 2010.
"Oceans of justice and rivers of fairness" - apt environmental metaphors from a biblical text read at the march - caught the imagination of Alexandra residents. Let us hope that they will equally inspire world leaders surrounded by the stunning ocean and rivers of Durban.
Colleen Lowe Morna is CEO of Gender Links. This article is part of the Opinion and Commentary Service that offers fresh view on every day news. For more on the gender and climate justice campaign go to http://www.genderlinks.org.za/page/16-days-of-activism-2011
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