COP27: African political leaders call for action to stop young people’s “futures being stolen from them”

Uhuru Kenyatta, the former President of Kenya, led demands to grow a new green economy to transform Africa as was announced as the Giants Club’s first Climate Change Champion at a special event at the climate change conference at Sharm El Sheikh

Sierra Leone’s minister speaks at COP27 (OP)

African political leaders today warned that the future of young people on the continent risked being “stolen” unless urgent action was taken to ensure opportunities delivered by a new green economy were adopted across the continent.

Speaking at a special event at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) hosted by the international conservation charity Space for Giants, the audience at the Children and Youth Pavilion was warned that no group is more disenfranchised by climate change than young people, and especially the young people of Africa.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who recently left after two terms in office, said: “While there were positive noises made at COP26 last year, it is quite clear that the global community, especially wealthy nations, have taken a step backwards from their commitments. The war in Ukraine has, perversely, incentivised more oil and gas exploration rather than encouraging the transition to renewable, green, energy. Self-preservation stands in the way of saving humanity and saving our children, from the greatest existential crisis in our history.

“I have been heartened by the legitimate voices of indignation expressed by the global south at this COP, especially the voices from Africa and those from small island states. There is no group that is more disenfranchised by climate change than young people, and especially the young people of Africa. You can be rightly angry about the futures that are being stolen from you.”

He stressed that Africa does not need to wait on assistance from the governments of wealthy nations. Rather, he told the audience, the continent can engage directly with companies that control the world’s trade and drive the consumption that is contributing to a warming planet.

He continued: “The restoration and management of Africa’s great tropical forests, our savannas, our swamps, our mangroves, our coral reefs, and all our natural ecosystems avoid and remove carbon emissions from the atmosphere, helping to combat climate change and the species extinction crisis. And by happy coincidence these interventions create nature-based carbon credits, which are hugely coveted by those who want to offset their emissions.”

Prof Lee White, Gabon’s Minister of Water, Forests, the Sea, and Environment, charged with Climate Change, SDGs and Land-use Planning said: “On the African continent, climate change is a question of life and death. Twenty-two million people in Africa risk starving to death because of the change occurring right now. And the science tells us that with all the small commitments being made here we are still heading to a world that is 2.5 degrees warmer, and I would not be surprised if by Dubai we are told it is three degrees.”

He stressed that Africa could nevertheless be part of the solution to this problem. Gabon is in the process of using its forest conservation to generate carbon credits, because they absorb and store the gases that would otherwise contribute to global warming. Minister White said that his government has as a result calculated that carbon could become as much as 20 per cent of the country’s economy. “I believe that is the case for many countries in Africa,” he told the audience.

Dr Mary Goretti Kitutu, Uganda’s Minister of Karamoja Affairs, stressed that present CO2 emissions from Africa were negligible but warned “the impacts that we are feeling are so enormous.” It is, she said, the “youth who are going to bear the brunt of what it is to come. She continued: “It is the youth who are going to bear the brunt of what is to come. Know that we are doing will affect you and will affect you in future. That is why we need education. We need innovation. And we need a unified voice voice coming from the youth.”

She called on the young people present to be in vanguard of campaigning for change. But she called them on them to engage with national leaders around policy change rather than seeking solutions that were “unscientific” and could disproportionately cause economic strain on people already struggling to survive in countries like Uganda.

Professor Foday Jawad, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, said: “This COP27 summit in Egypt comes in a year when we have seen severe weather extremes, food shortages, fossil fuel price hikes and the rising cost of living. So far this year, Sierra Leone and Africa as a whole has seen floods and storms killing hundreds of people all over the continent. Meanwhile drought has caused famine for millions of people in the whole of Africa. This summit should aim to shift the focus from negotiations and planning to action on the ground. We have been talking too much for far too long. We need action now.”

He continued: “I see green finance as a driver for the next wave of growth. Africa is blessed with assets that attract green financing and carbon credit is one such asset. For example, Africa as a whole has a long stretch of coastal areas with mar groves, and Sierra Leone does so in particular. Such an asset through green financing can attract millions of dollars. That is why my country intends to introduce a carbon policy to take advantage of such green finance so as to benefit the youth and future generations.”

At the event, President Kenyatta was announced as the new Climate Change Champion of the Giants Club. The Giants Club brings together the highest levels of leadership across the political, financial, conservation and business spheres to catalyse the protection of Africa’s most important natural ecosystems for the benefit of humanity and the web of life on which we all depend. The Heads of State of Botswana, Gabon, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and Uganda are the Presidents of the Giants Club and membership is open to individuals and corporations to ensure the Club is populated by those who can make a profound difference and truly care about the cause.

In his capacity as the Giants Club’s Climate Change Champion, President Kenyatta will seek to support African governments wishing to put in place the appropriate policy frameworks and transparency to attract transformational carbon finance. It is hoped that this will help drive new investment into protecting Africa’s nature and biodiversity. Currently the market is able to meet only a fraction of the 2 gigatonnes forecasted to be required by global corporates in order to meet their net-zero targets.

President Kenyatta said: “I am proud to have taken on the role of Climate Champion for the Giants Club. Over the next year I will be working to put in place the appropriate policy frameworks and transparency to attract transformational carbon finance. Friends will empower the creation of a new African industry, a green industry, that will not only combat climate change but will also enable a transfer of wealth from the global north to the global south to offset the immorality of climate change. I look forward to working with likeminded partners in rolling out this noble initiative.”

At COP26 in Glasgow Space for Giants launched a new initiative to build the enabling environment in Africa for nature-based carbon credits in Africa. This has resulted in the creation of a new company, Green 14, which has already built a pipeline of nearly 20 projects, across 8 Africa countries, which would collectively involve the restoration of nearly 100,000 km2 of key ecosystems in partnership with government and local communities. Together these projects will aim to generate more than 100 million tonnes of carbon credits over the next 20 years and tens of thousands of jobs in rural Africa.