Women climate justice activists have warned against what they called false solutions imposed on Africans by international institutions and multinationals.

Development Diaries reports that the activists raised the concern at a two-day conference on feminist approach to climate financing in Nairobi, Kenya.

They called for ‘real’ solutions to the impact of the climate crisis in Africa.

It is understood that activists from Kenya, Zambia, Tunisia, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda expressed concerns about supposed adaptation and mitigation measures forced on Africans, calling them ‘false solutions’.

Data from the African Development Bank (AfDB) shows that Africa is the most vulnerable continent to climate change despite having contributed the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions.

Chief Economist and Vice President of the bank, Kevin Urama, had said in November 2022 that the continent had been losing from five to 15 percent of its GDP per capita growth because of climate change.

According to him, collectively, African countries received only $18.3 billion in climate finance between 2016 and 2019.

Climate change poses systemic risks to the continent’s economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods.

Speaking at the two-day conference in Nairobi, the Executive Director of Akina Mama wa Afrika, Eunice Musiime, said while Africans feel the real impact of the climate crisis, they deserve real solutions.

‘If financing for climate mitigation and adaptation is coming in the form of loans, it means you are compounding the debt crisis’, she said.

‘The African continent has contributed the least to the climate crisis, so there is a need for a differentiated responsibility’.

The African Women’s Climate Adaptive Priorities (AWCAP), in a report, said African women make up above 50 percent of the population of the continent, and rural women are at significant risk of being adversely affected by climate change.

In other words, climate change aggravates the disadvantages that African women face in their daily lives.

Development Diaries calls on African governments to boost activities that increase opportunities for women in transitioning to a green economy and promote gender-sensitive perspectives in adaptation to climate change.

Photo source: Africa Progress Panel