The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) has urged African leaders to prioritize sustainable development through people-centered renewable energy highlighting the need for eco-friendly solutions that protect ecosystems and support local economies.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos, Mr. Anthony Akpan, President of the PAN African Vision for the Environment, set an agenda for African leaders in preparation for the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 29), which will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, this November.
He said a shift to renewable energy within Africa must be supported as a priority before exporting Africa’s resources for the Global North’s transition.
“Renewable energy projects must be socially owned and benefit 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,” he said.
Akpan demanded an end to waste colonialism, stressing that Africa was not a dumping ground.
“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 to disposal,” he said.
He urged African leaders to demand solutions that would address migration and climate-induced displacement, climate debt, reparations, and economic reforms.
According to him, African governments must embrace food sovereignty by prioritizing local food crops over cash crops and promoting seed preservation methods that resist Genetically Modified Organisms.
Philip Jakpor, Executive Director of Renevlyn Development Initiative, supported these calls, stressing that African farmers must lead the charge in finding solutions to the climate crisis.
“The voices of African farmers and rural communities must be at the forefront, as they are most impacted by climate disruptions, which threaten food security and livelihoods,” Jakpor said.
He highlighted the outcome of the African People’s Counter COP (APCC) meeting in Senegal, where grassroots communities shared indigenous agricultural practices that have proven effective in building climate resilience.
The APCC demanded that African governments embrace food sovereignty by prioritizing local food crops over export-oriented cash crops, promoting traditional seed preservation methods, and resisting Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) that undermine local biodiversity and farmers’ control over their production systems.
Ms. Elvira Jordan, Media Advisor at the Community Development Advocacy Foundation, called for an end to fossil fuel exploration across the continent, which has left agricultural lands degraded and communities impoverished.
“The oil spills and mining activities have devastated our farmlands, rivers, and fisheries, depriving communities of their sources of livelihood and contributing to food insecurity,” she said
She therefore called for immediate rehabilitation of degraded landscapes.
The joint demands, supported by organizations like the Sustainable Research and Action for Environmental Development and Environmental Defenders Network, emphasize that African nations must prioritize agroecology and sustainable farming practices that restore soil health and increase farmers’ resilience to climate change.
GAIA and its partners also called on the Global North to fund the transition to sustainable agriculture as a form of climate debt repayment, stressing that African nations have contributed the least to the climate crisis but are bearing the brunt of its impacts.
“We reject false solutions like large-scale monoculture, carbon trading, and corporate-driven land grabs, which exacerbate environmental and social inequalities,” Akpan concluded.
With the agenda set for COP29, African leaders are urged to push for a just climate transition that secures food sovereignty, prioritizes smallholder farmers, and ensures that Africa is driven by people and nature, not profit.