Environmentalists Push For Africa’s Solutions To Tackle Climate Change And Save The Planet

By Jean Pierre Afadhali

Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) environmentalists from around the world gathered in Nairobi, Kenya and online this week to discuss local solutions to ecological and climate challenges the world is facing.

At the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) Nairobi 2023: A New Vision for Earth, over 7,200 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, women, youth, policymakers, the private sector and 235 speakers from 130 countries convened to explore local solutions to the global climate crisis and environment degradation.

Stakeholders in environment protection and conservation suggested Africa-led solutions to climate change and ecological challenges such as land degradation and called for inclusion of local communities in initiatives that seek to tackle the challenges they are facing in their ecosystems.

“Every fraction of a degree matters. The sooner we can implement solutions to climate change, the sooner we can avoid irreversible losses and trigger critical climate tipping points,” said Éliane Ubalijoro, CEO of the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF). “We need to adopt a justice lens and think about how to decolonize our landscapes and heal our relationship with our land.”

Environment activists, scientists and policymakers shared their visions and wishes for the earth to better human life amid increasing extreme weather events and environment degradation caused by lack of eco-friendly policies and economic development initiatives that don’t consider ecological systems.

“We are indeed living a historic moment in the course of humankind, in which the ideals that brought us here are proving insufficient for us to be able to continue our journey on Earth with minimal conditions of dignity for human life and other forms of life,” said Marina Silva, Minister of the Environment and Climate Change of Brazil.

“Now, the ideals that can help us save life and the planet are those that enable us to use natural resources wisely, to nurture, while also preserving these resources, safeguarding the necessary sufficiency of ecosystem services.”

Additionally, human rights and land defender Ayisha Siddiqa, co-founder of Polluters Out and Fossil Free University and a youth climate advisor to the UN Secretary General said Humankind is the most responsible for earth’s damages.

“During our time on planet Earth, we’ve caused a great deal more damage than any species to come before us. But at the same time, I think because we are a miracle of the species with the ability to figure out what problems we are creating, we also have the ability to solve those problems at lightning speed.”

Meanwhile, one of the biggest ecological challenges Africa is facing is land degradation amid increasing desertification and food insecurity.

According to Audace Kubwimana, Africa Coordinator at International Land Coalition, land degradation is the biggest threats to land rights. “We believe it’s actually where to start from.”

“Transforming food systems to reduce environmental degradation and negative externalities requires integration of investments across entire supply chains and focusing on specific levers such as governance and policy, financial leverage, innovation, and multi-stakeholder dialogue; programmatic risk appetite to achieve impact at scale; and design for resilience,” said Peter Umunay, a Senior Environmental Specialist and Lead for the FOLUR and Food Systems Programs at the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Small scale farmers, women, pastoralists and indigenous people are the most affected by land degradation.

“It is an issue for everyone but it is bigger issue to women and youth,” stressed Kubwimana

“Investments in landscapes are investments in local communities, national economies, and our shared planet,” said Hisham Osman, Senior Environmental Engineer at the World Bank. “Through PROGREEN, the World Bank and our development partners are charting a new vision for Earth that doesn’t only finance green projects – but one that builds green economies.”

GLF is said to be the world’s largest knowledge-led platform on integrated land use, connecting people with a shared vision to create productive, profitable, equitable & resilient landscapes.

Day 1 focused on African sovereign solutions. Day 2 gathered a global audience in crafting a survival guide for a planet in crisis and set the stage for a fairer world ahead of the 2023 COP28.