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In this documentary, we will travel to the heart of Western Sahara, the last remaining unexplored region of the great African desert.
We will meet the nomads that inhabit this land, learn about their fascinating customs, their atavistic rites; the birthplace of an ancient empire. They are the ULAD EL MIZNA, the Children of the Cloud.
The immense desert which comprises the Western Sahara, almost 250,000 km in size, is one of the least-known, and most hostile regions in the world.
In 1976, exile began for the Sahrawi nation, which since then has been crowded into refugee camps in the barren hammada of TINDUF, in extreme living conditions and depending for their survival on international aid.
The unequal war between the FRENTE POLISARIO and Morocco in order to achieve freedom for their country has led to poverty, desolation and an unbearable cost in human lives.
In exile, the Sahrawi nation has, with the few available resources, managed to create a rudimentary but efficient system of administration. The population, some 170,000 people, has organised itself into WILAYAS and DARÍAS, assemblies of neighbours at which they discuss the problems of the community.
Mauritania is a country entirely of desert and with a fascinating history.
The terrifying canyons of the AMOJIAR ravine, its vertical walls, and the frequent landslides formed part of the dangers of the road which the ancient caravans had to negotiate in order to reach the mythical cities of the Gold Route. The lost cities of Mauritania. The mosque is the most important building in Chinguetti and perhaps in all of Mauritania. Every year, below its minaret, of dry-stone masonry and reconstructed several times, thousands of the Turab al Bidan faithful gathered to set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca.
For this reason, Chinguetti was considered the seventh holy city of Islam.
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Film by Nidhi Dutt and Daniel Boaden
People & Power investigates the environmental consequences of palm oil plantations in equatorial Africa.
There are few products so ubiquitous as palm oil. You can find its derivatives in chocolate, shampoo, toothpaste, detergent, ice cream, floor polish and a host of other products filling supermarket shelves.
Extracted from the fruit of the tropically-grown oil palm tree (Elaeis guineensis), it has become so versatile and sought after that the growing economies of Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's two largest producers, make some $40bn a year from its production and export.
Given that by 2020 global demand for palm oil is expected to double and then triple by 2050, it is no wonder that other developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan West Africa where the tree originates, have been looking enviously at Southeast Asia and hoping to emulate that success.
But palm oil cultivation does not come cost-free. If not done sustainably, say conservationists, it can have disastrous consequences for people and the environment. In Indonesia, for example, it has played a major role in deforestation which has seen the loss of more than 6 million hectares of primary forest over the last 15 years.
As rainforests are home to least half of this planet's species of plants, animals and insects, the negative impact on global biodiversity can only be imagined. In addition, indigenous communities are also destroyed as people who have lived happily off the forest's resources for generations, often do not own the land (at least not in a form recognised by governments, corporations and their lawyers) and are frequently displaced to make way for new plantations.
Boosting Cameroon's economy
It is against this background that the Central and West African state of Cameroon has been trying to get a palm oil industry off - or rather into - the ground. Its President Paul Biya, who has held office since 1982, has been looking for ways to give Cameroon's economy a boost.
His country is not as poverty-stricken as some on the continent. It has some modest oil resources and favourable conditions for agriculture and is comparatively stable politically, but it is not immune from many of the problems associated with developing nations, from chronically high unemployment and an inequitable distribution of income to corruption and inadequate public infrastructure.
Cameroon is also over-reliant on imports, which makes it susceptible to rising prices and food insecurity. According to the UN, more than 40 percent of the population are living under the poverty line, while over one-third of its children are suffering from chronic malnutrition.
Palm oil then, would seem to offer good prospects for additional growth. The tree is native to the region and the climate is perfect for its cultivation. And of course, there are plenty of international agribusiness conglomerates looking for suitable places in West Africa in which to replicate the stellar profits enjoyed by the industry in Asia.
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