UNHCR / UGANDA SOUTH SUDAN REFUGEES

STORY: UNHCR / UGANDA SOUTH SUDAN REFUGEES
TRT: 05:01
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /NATS

29 -30 OCTOBER 2022, PALABEK, UGANDA / FILE

SHOTLIST:

29 OCTOBER 2022, PALABEK, UGANDA

1. Various shots, Opira Bosco Okot, walking, tree nursery, tree seedlings
2. Various shots, Opira teaching class about tree planting
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Opira Bosco Okot, environmental activist:
“My full name is Opira Bosco Okot. I am a South Sudanese refugee currently living in Palabek Refugee Settlement in northern Uganda. I am also a student at Ndeje University in Kampala pursuing a Bachelor of Economics. I'm a very serious environmental activist and activist for access to education as well.”
4. Various shots, Opira selecting tree seedlings, Opira and friend carrying tree seedlings, Opira showing class how to plant tree seedling, students
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Opira Bosco Okot, environmental activist:
“I teach them how to maintain those trees, how to, you know, get a space and plant and how to make the trees grow. And also, how to limit destroying trees because they can be an agent of change.”
6. Various shots, tree seedling, student planting tree
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Jacky Amono, student:
“I learned many ways of planting trees. If you plant trees, we can make our evironment look beautiful.”
8. Various shots, Opira and Margaret Aloyo, shopping for seedlings
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Margret Aloyo, community leader:
“The new method, which we are happy to do, is to plant the trees to replace those ones which we cut, and that tree also helps us when we don't have any firewood.”

FILE – RECENT, ADJUMANI, UGANDA

10. Wide shot, refugees standing near truck

29 OCTOBER 2022, PALABEK, UGANDA

11. Various shots, tree nursery, Cameraman, Opira watering seedling

30 OCTOBER 2022, PALABEK, UGANDA

12. Various shots, Opira and colleagues editing video

29 OCTOBER 2022, PALABEK, UGANDA

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Opira Bosco Okot, environmental activist:
“We always realize that through our videos, community members have solutions to their own problems, and then they come up with a solution, you see, them taking action to stop the problem they are facing including the problem of peaceful coexistence, I mean, you know, coexistence between refugees and host communities.”

FILE – RECENT, YUMBE DISTRICT, UGANDA

14. Various shots, women greeting each other, girl giving woman firewood, women walking

29 OCTOBER 2022, PALABEK, UGANDA
15. Various shots, Opira teaching class and writing on chalkboard

FILE – RECENT, FANGAK, SOUTH SUDAN

16. Various shots, men building dykes, women securing dyke

29 OCTOBER 2022, PALABEK, UGANDA

17. Various shots, students watering seedlings
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Opira Bosco Okot, environmental activist
“The nation and world leaders at COP27 what I believe they can achieve is mobilizing resources to support different projects that promote climate mitigation. They can achieve mobilizing resources, and they can achieve partnership because that is the best way different interventions at different levels can be reached. So, reach out to people like us in the community and support them and empower them, knowing that the action that happens everywhere affects the situation worldwide.”
19. Various shots, Opira weeding, walking through path with trees and taking photos with phone

STORYLINE:
South Sudanese refugee fights deforestation in Uganda by planting trees.

In 2017, Opira Bosco Okot ran and walked barefoot for days to flee conflict in South Sudan.

When he arrived in Uganda, he was registered at Palabek Refugee Settlement and allocated a plot of land, to build a temporary structure and have some space to farm.

Opira started collecting firewood for cooking and cutting trees to build a shelter. The land was fertile, forested, and bushy; the natural resources were plentiful, and he was able to grow crops. But three years later, the rains become erratic, yields dwindled, and building materials became scarce.

As drought took hold, competition over increasingly scarce natural resources grew between refugees and their hosts.

Climate change is disrupting weather patterns in Uganda.

Erratic rainfall and prolonged dry spells have wiped out livestock and crops, devastating livelihoods.

Opira says he is strongly moved by the climate reality in South Sudan and Uganda, so he decided to do something about it and engage in climate activism.

In 2021, he founded The Leads, an organization that supports his community and helps refugee children and youth stay in school. Students learn to protect the environment and promote tree planting.

The community is also training on how to make improved energy-saving mud stoves.

Back in South Sudan, Opira’s relatives, who returned home, are also feeling the impact of climate change, last year, floods displaced hundreds of thousands of pastoralists from the country’s north who later migrated to Eastern Equatoria state where his family members settled.

Intense conflict over natural resources saw three of his relatives killed, while some fled again to Uganda.

Opira also creates videos that educate communities and advocate for peaceful coexistence between refugees and their hosts.

As the world comes together to discuss climate goals at COP27, Opira says he would like to urge them to actively support displaced people who are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.