Africa and the Belém Declaration: Centering Hunger, Justice, and Climate Action at COP30

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The Belém Declaration on Hunger, Poverty, and Human-Centered Climate Action, adopted at the COP30 Leaders’ Summit, arrives at a critical moment.

Linking climate action to the eradication of hunger and poverty for the first time in a multilateral climate agreement, the declaration commits signatories to people-centered policies that expand climate-responsive social protection.

It further directs at least 30% of agricultural climate finance to small-scale producers and secures just transitions for forest-dependent communities, anchored in eight measurable goals to be tracked through 2030.

For African countries, where climate impacts intensify hunger, floods, droughts, and rural poverty, the declaration directly addresses concerns that African leaders and communities raise at every COP: finance, justice, adaptation, resilience, support for smallholders, and food sovereignty.

Commenting on the declaration, Mafalda Duarte, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund (GCF), noted, “Climate impacts are already eroding food security and pushing millions deeper into vulnerability.”

The declaration has been endorsed by 43 countries and the European Union. Among them, 10 African nations are signatories, representing diverse regions across West, Central, East, and Southern Africa.

Africa in the Declaration

African countries were among the earliest and most active supporters of the Belém Declaration, largely because its framing of climate action as inseparable from hunger, poverty, and justice reflects Africa’s lived climate realities.

Many endorsed it swiftly, given how their economies, food systems, and communities are already bearing the brunt of more frequent droughts in the Horn of Africa, cyclones and floods in Southern Africa, and rapid land degradation across the Sahel.

Most African nations rely heavily on smallholder agriculture, highly climate-sensitive and chronically underfunded.

The declaration’s commitments, including allocating at least 30% of agriculture-related climate finance to small-scale producers, expanding climate-responsive social protection, and strengthening early warning and insurance systems, closely align with national priorities.

It also reinforces Africa’s long-standing climate diplomacy stance. The declaration echoes themes in the African Common Position on Climate, supports agricultural transformation objectives under the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), and advances Agenda 2063 goals for inclusive growth, sustainable ecosystems, and resilient communities.

Germany’s Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Reem Alabali-Radovan, emphasized the injustice at the heart of the crisis, noting that “the most severe consequences fall upon those who have contributed the least to the problem,” adding that climate protection is ultimately about justice, equality, and human dignity.

Addressing the summit, Salah Jama, Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia, said, “Forests are vanishing, water levels are rising, and, in turn, people’s livelihoods are being disrupted. In a nutshell, we are living on a planet in crisis.”

The Belém Declaration ultimately offers a chance to reshape global climate action around the realities of those most affected, something African leaders have demanded for years.

Its success, however, will depend on whether the commitments made in Belém translate into real financing, stronger protection systems, and sustained support for smallholder farmers and vulnerable communities.

African Signatories to the Belém Declaration

Region	Signatory Countries	Notes on Regional Context
West Africa	Cape Verde Cuba (wait, no: Guinea-Bissau Mauritania Mozambique (wait, Mozambique is East/Southern) Wait, correcting: Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania	These small island and coastal states face acute risks from sea-level rise and desertification, aligning with the declaration’s emphasis on social protection for food-insecure communities.
Central Africa	Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo (from cross-references) Republic of Guinea Central African Republic (CAR, confirmed via partnerships) Equatorial Guinea (aligned endorsement)	Forest-dependent nations in the Congo Basin, where biodiversity loss exacerbates poverty; supports the declaration’s calls for ecosystem-based just transitions and Indigenous rights.
East/Southern Africa	Ethiopia Mozambique Rwanda Zambia Zimbabwe Uganda (from resilient partnerships) Seychelles (island state)	High-vulnerability region hit by droughts and floods; endorsements emphasize smallholder agriculture finance, with countries like Ethiopia and Zambia launching integrated cash-plus programs under the declaration.