Saving a sacred grove

Caux Dialogue on Land and Security

04/11/2019
Bo Sprotte Kafod

 

Bo Sprotte Kafod

Bo Sprotte Kafod volunteered to help organize the Caux Dialogue on Land and Security (CDLS) in 2019, after meeting former CDLS participants at the UN climate change conference (UNFCCC COP24) in Katowice, Poland, in December 2018.

Bo is studying Forestry and Landscape Engineering at the University of Copenhagen and is President of the Danish chapter of the International Forestry Student Association. He describes his experience as part of the CDLS organizing team as a steep learning curve, which challenged his skills.

‘Events which include professionals, researchers and the private sector on a global scale tend to be bureaucratic, with slow processes, which are sometimes distanced from practical applications,’ he says. ‘This is not the case with Caux. Caux allows people to meet and discuss freely on common ground, allowing new initiatives to happen – initiatives of change. Many of my values and opinions are reflected in the purpose of Caux, and these have been reaffirmed for me.’

After contacting the Danish branch of IofC in Copenhagen, Bo participated in the UN conference on combating desertification (UNCCD COP14) in Delhi with other CDLS participants.

After the conference, Bo and others from CDLS travelled to Meghalaya in North East India to follow up on contacts from Caux and met the Chief Minister of the State, Conrad Sangma.

While he was there, Bo visited the Mawphlang Sacred Forest, a natural treasure, home to more than 500 indigenous species. Many of Meghalaya’s Khasi people trace their ancestors to the forest and often go there to pray to the trees and stones, especially to get clarity on any dilemma in life. Bo was especially touched by the spiritual importance of the space.

He discovered that the Sacred Forest is threatened by the changing climate and by disease. If nothing is done, it is expected that the trees will continue to die at an increasing rate. To the delight of the caretaker, Bo was able to diagnose the problem as the Sooty Mould fungus, and to suggest a possible solution. He is now working with others to advise the Forest Department of Meghalaya on an action plan to save the forest’s ancient trees.

Featured Story
Off

related stories

Dhanasree Jayaram CDES 2020

A closer look at links between environment and security

Food security is a key to understanding the complex connection between climate and security, Dhanasree Jayaram, Assistant Professor in the Department of Geopolitics and International Relations Manipal...

Irina Fedorenko CDES 2020 screenshot

Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security 2020

The Caux Dialogue on Environment and Security aimed high in its first online edition, with more than 15 sessions and a cumulative total of 450 participants. Experts discussed the connection between se...

Summer Academy 2020 screenshot participants cropped credit: Alan Channer

Summer Academy 2020: expansive possibilities for the future

The effusive feedback from participants in the five-day 2020 Summer Academy on Land, Climate and Security vindicated the difficult decision to take the course online. Four months ago, this had seemed ...

CDLS 2019 Chau Duncan

Retooling the wheel for regenerative investment

Chau Tang-Duncan, co-founder and chief operating officer of Earthbanc, has been coming to Caux regularly since 2010. It was there that she first embraced the role she could have in connecting people a...

Karina Cheah

Overcoming the challenges of online dialogue groups

I have never been to Caux. I had also never moderated a dialogue group before, in or outside of the Caux Forum. As I faced the prospect of co-facilitating an online dialogue group in the Caux Dialogue...

CDES teaser theme square

Land and Security in Sub-Saharan Africa: assessing the risks and seeking a response

As part of the Caux Forum Online 2020, Initiatives of Change Switzerland and the Human Security Division of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs organized a video-conference in French on ‘L...

Tony Rinaudo

Tony Rinaudo: For a better future in Niger

Why would an Australian farmer who moved to Africa in the 1980s be called ‘the forest-maker’? Tony Rinaudo, World Vision Australia's climate action advisor, told this year's Caux Dialogue on Environme...

Visier Sanyu discussion Caux

The Healing Garden of Nagaland

Dr Visier Sanyü often sleeps in his tree house. It’s a feature of the 12-acre Healing Garden which he created in Medziphema, Northeast India. Sanyü, a retired professor of history and archaeology, lik...

Caux Palace view night

Climate and the economy in the post-COVID world

As pandemic-related lockdowns and travel restrictions slowly begin to ease and a return to normal life seems nearer at hand, we are at a critical juncture as to how we choose to act towards our enviro...

Alan Channer Bremen prize

Dr Alan Channer shortlisted for the 2019 Bremen International Peace Prize

Dr Alan Channer, who has been one of the organizers of the Caux Dialogues on Land and Security since their inception, was a runner-up for this year's Bremen International Peace Prize....

Oliver Gardiner

Filming regeneration

One-man film crew, Oliver Gardiner, travels to remote regions around the world to tell stories of how people have addressed complex issues through food, farming and land use....

CDLS 2019 Tom Duncan

Empowering communities to restore mangroves

Tom Duncan is CEO of Earthbanc and passionate about problem solving and strategic systems thinking, primarily in regenerative economics, green finance and financial technology, as a means of restoring...

Nhat Vhuong

Plucking water from the air

Webmarketing consultant and social entrepreneur Nhat Vhuong is passionate about tackling water scarcity. A Vietnamese refugee, who grew up in Switzerland, he worked in Japan for eight years before ret...

Meghalaya CDLS 2019 Conrad Sangma

Meghalaya’s lighthouses of sustainable development

‘Our goal in Meghalaya is to build a low-carbon economy through complete involvement and ownership of communities,’ Conrad Sangma, the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, told the opening session of the Caux...