Climate change has over the past years been intensifying with land, nature, and biodiversity eroding hence an urgency for an emphasis on resolving climate injustice. Pollution and waste are sickening the planet and people, especially in Africa in what the UNEP terms as the Tripple Planetary crisis. According to the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in the forward of the United Nations Environment Programme, “Humanity is waging war on nature.”
The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering, towering economic losses, and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth. Africa has suffered the most in the hands of the big emitters like the G20 nations. However, Africa’s time to tackle these great climatic injustices is ripe with the rise of its leadership that would otherwise control the African country’s destinies.
One outstanding strategy employed by African leaders in tackling the climate injustice in their nations is encouraging the urge to drive sustainable development by ditching the colonial models that see resources shipped out instead of creating value addition at home.
In fact, by Africa being a permanent member of the G20, her leaders can champion clean energy by backing nature using the continent’s innovation and rich resources to provide everything from green construction materials to planet-friendly alternatives to plastics. Africa’s rich mineral deposits’ extraction must be responsible for protecting the environment, the land of the indigenous people, and the rights of workers.
On top of the fact that African leaders are utilizing the maximization use of the Loss Damage Fund, a highlight of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP27) and the culmination of decades of pressure from climate-vulnerable countries, they also make sure that this fund is used for the right purpose which is to provide financial assistance to nations most vulnerable and impacted by the climate change.
Equally, in conclusion, the UNEP is fully committed to supporting these endeavors through science, policy support, and technical expertise which are available to all African member states. In a report by the United Nations Environment Programme, “Africa has risen to a leadership role,” 17, February 2024, ensuring real circularity is very essential.
Keeping resources in the economy by redesigning, reusing, and recycling to minimize extraction of virgin materials would help not only conserve the environment but also improve the African native’s living standards. The UNEP provides a circularity platform for understanding the circularity concept, its scope, and how it contributes to promoting sustainable consumption and production patterns.
“Circularity and sustainable consumption and production are essential to delivering on every multilateral agreement from the sustainable development goals to the Paris Agreement to the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, ” said Inger Anderson, UNEP Executive Director.
Indeed, African rise to a new leadership role creates a great awareness of her leadership that they must now prioritize the lead in action towards tackling the climate injustice in their nations.
