The first Africa Climate Summit, held in Kenya from Sept. 4 to 6, concluded with African leaders adopting the Nairobi Declaration on Climate Change. This declaration is expected to form the basis of Africa's negotiating position at the upcoming 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP 28. Yet the lack of emphasis on sustainable food systems for Africa, and particularly regenerative agriculture such as agroecology, is a cause for worry and a missed opportunity.
The Nairobi Declaration's call for major polluters and global financial institutions to do more to assist lower-income countries should be applauded, as well as its strong call for international financial institution reforms and a variety of new global financing to fund climate action.
However, African governments must go beyond recognizing the need and asking for financial mobilization to take strong climate action. It is past time for African governments to acknowledge that the situation is so dire and critical that wasting time, money, and political will on futile, reductionist, and speculative fixes is no longer an option.
About the author
Bridget Mugambe
Bridget Mugambe, program coordinator at the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa, is a social scientist who leads the agroecology and climate working group at AFSA, which represents more than 200 million farmers, pastoralists, fisherfolk, Indigenous peoples, faith groups, women’s movements, youth, and consumer associations across 50 countries.
