Partnership between CREDI ONG and the Lycée Château-Gontier de la France : The notion of carbon footprint and compensation at the heart of a seminar

The House of Friends of Nature located in Zinvié-Kpotomey hosts a two-week seminar on the concept of carbon footprint and carbon compensation.. Fruit of the partnership between the Regional Research and Education Center for Integrated Development (BELIEVE ONG) and the Lycée Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne of France, this meeting constitutes an opportunity for exchanges and sharing between young French and Beninese people with a view to taking strong actions for a more breathable future world., viable and livable.

Carbon offsetting consists of financing one or more environmental projects allowing storage, reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions (GES). For its part, the carbon footprint is a tool for evaluating the level of greenhouse gas emissions generated by an individual, industries or companies or even a State. Thus defined, these two notions provide information on the fact that the surplus of gases in the atmosphere is partly responsible for global warming, hence the need to allow as many people as possible to assess their carbon footprint, to then reduce it effectively. The Regional Center for Research and Education for Integrated Development (BELIEVE ONG) and the Lycée Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne de France are interested in this theme through a two-week seminar that they are organizing for the benefit of young Beninese students and French high school students.. The official launch of this important meeting which addresses one of the biggest challenges of the century, reducing greenhouse gases, took place last week. Au total quatorze (14) participants, sept(7) of Benin and seven (7) of France to which are added French supervisors, such as the Director of the Château-Gontier High School and two teachers, one of whom is responsible for the project as well as three managers of CREDI ONG, headed by the Executive Director of CREDI ONG Martial Koudérin, take part in this seminar, fruit of the partnership which has lasted for around twenty years between CREDI ONG and the Lycée Château-Gontier de France. “The concept of carbon footprint and carbon compensation”. This is the subject on which the participants are working and which will allow the French side to discover practices at the level of Benin in relation to this notion and also in an intercultural dynamic so that young people from the two countries can share the elements and the cultural values ​​between them. The first week of this training seminar was devoted much more to theory. It was a question for the participants to discuss this notion of carbon footprint and carbon compensation., the causes, the consequences of human activities on the ozone layer and in relation to global warming. Likewise, discovery outings are planned in the field of human activities which tend to reduce these greenhouse gases and also the discovery of the history of Benin. “The first week is much more theoretical and the second will be practical. To materialize this exchange there is a planting session of more than one hectare of teak plants in the Sitatunga valley natural park and this will reflect a bit of always being able to carry out actions in a dynamic of reducing our emissions of Co2 and also in a dynamic of compensation for actions which have already been carried out and which have produced sufficient greenhouse gases. In sum, it will be about understanding, to exchange a little practices on the notion of carbon footprint and compensation and to see to what extent, carry out actions whether on an individual or collective level to reduce our effects and to compensate for actions already taken”,  said Modeste Hodonou, mission manager, education and communication at CREDI ONG which represented the Executive Director at the ceremony marking the launch of this seminar.

At the level of Benin, he continues,  the country is one of the nations which contribute very actively to this compensation through all these planting programs. “This is what characterizes us and makes us a little more different country. The different partnerships in which we are, we earn them quite simply because we are recognized for this ability to take action, to carry out compensation actions and especially our way of life is something that interests many people who say to themselves that if we exchange with these people, we too could win practices, acquire new practices to better act for the well-being of our nature and our environment”, adds Modeste Hodonou to express all the gratitude of those responsible for CREDI ONG to the French delegation. Which according to him strengthens the partnership. “We are very pleased with the level of progress of this partnership because from the start we did not have the possibility of sending young people to Europe. It was not possible but thanks to this partnership for some time, we send young people who will do civic service for eight to nine months...Today, from a single high school, we are two and apart we have other programs at the French level just on the basis of this partnership. We can rejoice and we think that it will not stop there.”, he wished.

According to René Cuinet, Director of the Château-Gontier-Mayenne Agricultural High School, the problem that is the subject of this seminar, is higher among a certain number of people, particularly in the northern hemisphere. “It is clear that in France we are talking about nine (9) tonnes per capita in carbon footprint with a target of two (2) tons over the years 1935-1940. A real job to be done by the younger generation, isn’t it?. So it is the youth who will suffer or be forced to implement actions to achieve the objective. What we expect from these young people at the end of this training, it’s that they become aware of these issues and that they also become aware that everything is not the same in all countries in the world”, he made clear. " That 20 years that we have been in contact with CREDI ONG. We have regular discussions on different themes. We have the reception of the civic service within our establishment selected by CREDI ONG and we try to come here regularly. We decided to discuss this theme of the carbon footprint because the world realizes that there is the Greenhouse Effect, global warming which is becoming more and more significant and which has very harmful consequences. This meeting therefore aims to raise awareness among young people to act directly”, adds Sandrine Marchand, Aquaculture teacher who worked for the materialization of the project and the organization of this year’s trip

At the end of this seminar, Sandrine Marchand says she expects beneficiaries to be relays to their community through awareness-raising actions and actions that will be different on a daily basis.. Anything that will work for the construction of a new planet on which life will be good.

The concept of carbon footprint and compensation, participants talk about it!!!

Hubertine Fangnon, laboratory technician (Benign)

“The project is to introduce us to the notion of carbon footprint and carbon compensation for those who did not really know what that means, then see the consequences of excess greenhouse gas emissions and subsequently propose solutions to overcome this problem because we notice climate change is growing throughout the world. So, the main solution of how to compensate for this. And this is what we are taught here. I am participating in this project to earn extra because I have already received some knowledge regarding the preservation of the environment.. Most important, it’s about raising awareness among those around us. We need to let others know because not everyone knows what not to do., what we need to do to preserve where we live”

Edmond Avoglossou, are studying a degree in fundamental physics (Benign)

“Greenhouse gases concern my field. I've already had to work a lot on this. What you are looking for when participating in this seminar, it is to make new knowledge and learn more about the gases which have these effects, the consequences in other countries since I already have an idea of ​​Benin and I want to hear about how this is happening in other countries and also how to reduce or compensate, methods to adopt to reduce these gases. Everything is going well, on s’adapte »

Jessie Pean, student at Lycée Châtaeu-Gontier Mayenne/France

“We came here for the carbon footprint theme to see how we can reduce in France and Benin, what could we do, whether in Benin or in France, to reduce the carbon footprint. I think that the stay will allow us to move in the direction of this objective and that in the end we will have found solutions in France and Benin to reduce the carbon footprint as much as possible.. Here in France it complicates the notion of carbon footprint because there is a lot of overconsumption, inevitably we are going to be a lot in excess, there are things we allow ourselves to do in France that we do not allow ourselves here in Benin. Here in Benin I think we will be able to bring new ideas and also receive them if possible”

Armand Gillois, student at Lycée Château-Gontier Mayenne/France

“I am here for all the actions that we can do in Benin to help the country succeed in the fight against the effects of climate change. We are in an agricultural high school for aquaculture production, animal. So, it’s really interesting to discuss our production methods. So far it's going very well. For two days we have been discussing everything related to carbon footprint, carbon compensation and everything. It’s really interesting because we learn new things that we didn’t learn in France”

Comments collected and transcribed by Etienne YEMADJE