Nairobi, Kenya — Young people across Africa are calling for more than just empty promises from global leaders on climate change.
The African Youth Climate Assembly (AYCA), under the theme "African-led Solutions to Global Challenges," has served as a rallying point. It has drawn attention to the unique climate-related vulnerabilities faced by African countries and highlighted the region's substantial contributions to global climate solutions.
The AYCA released a youth declaration at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit, calling for African youth voices to be heard, embedded in policy frameworks, and given a crucial role in mitigating and adapting to the climate crisis through innovative and sustainable solutions. With a deep understanding of the repercussions of climate change on their own lives, communities, and the well-being of future generations, young people across Africa are taking action and speaking out.
The youth declaration, presented to Kenyan President William Ruto, called for the assembly to be established as the principal forum for consolidating and coordinating youth engagement and climate governance in the continent and beyond. They also called for the acceleration of the establishment of a Global Green Bank and ensuring that African youth and children, as well as their interests, are well represented in the bank. Additionally, they called for the establishment of the UN youth office, in line with the UN General Assembly resolution, and that the youth office be in Africa. Finally, they called for the institutionalization of youth participation in climate-related decision-making, both at continental and national levels, to facilitate youth contribution to the continental climate change action agenda.
Kenya's Environment Cabinet Secretary Soipan Tuya acknowledged that the manifesto created some creative and innovative concepts on how young people should not be bystanders in the discussion and action on the climate emergency in Africa and beyond.
She said; "As you go back to your different countries, let us use the misfortunes that climate change has handed us, such as the floods, droughts, and unreliable weather patterns, to jolt us into action and innovation. Let us imagine green jobs and find ways to make ourselves employable by exploring green technologies. Let us go down in history as the generation that harnessed the wave of climate change extremes and created green jobs, explored the low-carbon development pathway, and contributed to global sustainable development and African development."
"I promise, from my end and together with your Excellency and colleagues from around the world, that we will use our policy space to carry forward the aspirations of this declaration. We will start by taking it to the African Ministerial Conference on Environment, which I will co-host, and then to any other forum that is available to me and the Government of Kenya, under the leadership of His Excellency, the President. We believe that youth climate action is the hammer and anvil that will take Africa toward sustainable prosperity," she added.
Climate Change Fueling More Frequent, Severe Weather
Extreme weather events such as floods, storms, droughts, heat waves, and wildfires are becoming more frequent and more severe. The effects of climate change can be devastating, especially to young people and children.
Scientists repeatedly warn that the climate has reached a point of no return, yet not enough has changed.
Africa has the youngest population in the world, with over 400 million people between the ages of 15 and 35. This demographic has the potential to be a major force for sustainable development and resilience on the continent. However, they are also the most vulnerable to the effects of the climate emergency. The crisis is having a devastating impact on children around the world. Children are not only traumatized by weather-related events, such as storms and floods, but also by the knock-on effects of climate crisis, such as displacement, poverty, and loss of livelihood. As the climate emergency worsens, young girls are being given away in marriage to stave off poverty. Essential services such as water, sanitation, healthcare, nutrition, and education are becoming increasingly limited for children in climate-vulnerable communities.
A study published in the journal Science found that children born today will face a much greater risk of experiencing scorching heat waves than their grandparents did. "They will live to experience twice as many wildfires and tropical cyclones, three times more river floods, four times more crop failures, five times more droughts, and 36 times more heatwaves than a person born in 1960," according to the study. There is "a severe threat to the safety of young generations", according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and the study calls "drastic emission reductions to safeguard their future," adding that "the cost of adaptation to climate change for Africa could be as high as U.S.$50 billion by the end of 2050".
The World Bank predicts that the climate crisis could push up to 132 million people in Africa into extreme poverty by 2030.
Youth urged to take center stage in climate crisis fight
President Ruto, speaking at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi, during the Africa Youth Climate Assembly 2023, called on young people to take a leading rightful position in the fight against climate change. Ruto said that young people are a powerful force that cannot be ignored and that their voices need to be heard at the highest levels of decision-making. He also announced plans to include a youth representative in the African Union (AU).
"We will ensure that the next summit of the AU has youth, not as attendees but with a statement on what they think the outfit should do," he said.
Ruto stressed the importance of accurately valuing Africa's carbon assets. He called for the establishment of a carbon market that is aligned with global pricing standards so that Africa can receive fair compensation for its carbon emissions reductions.
"Africa has huge renewable resources that are not yet captured in its asset books... We are not going to take peanuts. Our carbon assets must account for our assets and must be valued correctly," he said.
"We need to drive a new narrative for our continent. It is our responsibility. Africa is not a poor continent, it's not a separate continent, we are a rich continent, we need to properly value our assets."
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Investing in youth
African Development Bank (AfDB) President Akinwumi A. Adesina said that the youth assembly is a major development for Africa. He believes that Africa's youth have the ideas, creativity, perspectives, innovations, and entrepreneurship that are needed to drive economic growth and development. He added that the youth are the biggest equity on the continent.
The president of the AfDB said that Africa's youth need investment, not empowerment. He explained that they need a lot of financing and that financing agriculture is the fastest way to do so. He pointed out that the biggest business in the world is the business of food, and warned that the biggest risk on the continent is not investing in young people.
Adesina also said the AfDB launched a Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB), which will create a business financial system that is tailored to the needs of young entrepreneurs. The Youth Entrepreneurship and Investment Bank project aims to help mitigate these issues by providing financial and non-financial services for young entrepreneurs, ensuring inclusion, reducing vulnerabilities, and preparing for long-term sustainability.
"We need to create youth-based wealth," said Adesina. "Why must we be the museum of poverty of the world."
To this end, Adesina announced the launch of a new U.S.$1 billion initiative to finance youth-led businesses and startups across Africa. The capital infusion will empower young entrepreneurs and create jobs, wealth, and opportunities for the continent's future.
