Somali Centre for Water & Environment (SCWE) is a non-profit,
non-governmental organization. Being a research and awareness raising
organisation with emphasis on the environment and water issues in Somalia,
SCWE is formed by a group of Somali intellectuals based in Stockholm, who are experts in the field of water and environment. Established for Working for Better Environment & Water Improvemnet Through Research, Development and Awareness Raising.

Somalia, a Horn of African nation and state that has been self-destruction through civil
war, has allowed its environment to degrade to a level that can't be described in
words. One unfortunate anguish that will face Somalia is the damages that have been
done to the nation's natural environment. Both local people and outsiders are
responsible for the damages, which are unprecedented & unimaginable and seems
unmanageable, even long after a solution is found for the current political crisis.

Some of the ongoing environmental abuses & concerns
that are experienced in Somalia and many other parts of the world include:

* Water pollution which causes human health problems;
* Misdisposal of wastes i.e. solid and liquid, contaminating land and water resources;
* No secure and safe access of water source provided, due to hydroclimatical
reasons and lack of technical development;
* Devastating river flooding resulting substantial destruction;
* Recurrent droughts severely affecting the people, animals and the natural environment;
* These natural disasters i.e. floods and droughts affect the lives of the people and
their animals as well as their properties without prediction and protection.
* Merciless poaching and hunting wildlife which are already threatened them to extinction;
* Unprecedented and alarming rate of deforestation for charcoal making leading to
desertification and soil erosion;
* Overgrazing beyond the carrying capacity of the land;
* Movement of sand dunes threatening the farming land;
* Dumping of hazardous wastes from industrialized countries in the Ocean and the
mainland with long-term scaring effects.

Somalia, in the face of these life-threatening activities, is not only a politically
disintegrated country, but also environmentally polluted. As they bankrupt natural
resource of present and future generations, these ongoing indiscriminate toxic waste
dumping, deforestation and water pollution will definitely affect the lives of the people,
who lack both social & political stability, economic capacity, financial & human
resources and institutional framework to handle the crisis. Despite of these major
concerns, no national environmental agency has ever existed in Somalia.

Somali Centre for Water & Environment (SCWE)'s objectives
could however be summarized as follows:

* to collect and archive all data about the nation's environment including water issues;
* to conduct research and study describing environmental degradations resulted
from the civil war in Somalia, in order to assess the damages done to the environment and water;
* to develop means and ways to protect the environment;
* to generate useful knowledge that guides policy formulation
* to increase the level of environmental understanding and awareness among
Somali people through dissemination of information & knowledge generated from research;
* to assist local people with the available resources in order to see them to solve
some of their basic problems related to water supply and environmental protection;
* to organize workshops and hold seminars on the Somali water and environmental issues;
* to produce and publish articles, reports and books on Somali water and environmental issues;
* to involve and engage the Somali youth people in Sweden in order to get them understand the environmental change of the globe in general and environmental degradation of their homeland in particular, and to contribute their integration and education process in Sweden.

* Apart of these objectives, the SCWE was established to contribute to the Somali community in Sweden, particularly the Somali youth groups in Stockholm to get more information and increase their awareness in the field of water and environmental issues in the world.

SCWE will carry out these activities in close contact & cooperation with other international and local NGO's with similar objectives and state agencies when established.

SCWE, raising Somali people's awareness in their environment particularly in their
time of greatest need, call for all Somalis and nature-loving people to immediately end
the ongoing environmental destruction in Somalia and to help and support SCWE in
saving both the people and the environment of that poor war-ravaged country.

SCWE has established its main office in Stockholm and become affiliated to Mogadishu University in accordance with its original plan of action.

For further information contact the SCWE:

Abdullahi Elmi Mohamed

Tel: +46(0)8 761 3552, +46(0)70 752 2425 (mobile)

E-mail: elmi@kth.se