Senegal is a lower middle-status-income country with a number of structural challenges. The country's Vision 2050 development framework is betting heavily on hydrocarbons to lift a majority of the people out of poverty. Looking at examples of other African oil-producing countries, this feels more like wishful thinking. Fortunately, the Senegalese National Platform for Climate Justice holds annual schools to vision a new political ecology in the Sahel.

Everywhere you look, young people are changing Africa's politics. Many people in leadership positions have not yet spotted this trend. Young people however, are not waiting to be noticed. They are preparing themselves for leadership. They are not asking for a seat at the table - they want the entire table. They want austerity economics gone.

A new generation of creatives is reconnecting Africans with the sights, sounds and moods that only African fabrics and design pieces can evoke. These are exciting young artists who believe strongly in Africa and in inventing the future. They are eager to let the world know that African creatives, using African materials, can produce exquisite pieces on par with anything that comes out of the top fashion houses in Asia, Europe or America. One of these young designers is called Noutépé Assogba.

“The idea behind One Million Baobabs is that West Africa in general is known for its baobab trees. This tree is synonymous with resilience, adaptability and timelessness. More importantly, it's a tree that can help save our region, because we need more trees to store carbon, and we need indigenous trees that can be used to reforest the Sahel as part of the Great Green Wall project”.

"Due to coastal erosion, Bargny is losing all the houses on the sea front. Survivors retreat a few metres to seek refuge with friends and relatives where they are often packed together, like ten people for example, in one tiny room. People cannot live like that! Many young men, who feel it is their responsibility to provide for their families, cannot work their way out of poverty due to over-fishing. So they jump into these tiny fishing boats, and go to Spain or Italy"

68-year old Ndeye Yacine Dieng is a familiar face in Senegal. In fact, this daughter of Bargny Guetch is known to virtually all the climate justice activists in a country where about half the population lives along the coastline. From a very young age, she started raising the alarm about rising sea levels. Although more people are aware of her concerns today, rising sea levels still destroy thousands of houses in Senegal every year. Ndeye Yacine vows to keep shining the light on this problem

Mauritius' Resistanz ek Alternativ is the first overtly ecosocialist party to ever hold both parliamentary and ministerial seats in an African government. Since the party's founding, its members have never deviated from their core principles, believing that the best way to conscientise minds is to lead by example. Some Resistanz members also founded the Centre for Alternative Research and Studies to spread their ideas. Now they are in government and looking to give power back to the people.

For the first time in Africa's history, an ecosocialist party has won seats in a national parliament. This win comes with a senior cabinet position, a junior minister and a working commission head. Voters have given Mauritius' Resistanz ek Alternativ and its alliance partners the mandate to enact sweeping protections for workers and the environment. This article, and others to follow, traces Resistanz ek Alternativ's journey to government. The series also shows why they are ready to govern

There was a lot of doom and gloom in South Africa until very recently, with the #Imleaving campaign picking up steam again. Since the beginning of 2024, a lot of that talk has died down, thanks in great part to significant progress in installing renewable capacity. Today, the country has more green capacity than Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s total reliable baseload capacity. That is quite an achievement. But more must be done to ensure that the poor are not left behind.

Dams are massive structures built to control and harness water resources for purposes like irrigation, electricity generation and flood control. In Africa, much like in the rest of the world, they are not just functional infrastructure projects – they are often also seen as prestige symbols and markers of power, progress and modernity. However, due to their impact on the environment as well as climate change, we need to completely rethink how such expensive structuring projects are done.

The Niger Delta is a crucial area for Nigeria's economy. However, despite the abundance of natural resources, local communities often suffer from poverty and underdevelopment due to the unequal distribution of oil revenues. Furthermore, the extraction of oil and gas has resulted in significant environmental degradation and health crises among local communities, creating both opportunities and challenges (Ogbebor & Aghoghovwia, 2015).

The home of Togolese artist Koumy is proof that one can live content and in perfect harmony with nature in small spaces. Koumy’s home is a festival of colours, an ode to beauty and harmony in the middle of the dust and concrete that we are so accustomed to in many African cities. Importantly too, it offers us hints on how we should live in a post-growth society.

French energy giant TotalEnergies wants to explore South Africa's biodiverse coastline for oil and gas, risking environmental damage. The move pits the company against environmentalists and small-scale fishermen, who fear the impact on their livelihoods and the pristine coastal ecosystem.

Mozambique's ambition to engage in carbon trading is attracting attention for its environmental implications. Given Mozambique's track record of environmental mismanagement and corruption, there's growing concern that entering the carbon market could exacerbate global pollution rather than alleviate it.

The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) is notorious for the socio-economic and environmental impacts that it will continue to devastate. The burden of these impacts has been borne by women who have been dispossessed of their land, placing them at the forefront of the consequences. This is the story of how women bear the brunt of EACOP's development.

Environmental degradation, declining standard of living, human-wildlife conflict, and intimidation are some of the few ways in which the EACOP project has bullied its way to securing what they label national development. Local activists however are not taking this sitting down, risking their lives to send a message to the government to #StopEACOP.

As the world turns to renewable energy, Senegal is poised to become an exporter of fossil fuels. This move comes with high expectations, but also with considerable skepticism and criticism. An in-depth look at Senegal's pivotal energy decision.

On the one side you see green hydrogen infrastructure, solar panels and wind turbines; on the other, an oil rig in the deep ocean waters.. That is the contradicting picture you get when you visit Lüderitz in the southwest of Namibia. Even though this small Southern African country is well on its way to become a global producer of green hydrogen, it’s taking the fossil fuel industry along for the ride as the government says the industry is needed for a just and equitable transition - experts say.

The Mozambican government is pressuring foreign oil companies to resume oil and gas exploration in Cabo Delgado, despite recent terrorist attacks. Locals suspect the attacks are linked to the multi-billion dollar projects, which are also seen as environmentally damaging.

East Africa is currently in the grips of El Niño, a climate phenomenon characterised by the periodic warming of sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, leading to heavy rains during the months of October, November, and December. There is a risk of significant damage to infrastructure, which makes the requirement for climate resilient planning even more urgent.

In the second series of the Climate Justice Central Podcast, we're diving into how countries on the African continent are getting more involved in oil and gas projects.

Fadhel Kaboub, an economist from Tunisia currently working with Power Shift Africa, talks about the growth of fossil fuels in Africa and the role of global economic and political power structures. He emphasizes the call for a complete global phase-out of fossil fuels, as proposed by the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative.

Oil giants such as Eni, TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil are pouring billions into Mozambican projects for a European market in high demand, exacerbated by the situation in Ukraine. Despite climate warnings, Mozambique's government persists, echoing fossil fuel disinformation.

A promise of socio-economic development from the East African Crude Oil has turned sour before the project has even reached financial close; possibly paving the way for what communities and ecosystems surrounding the pipeline are to expect - a trail of destruction and environmental degradation.

In recent years, Cabo Delgado, a coastal province in northern Mozambique, has become synonymous with vast natural gas reserves and the promise of economic prosperity. At the same time, the extraction of these resources has been accompanied by violent conflict and environmental concerns.

Activist Nonhle Mbuthuma vows that climate activists and civil society will continue opposing Shell’s bid to extract oil and gas off the shore of the Wild Coast as Shell pursues its seismic exploration ambitions off pristine coast.

The Okavango Delta, a pristine African wetland and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is under threat from oil exploration, which has begun with little regard for the concerns of local communities. In an interview with CJC, Corinna van Wyk of the Legal Assistance Centre of Namibia reveals ReconAfrica's disregard for transparent procedures, raising serious questions about conservation and governance in the region.

The exploration for oil and gas in the Okavango Delta region, spearheaded by ReconAfrica, a Canadian company, is a project entwined with significant environmental and socio-cultural risks. An overview.

At a time when global climate initiatives are at the forefront, Africa is witnessing a surge in oil and gas projects. Countries such as Senegal, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique, and Uganda are exploring their fossil fuel potential. Our new project investigates case studies from across the continent.

Climate change is going to mean different things to different people. However, one inescapable reality that we all have to deal with is the issue of heat. Heat is getting out of control! Are we prepared for longer and more frequent episodes of heat and drought? Does it show in how we build our houses, offices and neighbourhood infrastructure?

Just like many other cities around the world, Harare is struggling with congestion. The city has started exploring ways to give pedestrians freedom of the roads with angry motorists asked to stay away for an entire morning. The results are amazing. Children come alive and there is a lot of energy in the air with an exciting brew of graffiti artists, skateboarders, cyclists, and much more. Harare is buzzing.

The world generates 2.1 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with at least 33% of that not managed in an environmentally safe manner, according to the World Bank. This is projected to increase by 19% in Global North countries and by more than 40% in Global South countries by 2050 (Kaza et al. 2018). Despite many warnings that our destructive ways are unsustainable, humanity has still not learned to consume less. Agbobloshie in Accra, Ghana, is a monument to our addiction to "stuff'.

The devastation that the modern capitalism system has caused and continues to cause means that we are losing hundreds of insect and plant species every day. However, some communities are putting up a dogged fight to hold on to the foods, nature and way of life that they inherited from their ancestors. The Bassari of Senegal, a community of some of the most warm and loving people that you will find anywhere, are trying to preserve dozens of fonio and millet varieties for future generations.

Fonio has never really interested people outside West Africa …until very recently. Even in urban parts of countries like Senegal, Guinea Bissau and Ghana where trade value chains have shrunk food choices down to a small list of items – rice, beans, yams, etc.- people do not necessarily know about fonio that well either. However, due to a growing demand for “superfoods”, fonio has suddenly been thrust into the spotlight.

The Congo Basin, the second largest tropical rainforest in the world spanning about 1.4 million square miles over six countries, is one of the most important tropical forests in the world. It is becoming even more important to humanity due to the alarming rate of deforestation and tree dieback in the Amazon rainforest caused by illegal logging, mining, and land conversion for agriculture.

When we think about the Maasai, the images that typically appear in our minds are of tall, beautiful, dapper people wrapped in the very recognisable red-blue checkered Shuka fabric that Haute Couture brands love to rip off. However, there is a more sombre and somewhat tragic side to this community than meets the eye.

Makoko Island is an informal settlement situated just off the Third Mainland Bridge on Lagos Lagoon in Lagos State, Nigeria. It was established in the 19th century by migrants and fishermen who catch and sell fish in Lagos and beyond. Local authorities have always been unhappy with the presence of the settlement and more recently, efforts to evict the entire population of Makoko Island have accelerated.

Hydrogen has never really been produced or used in big quantities on the African continent. A number of countries, notably South Africa and Morocco produce grey hydrogen, which is used in the mining and fertiliser sectors. That is set to change. Following recent Conference of the Parties (COP) gatherings, hydrogen has suddenly emerged as an important element of the just energy transition and a number of African countries are ramping up plans to start producing and exporting it.

Since the beginning of 2023, South Africa has been experiencing debilitating load shedding that has caused significant damage to the country’s economy, social cohesion and reputation as an attractive destination for investments, leisure tourism and conferencing. The power outages have forced a reckoning for South Africa’s baseload capacity and what needs to be done to improve energy availability going forward.

Although it is one the five poorest countries in the world, Madagascar is ranked among the world’s top tourism destinations due to its unique endemic fauna and lush flora. With its cosmopolitan growing population that has its origins in Africa, Asia and Europe, the island’s cultural riches often surprises visitors. Unfortunately, the lemur island has been facing a multitude of challenges on many fronts in recent years.

As of 2023, Zimbabwe's installed electricity generation capacity was approximately 2,540 MW. However, due to a combination of factors such as climate change, ageing infrastructure and equipment breakdowns, actual electricity generation is often much lower than this capacity, resulting in power cuts and load shedding. Can the Zimbabwean government turn this dire situation around in the midst of a growing climate change threat?

Globally, over 600 000 people still die of malaria every year, most of them children. The World Health Organisation Africa Region, with an estimated 234 million cases in 2021, accounted for about 95% of global cases in 2022. Climate change could make it worse. Rising heat levels are slowly causing the malaria belt to expand southwards into the SADC region. Are there eradication and elimination plans in place to counter this looking threat?

Forest cover loss is a headache for many African countries where logging by big companies and clearing (for biomass energy or small-scale agriculture) continues to grow. Malawi for examples has been losing about 33,000 hectares of forest every year since 2001. According to Global Forest Watch, Malawi lost 14.7kha of natural forest, equivalent to 5.30Mt of CO₂ emissions in 2001. This is not big by global standards, but it is still a big concern. Some people are trying to change that.

Cheick Fadel Wade has been a very busy man these last few weeks. The co-founder and President of Solidarité Ci Sutura (Solidarity and respect) in Bargny, Senegal has been working hard to amplify messages about the importance of an urgent just transition to low carbon economies at home and abroad to a number of different audiences. For him, protecting the environment for present and future generations is not a choice - it is his destiny.

When the inhabitants of Macaneta beach in Mozambique suddenly found themselves with thousands of bottles that they could not get rid of, they decide to do something radical which had never been tried in the area before: build a house! The result was a property that now serves as a local library, a pilgrimage site for people looking change their relationship with nature and a tourism attraction for influencers who just want to flex for the 'gram.

“Our government is busy replicating the apartheid regime in support of neocolonial trends. Big mining companies like Recon Africa have more rights than the indigenous people in the Kavango. Why are they putting our natural resources and wildlife at risk? Who is fighting for the people being evicted from their lands? What happened to the liberation movement? This cannot continue!”

The climate crisis touches all areas of our lives. It is the role of climate journalism to explain this crisis and to show the causes, consequences, and solutions. In this podcast, journalists from the Global South meet interviewees from the Global North. Together they address the most important question for journalists at the moment: How can critical journalism help tackle the climate crisis?

In this episode, journalists Malembo Simbano from Tanzania and Mercy Malikwa from Malawi chat with Shirin Choudhary from India, who is an international climate protection fellow at Gender CC (Women for Climate Justice) in Berlin (Germany), on the connection between gender and climate change.

Professor Markus Wissen, who co-authored a book titled, “The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism”, visits the YAJAP podcast studios to speak with the programme’s fellows Onke Ngcuka and Alexandre Nhampossa.

Tafadzwa Ufumeli, a visual storyteller from Zimbabwe, and Lerato Mutsila, a journalist from South Africa sat down with Nina Treu, co-founder and coordinator of the Laboratory for New Economic Ideas in Leipzig, Germany to unpack the concept of Degrowth and uncover what place such a movement has in an increasingly globalised world. Can shrinking the economy save the planet or will it only benefit a few in the global North?

We speak to Professor Birgit Schneider from the University of Potsdam about the history and importance of maps in communicating climate change as well as climate change politics and denialism in Germany.

In this episode, African journalists Tumelo from Botswana and Florence from Malawi tag team to get an insight on the work of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung in their combat against climate change and their fight for climate justice.

Southern African journalists' Teneal Koorts and Lemuel Chekai discuss the role of climate journalism with Theresa Leisgang- journalist, campaigner and co-founder of the Climate Journalism Network based in Germany.

Zimbabwe’s metropolitan areas are growing at an exponential pace as rural-urban migration accelerates and demographic growth continues. Suburbs are popping up everywhere. However, expansion of the reticulation network is not keeping pace with urban growth. The daily struggle to find water is becoming almost a complete side culture in itself. Photojournalist Tafadzwa Ufumeli has shot images of some Harareans’ daily water struggles.

For a country of 14.9 million, Zimbabwe’s energy needs are much greater than installed capacity - 1700MW - can cover. In comparison, neighbouring South Africa produces over 60,000 MW of power for a population of 59 million people. Zimbabwe’s electricity penetration rate of 44% leaves nearly three-quarters of the country's population in the dark. Now, climate change is making this already difficult situation even worse.

To rethink the living through new imaginaries for and with the living, climate justice is essential. This requires a reimagination of humanity’s ontology vis-a-vis the natural world. To rethink the living through a socioecological transformation, we must transform our conceptualisation of humans in nature.

The repeated underwhelming results of successive Conference of the Parties (COP) have left many people in the Global South wondering if there is still a point to these gatherings. Civil society networks feel that the corporate capture of the event is in fact complete and total, and countering that hegemony to allow for real change may eventually mean ditching the COP for more radical alternative spaces. We spoke to Aïssatou Keita, an activist from Senegal about this subject.

Magdalena Mwapinga farms fruits and vegetables. She had always looked forward to farming and began as soon as she completed her university degree. When she started farming at Mlandizi in the Pwani region (Indian coast) side of Tanzania, she never imagined that she would have to deal with the impacts of drought because the River Ruvu has always had a lot of water.

Residents of eThekwini municipality (which encompasses Durban and surrounding areas) in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa shall remember the month of April 2022 for a long time. Starting on Saturday April 9, heavy rain pummeled the city and, a few days later, on the night of Sunday 10 April 2022, eThekwini received over 300 millimeters (30cm) of rainfall in the space of 24 hours. In other words, it received more than a month’s worth of rain in one day.

In line with the current pace of global warming and rate at which glaciers are melting, the United Nations’ (UN) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) adjusted sea-level predictions to a new high-end risk scenario where global sea-level rise is projected to hit 2m by 2100 and 5m by 2150. What does it mean for a city like Cape Town?

In March 2019, the eastern parts of Zimbabwe were pummeled by heavy downpours and strong wind gusts as Cyclone Idai made landfall. The cyclone tore down thousands of homes and schools, caused many fatalities and led to loss of infrastructure and livelihoods. The damage was unprecedented. Two years later, survivors are still struggling to rebuild their lives.

An architect shares her experience and the challenges of being a part of the design team of Africa’s first 'Living Building Challenge Certified Green School in Paarl, South Africa. The school is the third to be established in a network of Green Schools around the globe. 

Unlike traditional schools where issues of climate change and the environment only come up in a handful of lessons, Lynedoch is unique as it prides itself in implementing a Montessori-led curriculum which focuses on imparting learners with knowledge on sustainability practices.

In the past six years, the Western Cape in South Africa has been experiencing droughts and water shortages, which have affected people and particularly farmers. Angus McIntosh, whose farm is situated on 126 hectares of irrigated pasture at Spier Wine Estate near Stellenbosch, is using sensitive smart-agricultural practices to cope with these climate change catastrophes.

The effects of climate change are now more visible than ever, but nowhere more so than in Malawi where many know little to nothing about it. Questions are now being raised on why the country is being hit on so many fronts by drought, lower crop yields and cyclones, and what the authorities are doing for mitigation and adaptation.

Their organic farming and water conservation measures help in climate change mitigation and adaptation, but they are not receiving support from the government and investors.

From samples of an organism that grows to just over two millimeters in length, zooplankton scientists in Namibia have, over two decades, collected evidence which confirms that waters within this part of the southeast Atlantic Ocean had been warming since the 2000s. Yokany Oliveira spoke to a local zooplankton scientist about these microscopic organisms and the breakthrough research on ocean warming.

Between October 31 and November 12 2021, world leaders, civil society and climate activists met in Glasgow, Scotland for the 2021 United Nations Conference of the Parties Conference, more commonly referred to as COP26. Mercy Malikwa recently caught up with Julius Ng’oma, National Coordinator for Civil Society Network for Climate Change in Malawi, to get his take on the much-hyped conference.

Namibia is known for searing heat, punishing droughts and sand dunes. Despite this harsh reality and a growing salinisation problem, some people are determined to start a food sovereignty movement in the country.

Namibia is one of the most arid countries in the world, with a high rainfall variability that makes it no stranger to drought. As the climate changes, the planet becomes warmer and drier, making arid countries even more susceptible to drought. The year 2013 was declared the driest year of the last three decades.

Dorah Marema has been working on climate issues for decades. She started one of the first grassroots environmental movements in South Africa and today, she advises local government authorities on how to adopt climate-smart policies. She believes that Africa in general and South Africa in particular need to be doing more right now, including in international negotiation processes like the Conference of the Parties, in order to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change.

An initiative of the RLS West African office called Delta climate school took place in both regions of Senegal (Kaolack and Dakar) between the 3rd and the 8th November 2021. The concept brought together stakeholders working in the environmental space for a number of days (mostly one week) to consolidate the efforts put in place by the climate justice focal points set up in five Senegalese counties (Casamance, Delta Saloum, Bargny, Mboro and Saint Louis) earlier this year.

The encroaching sea has wiped out many communities along the Senegalese Atlantic coast. Salinisation is also making it impossible for rural communities to grow rice, a staple food in the area. Some people are fighting back. They are planting trees, changing diets and alerting the world to the changes that are already happening right now in Senegal.

Residents of the small town of Hammanskraal have been angry with their government for a long time. The cause of their anger: lack of clean water - in fact, lack of any water. For a very long time, they have been spending a big chunk of their earnings buying water from supermarkets. Now, they are ready to ditch their government and vote for anyone who will finally resolve their water headaches.

Scientists, indigenous people and activists have long warned about the devastating consequences of the hyperconsumerist logic that mankind has adopted in a world of finite resources. Now, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2019) we are currently living the effects of a human-induced 1.1o increase in global temperatures with an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

Subron Ashok of Mauritius’ Centre for Alternative Research and Studies is feeling buoyant on the one-year anniversary of the MV Wakashio accident, a major oil spill in Mauritian waters that led to an unprecedented demonstration of popular ecology – a term coined after the clean-up campaign launched to deal with the oil spill. Since the spill, Ashok has seen hundreds of thousands of Mauritians rise up to demand better environmental protections, something that gives him hope for the future.

Ayanda Kota and his Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) have grown tired of fighting a raft of service delivery issues from the sidelines - water shortages, drought, sewerage problems, unemployment, waste disposal, etc and so, for the first time ever, the UPM is joining forces with other Makana residents and civil organisations in a coalition known as the Makana Citizen's Front (MCF) to contest the next municipal elections.

Southern Madagascar is reeling from a prolonged drought and nowhere is this more apparent than in Ambovombe-Androy, the administrative capital of Androy, the most southerly region of the country where almost the entire population is suffering acute hunger and famine, known locally as Kere.

Cattle may be the last act for some of humanity’s first people, the Ju|’hoansi. This picture essay tells the story of the Nyae Nyae Conservancy. Located in remote northeastern Namibia, close to the Botswana border, the 9000km2 Nyae Nyae Conservancy is one of the last two remaining San lands. Because of this land, the Ju|’hoansi San still practice hunting with bow and arrows and are able to maintain their culture. But the world’s oldest culture is now under threat from pastoralists.

Ayanda Kota is a very busy man these days. He has become a household name ever since his Unemployed People’s Movement (UPM) joined forces with other local businesses and activists to take his city’s municipality to court for dereliction of duty.

As people around the world recognised and celebrated World Environment Day 2021 we wondered why efforts to address the climate crisis are not yielding any major victories. We believe that the missing link in ongoing climate actions is the non-recognition that climate change is a social issue.

As dam levels drop in Botswana, dam outflow has been reduced to a minimum due to weather extremes caused by climate change. The country’s dams are no longer able to generate enough water for consumption, leading to the trucking of water and posing health risks to the residents of Molepolole. At the same time residents are battling a water and wastewater tariff increase forecasted for June 1st, 2021.

Between 2008 and 2019, Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, lost 784 hectares of wetlands to structural development, representing a loss of almost half of the city's total wetland hectare. For a city predominantly relying on underground water, the statistics are a major blow when considering that the water sources are recharged from these delicate spaces. However, the process of reclaiming these fragile spaces has seen the poor facing punishment while the rich were spared.

The Namibian government introduced a three-year fishing ban on sardines and pilchards in 2017 to save these fish from becoming extinct. While the damage has been done from overfishing, there are also concerns over how economically unstable the sector has become for workers over the years, as fishermen and factory jobs at the country’s coasts remain in question.

Harare City authorities often run out of water treatment chemicals. But their solution to this problem could worsen an already dire water situation in another suburb and destroy the environment.

Dr. Victor Munnik is an associate researcher at the South African-based environmental justice NGO “Groundwork“. He has worked on their reports, covering coal issues and South Africa’s greenhouse gases emission hotspot, Mpumalanga. As a political ecologist, Dr. Munnik specialises in water quality. The researcher and academic also collaborates with the Water Research Commission, mostly on civil society issues. He works directly with activists and communities, many of them in Mpumalanga Highveld.

A deep democracy Agriculture Green New Deal (AGND) in South Africa is long overdue. It is time to prioritise the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the land question.

It is time for an Agriculture Green New Deal (AGND) in South Africa. It is time for a great transformation, one that factors the social, economic and environmental dimensions of the land question and not just market considerations.

Would you be okay with your government auctioning your country’s wildlife to save it from drought? And would you be okay with them doing so without consulting you?

Many communities in South Africa use coal as a source of energy. Daveyton, a township East of Johannesburg, is amongst one of the communities that rely on coal for personal and private use by local businesses and  street vendors.

Clean drinking water is an inalienable human right and easy access to it has resulted in many communities taking it for granted. For the residents of the Temba township (South Africa), however, access to the precious resource remains elusive. This is because Apies river, the main water source which is meant to sustain the communities water needs, has been degraded to the point where the water is not fit for human consumption.

It’s been over six months since the world turned to the coast of Namibia where more than 7000 starved cape fur seals were discovered dead. But it’s not just seals that are dying, whales and dolphins have also been spotted dead or emancipated along the country’s coast probing scientists to look further into climate and human-related factors that are threatening marine life.

In Malawi the government is failing to fund proper climate change mitigation and adaptation activities. This is worsening environmental degradation in Mulanje District where charcoal and timber business is thriving among poor people who do not have alternative sources of livelihoods.

Climate change is an increasing reality for the rooibos-dependent town of Wupperthal in South Africa’s midwest. The slightest increase in temperatures means a great loss of income for rooibos farmers who are the descendants of the Khoisan community in the remote town. For one local farmer, climate change has been an ongoing and evident phenomena over his lifetime.

Tanzania has been facing climate change affected weather abnormalities for more than ten years now. And it is the ordinary people that are most vulnerable to these extreme weather conditions, especially children. This is the story of Faidha, a sixteen-year young girl from Dar e Salaam whose house is washed away yearly by heavy floods, making it difficult for her to follow her dream to become a pharmacist.

Experts say climate change requires farmers to innovate around production techniques, so they can sustain their livelihoods. Zimbabwean smallholder farmers turn to drought-resilient crops to counter the effects of climate change.

Namibia is one of the countries in Africa that are most severely affected by climate change, resulting in the already dry country becoming warmer and dryer. This leads to decreasing rangeland productivity and farmers being more vulnerable because droughts are more frequent and severe every year. That being said, if farmers change their mind-sets towards adopting sustainable practices, like regenerative agriculture, they can create resilience to the ever-accelerating effects of climate change.

Every year Malawi experiences devastating weather induced by climate change with some districts receiving little to no rain at all. For a country that relies on rain-fed agriculture, the impact is substantial. In the southern region district of Nsanje, drought during the rainy season negatively affects a majority of subsistence farmers in the area.

Since 1987, the waters of the Saloum Delta in Senegal’s Atlantic Ocean front have been rising rapidly, with severe consequences for communities along the shoreline. Up to one kilometre of shoreline has disappeared under water, taking with it many villages, forests and vegetable patches. In many instances, people who lose their homes are forced to leave at very short notice. The Senegalese government has been offering very little support to victims of coastal erosion.

Senegal, like most African countries south of the Sahara, is struggling with an unprecedented crisis caused mainly by persistent climate change. The effects of this phenomenon can be seen in increased temperatures, rising sea levels, growing greenhouse gas emissions, ecosystems degradation and drop in agricultural production which threaten the livelihoods of communities that are dependent on agriculture and fishery. The ocean front is also changing dramatically.