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https://apnews.com/article/herds-nigeria-lagos-climate-change-animals-19a8ed11f5c805fceadbc60c584423fd>
"MAKOKO, Nigeria (
AP) — Several canoes paddle toward Makoko, a vast floating
slum built on stilts in the lagoon at one end of Nigeria’s economic hub of
Lagos. Riding on the vessels are giant cardboard puppet animals along with
their puppeteers dressed in black.
Once on the water, the animals — a gorilla, a leopard, an elephant, a
wildebeest, a giraffe and a donkey — all come alive. The gorilla hoots, the
donkey brays and wags its tail as the leopard bends its neck toward the surface
as if to drink but halts just before its face meets the water and then turns to
look around.
It is Saturday, the second day of “The Herds” theatrical tour stop in Nigeria
on a journey 20,000 kilometers (12,427 miles) from Africa’s Congo Basin to the
Arctic Circle with puppet animals. It’s a journey organizers say is meant to
bring attention to the climate crisis and “renew our bond with the natural
world.”
The tour started last week in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, and will continue
across the world with Dakar, the Senegalese capital, as the next stop.
The story goes that the animals will be forced out of their natural habitats
due to global warming and displaced north, stopping in cities along the way and
being joined by more animals.
The sprawling slum of Makoko — an old fishing village — was perfect to
illustrate that because it has for many years shown resilience in the face of
climate change, often finding ways to adapt to extreme weather, said Amir Nizar
Zuabi, “The Herds” artistic director.
Dubbed the Venice of Africa, the Makoko slum is a low-lying community
vulnerable to rising sea levels and flooding. Lagos itself is no stranger to
the impacts of climate change, with roads and houses across the coastal city
often engulfed during annual flooding.
“We are on the edge of one of the greatest global crises, and ... I think the
global south offers a lot of knowledge and a lot of resilience,” Zuabi said,
referring to developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere with lower incomes
and higher poverty rates compared to the “global north.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
