In the second of his exclusive reports for Africa Talks Climate from the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, Baaba Maal talks about the critical role of information in tackling climate change: "I believe that communication and education are the best gifts that we can share with our children", he says.
One of the really good things about this summit is that the whole world is concentrating on Copenhagen. Information is spreading all over the world, which is great because lack of information is one of the biggest problems facing Africa, especially in smaller places where it is so necessary. The next step is to think about giving Africa the right to sit down and to be part of all the solutions.
Wangari Maathai said earlier today that Africa has its own reality. Her Green Belt Movement, which is helping to protect the Congo basin rainforest, is a good example of this. Everyone knows that the ecosystem of the Congo basin rainforest provides oxygen to the world – without it the earth cannot breathe. But it has to be Africans to stand up and try to protect the forest first.
If you have a project to build a hospital in a village, and you call the people after you build the hospital and tell them what it is – well then they’re not going to be able to make it work. They have to be at the beginning of the process.
Here at Copenhagen, I think people are working hard to try to find solutions for the whole world and Africa is a big part of this. Yesterday, I saw for the first time Africans talking with one voice. We’ve needed that for a long time.
The last two weeks have not been easy, but I feel optimistic.
If we didn’t want to see a result, we wouldn’t be here. The fact that everyone is here, from the politicians to the protestors means that we are all waiting for something. At least we are talking about the problems of the planet and how to face them.
We are human beings, we come from different parts of the world, we have different points of views and we have different expectations but we need to meet to confront this together.
Engaging and innovating the earth
Sometimes I lie down on my bed and say ‘wow, am I really doing the best thing for the planet? Maybe I shouldn’t be touring?’
Can there be a low carbon world musician? No one said it was easy. People need to travel and to spread the message. And some people have to support what we’re talking about.
Sometimes finding a solution is about engagement.
Today I watched over 500 young people take part in a debate about climate change and democracy. They had really strong opinions and I was proud to see that the next generation was already thinking about the issues and how to bring about future change.
This is where technology is so important. Like young people, musicians have so much new equipment and new materials to work on.
Now, it’s much easier for us to talk to the rest of the world. We have internet, cell phones, computers. We have all this new technology that we can use to be connected to each other, and to make our point of view, our music, our melodies and messages global. A young person in China or Bangladesh can use new technology to be connected to another young person like them in Senegal or in Kenya.
If they continue to exchange ideas they will be much stronger than the politicians and they will change something.
For my last album I invited musicians from different cultural backgrounds who play different kinds of instruments – especially the electronic kind as I am more into traditional instruments – to come up with a new mix. I wanted to explore how music can bring people together and make us talk.
When we went into the studios to write the songs we would play on the guitar, talk about politics and the election of George Bush (which would make us sing the blues) then we would talk about education and the impact of television. This why I called my album Television.
I believe that communication and education are the best gifts that we can share with our children. Television media in Africa is now using local languages and incorporating local culture, and as a result is becoming closer to people.
Before, when people wanted information they would gather around a tree, now everyone stays in their living room and gathers around a television. And this can be a good thing – using media and communication to engage with the world. It’s all coming from music, from culture.
This is why young people in Africa should have the opportunity to use modern science and technology.
We need to make it happen and the governments should realise it. We also belong to this world.
Click here to read the first of Baaba Maal's exclusive reports from COP15 for Africa Talks Climate.
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