Speaking at a two-day preparatory workshop held for the members at Somarelang Tikologo, environmental expert David Lesolle told delegates that human activities such as industrialisation contribute much to the pollution, adding that emitted gases will need to be reduced by 80 percent to curb environmental disaster.
"Experts say there will be a 2-5 degrees Celsius rise in temperature in a few decades to come (by 2018). This rise refers to the European and American states. In the African countries it is going to be higher than this. We may end up failing to fend for ourselves," he said. He informed attendees that it was crucial that they participate in such workshops, as they were representatives of the people. He said governments are afraid of NGOs as they have the true picture of what is on the ground when decisions are made. It is equally crucial to have them participate in world conferences like the COP17. Lesolle enlightened delegates on what climate change is and what causes it as well as suggestions on what can be done to either mitigate it or adapt to it.
