Video transcript · 5 min · 785 words

Lightning talk on Wikimedia projects and the triple planetary crisis: transcript

A Wikimania 2023 lightning talk from a Global South perspective, given by Otuo-Akyampong Boakye. He proposes using Wikimedia projects such as Wikimedia Commons, Wikinews and Wikipedia to document climate, pollution and biodiversity impacts in rural African communities, and he stresses local languages and involving teachers and health workers.

Key points

The talk opens with a story of a pilgrim billed for what his grandfather ate, used as an image of how the current generation overuses the planet's resources.
The UN defines the triple planetary crisis as climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
In Ghana and other African countries, impacts are felt in rural and remote areas that mainstream media rarely covers.
Wikimedia projects could host photos, short audiovisuals and evidence-based reports from villages hit by flooding, drought, pollution and deforestation.
Teachers and health workers posted to rural areas could be trained to add primary data.
Language is a barrier in West Africa and the Global South, and the Wikimedia translation platform can help share these issues with local people.

Chapters

0:08Opening story of the pilgrim and the restaurant
1:52Welcome and the triple planetary crisis defined
3:04Reporting from neglected rural communities on Wikimedia
4:06Engaging teachers and health workers as contributors
4:40Local languages and translation tools

Full transcript

0:08No silence. Hello, you're on mute. Green Day, everyone. Yeah, we can hear you now. Wonderful. Thank you so much. I hope you all can hear me. So, once again, Green Day, everyone. That's a wonderful presentation before I just took over. I want to begin my presentation with a story.

0:43i share with you a story of an old pilgrim who was traveling from one country to another having walked in the woods for weeks through the forest for nights and days he was so exhausted and tired he was thirsty and hungry luckily for him he got to a restaurant and the inscription leading to the restaurant read eat all you can your grandchildren will pay for it this program was so happy so he rushed into the restaurant asked for the menu ordered all the food he could eat at the time and even the ones he didn't need at the moment He ate to his fill, and then he made a move to leave the restaurant. No sooner had he made his decision to step out, than the waiter brought to him his bill. He then looked straight in the eyes of the waiter and said, have you not read your inscription? Then the waiter said, yes, you are not paying for what you ate. You are paying for what your grandfather ate some years ago. Your grandchildren will pay for what you've ate today. He was so surprised and disappointed.

1:52Dear Wikipedians, this is how we are treating the planet today. The current generation is unsustainably using the resources of the planet such that the Earth cannot provide for future generations. We are selfishly and greedily using their resources. But always remember, as it has always been said, we can never deceive nature. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, and welcome to the lightning session on trying to explore the feasibility of Wikimedia projects in addressing the triple planetary crisis.

2:26That is a concern or a perspective from the global south. My name is Othiye Champomboache. You are welcome. The triple planetary crisis, as defined by the UN, describes climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. These are the three threats that are destroying our planet of today. One of the main challenges to developing countries And developing stronger advocacy as well as equitable policies that has the potential to positively impact the lives of citizens is getting access to information that projects a perfect representation of the entire nation in real time and from a primary source.

3:04In Ghana and many African countries, the rare impacts of the triple planetary crisis are felt in rural and then remote areas where mainstream media hardly if ever captures. let's find out why things and then we're saying the widespread inequality to access to relief and support but what if as advocates and wikipedians we can leverage the openness of the wikimedia projects like wiki news wikipedia wiki commons to provide evidence-based reports from such neglected communities not just to national audience but to global audience what if we could use Wikicommons as a hope to provide photos and short audiovisuals that is media from these villages that are hit with flooding, drought, acidic pollution, deforestation, farming and other threats to sustainability. What if we can provide these reports in the African way, attaching the passion and authenticity they deserve to the whole globe on a free-to-use website

4:06like Wikipedia. The essence of this lightning talk is just to whet your appetite as an experienced Wikipedian to reach out to rural folks with key emphasis on teachers and health workers posted to these areas since these are elite communities to build their communities to be able to add primary data. I want to also, through this, make us understand that the Wikimedia Project or the Wikimedia Foundation is not only a digital hub, but also contributes greatly or is an active contributor to the enviro socio-economic development of communities.

4:40President Nessie Mandela once said, if you speak to a man in a language he understands, you speak to his head. But if you speak to a man in his language, you speak to his heart. We touch a heart before we ask for a hand. Therefore, let us explore how we can use the Wikimedia projects like Wikicomons to be able to provide rare time data for our people. Language is a barrier, especially in West Africa and then the global south. But thanks to Wikimedia translation platform, we can translate and share issues on the planetary crisis with our local people.

5:16In conclusion, I want to tell you that how... Thank you. Let's send him love and support for our online speakers.

Source and licence

Recording: File:Wikimania 2023 - Plenary - 18 August - Lightning Talk - Exploring the feasibility of Wikimedia Projects in addressing the triple planetary crisis - Perespective from the Global South.webm by Wikimania 2023 (2023-08-18), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0. The transcript, summary and chapters on this page are shared under the same licence (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The transcript is machine speech-to-text by the TidyTools Audio & video transcriber; the summary, key points and chapters were written by Claude from that transcript. Both may contain errors: check the recording before quoting it.