African People’s Counter-COP denounces the COP system and demands climate justice for Global South be at the centre of the climate action

From October 7th to 10th, the African Climate Justice Collective (ACJC) held the first physical African People’s Counter-COP (APCC) in Saly, Senegal. Over one hundred participants, from 21 countries, representing social movements, grassroots communities, women, youth, civil society organisations, academics, workers, and others, joined the event.

Many African voices – excluded from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties – were captured and legitimized during the gathering. It was “a moment to denounce the COP system, highlight the impacts of climate change on African communities and showcasing viable alternative solutions”, as the event’s final Declaration points out (read it below).

The APCC, whose theme was “United against systematic oppression and climate injustice in Africa”, provided a fruitful space for delegates to discuss, strategize and come up with proposals for tangible actions that can lead to just climate solutions across Africa. Various themes were discussed during the conference, from food sovereignty and the struggle against false climate solutions, as well as the impacts to the environment and local fisherfolk communities.

Evelyne Awuor, from Kenyan Peasants League (KPL), a member of LVC SEAf from Kenya, attended the conference and was glad to share stories from communities where women farmers are not invited to meetings. “I made sure to show up and share their message, thereby forcefully occupying spaces they were excluded from”, said Evelyne.

APCC has become a platform to chronicle community resilience and survival in Africa and a great opportunity to exchange ideas and dreams of a better future for all people!

Read, below, their full Declaration, written as a result of the meeting:

Africa United Against Systematic Oppression and Climate Injustice: African People’s Climate Justice Declaration

From 7 to 10 October 2024, the African Climate Justice Collective (ACJC) held the first physical African People’s Counter-COP (APCC) in Saly, Senegal. Joined by over one hundred participants from social movements, grassroots communities, women, youth, civil society organisations, academics, workers, and others from 21 countries.

The APCC recognises that African voices have largely been excluded from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties (UNFCCC COP) which has been captured by Global North states and corporations that continue to fuel the climate crises while falsely claiming to solve the causes of climate change. The APCC is therefore a moment to denounce the COP system, highlight the impacts of climate change on African communities and showcasing viable alternative solutions. This is done through knowledge sharing and activism from the most vulnerable African communities at the frontline of the climate crisis especially women and youth, activists and CSOs.

The APCC created a space where the voices of grassroots communities and activists were heard and lauded in contrast to the COP where these voices are marginalised. Delegates shared their stories of climate change impacts – droughts, floods, erosion, crop failure, cyclones, sea level rise, dust storms and threats to marine and terrestrial ecosystems compounded by resource and land-grabbing, and climate-induced conflict. These have resulted in displacement, loss of livelihoods, related losses and damages, victimisation, arrests, harassment and even death of community members and activists who defend their territories.

Due to shrinking of civic spaces in many respective countries, the APCC platform has become a platform to chronicle community resilience and survival and how geopolitics have affected Africa’s capacity to respond to climate change impacts. Several themes were discussed:

1. Food Sovereignty which highlighted the need for strengthening of agroecological practices, community forest and land management, pastoralism and local fishing practices especially for women who constitute the majority in the rural areas.
2. Just Transitions that interrogated labour considerations in energy sovereignty, the fast, fair and equitable fossil fuel phase-out, and system change as we move towards renewable energy adoption and green industrialisation for the African continent.
3. Zero Waste Systems as an opportunity for African governments to incorporate decentralised waste management practices to reduce methane emissions.
4. Climate Finance with a focus on the financial architecture needed for the just transition, adaptation and mitigation and loss and damage fund. The call for ensuring that the most vulnerable communities affected by climate change have access to the funds.

In light of the upcoming COP29 to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from 11 to 22 November 2024, African people are standing in solidarity to speak and defend the rights of Africans to a safe environment conducive to growth and progress, even in the face of climate, environmental, social, and economic devastation escalated by neoliberal architecture hosted by Global North nations.

A case in point amongst many climate hotspots in Africa, is the Saint-Louis region and the Langue de Barbarie in Senegal, facing dramatic environmental challenges: rising sea levels, coastal erosion, flooding, and salinisation of farmland. The Grand Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) project, led by transnational corporations (TNCs), BP and Kosmos Energy, is set to exploit one of the largest natural gas deposits in West Africa, located on the maritime border between Senegal and Mauritania. Although the project is presented as a vehicle for economic development, in reality it poses a serious threat to local communities, in particular the artisanal fisher communities of Saint-Louis.

Artisanal fishing which is the mainstay of the local economy supports thousands of families, and contributes to the food sovereignty of women, indigenous people and their communities. However, with gas exploitation in the waters, these fisher communities and the broader region are directly threatened. Traditional fishing grounds are now off-limits, and increasing pollution from drilling and seismic operations is seriously compromising the health of marine ecosystems. The waters, biodiversity, and natural heritage are being destroyed for the profit of a few.

In response to the presentations made, the participants at the APCC 2024 concluded that the climate crisis across Africa is cross-cutting, and re-emphasised that Africans have caused minimal contributions to the emissions that give rise to global warming causing climate change. However, due to limited climate change adaptation and mitigation capacities, as Africans, we face the majority of challenges caused by the climate crisis that ravages the continent today.

To dismantle exploitative power and impunity, the African people assert our power to relegate false narratives by promoting African solutions through the following declarations, in opposition to market and Global North-led impositions at the forthcoming COP29 in Baku.

As Peoples of Africa, we declare:

• Climate Justice Now: We demand climate justice for Global South communities at the centre of the climate action. The Global North nations who have contributed the most to the climate crisis must lead the process of cutting emissions at source, and fund the needed transitions as payment for the climate debt owed to the Global South. We denounce all forms of false solutions to climate change such as REDD+, Net zero, and Geo-engineering which further entrench the climate crises.
• End Fossil Fuel Extractions Across Africa NOW: All forms of fossil fuel exploration, extraction and production across Africa must be halted immediately. It is time to prioritize sustainable practices through people-centered renewable energy that protects our ecosystems and supports local economies. Fossil fuel companies must pay for the rehabilitation of degraded land, oceans and rivers resulting from hydrocarbon extraction.
• Migration and Climate-Induced Displacement: With increasing climate crises, many Africans are forced to migrate, risking their lives in dangerous journeys to the Global North or becoming climate refugees within Africa leading to food, land and conflict insecurities. Addressing this requires adaptation and resilience building towards climate impacts, such as droughts, flooding, coastal erosion and desertification, and ensuring that communities have the resources to remain in their homelands or relocated to conducive settlements without destroying their livelihoods, culture and language.
• Climate Debt, Reparations, and Economic Reforms: Climate reparations, remediation and compensation to the impacted peoples of Africa alongside colonial reparations, must be paid to African nations and the Global South, reflecting the scale of damage caused by climate change and historical exploitation. These reparations should be in the form of grants, not loans that further entrench debt. The APCC demands a dedicated global finance mechanism for loss and damage, with at least $100 billion in new and additional funding per year by 2030. This must be provided by countries in the global north, who bear the historical responsibility for global emissions. African countries should focus on value-added beneficiation, and strategic partnerships, that elevate Africa’s position in the value chain. There is an urgent need for structural tax reform of the current financial architecture that will plug illicit financial flows and tax evasion by transnational corporations (TNCs). The APCC firmly opposes the commodification of African forests, land and natural resources through carbon trading.
• Reform Land Laws and Promote Food Sovereignty: African governments must embrace food sovereignty by prioritizing local food crops over cash crops and promoting seed preservation methods that resist GMOs. This protection must include ratified binding policies such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas. There is an urgent need to reevaluate customary laws that empower local communities. African nations require a minimum of $15 billion annually by 2030 to finance agricultural adaptation measures, and at least $5 billion per year must be directed toward agroecological practices.
• Energy Sovereignty and Democracy for All: The transition towards renewable energy within Africa must be supported as a priority before Africa exports our resources for the Global North’s transition. Renewable energy projects must be socially owned and benefit women, youth indigenous people and local communities before industry. The transition must be grassroots-driven, ensuring that policies prioritise the well-being of people and the environment, not corporate profits.
• Stop Waste Colonialism: Africa is not a dumping ground and we are not disposable. It is therefore paramount for us as Africans to adapt to the Global Plastics Treaty which allows us to address plastic pollution across its lifecycle, from extraction to production and disposal.
• Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and Self Determination: Women, indigenous peoples and their communities’ right to FPIC need to be ratified and implemented in all extractive projects. Communities must have the right to say no or yes to development. Should communities say yes, they should dictate the terms of the project in a manner that benefits them and their environment. Compensation should be commensurate to the level of displacement and losses.
• Involve the impacted and marginalized in decision-making: Governments should develop sustainable participation mechanisms that bring women, youth indigenous people, people with disabilities and herders, fisherfolk, small-scale food producers’ voices to the policy table to create people-centred policies and real solutions that address the effects of climate change. The demands of the impacted people in their diversity must be heard and respected.
• Resilience building in Africa: Africans should rise against systematic oppression and climate injustice by sharing their resilience skills and traditional knowledge through storytelling, experience sharing, and learning and put this knowledge into practice in our African communities led by indigenous people and women. This knowledge must be respected and incorporated into other systems and processes, as it is expert knowledge.

In conclusion, the African People’s Counter COP is held because the COP has been co-opted by capitalism and the Global North which continues to replicate the injustices that caused the climate crisis. Therefore, we as the Global South, and Africans in particular, need to lead actions that remedy the climate crises in a manner that is just and holistic.

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