By Witness Radio team

Women’s community organizations and grassroots movements across Africa are intensifying calls for climate reparations and environmental accountability following the inaugural African Women’s Climate Justice Day, marked on April 15.

Organized by the West and Central African Women’s Climate Assembly (WCA) under the theme “Our Lands, Our Voices: African Women United for Reparations and Climate Justice,” the convergence took place across multiple parts of the continent, highlighting how women in regions like West and Central Africa face unique climate impacts such as droughts and land degradation, demanding tailored solutions.

The WCA provides a powerful space to analyze the intersecting crises affecting their communities collectively and to develop strategies of resistance rooted in climate justice, food sovereignty, and the Right to Say NO to destructive extractivist and mega-development projects that displace communities, erode ancestral ways of life, and destroy ecological futures.

Since 2022, women from across Central and West Africa have gathered annually through the Women’s Climate Assembly (WCA) — a growing Pan-African, grassroots-led platform that brings together over 120 activists, ecofeminist leaders, and community organizers to collectively build strategies for climate justice, strengthen solidarity across movements, and advance community-led resistance against harmful, destructive projects while amplifying women’s voices.

On the 15th, the Women’s Alliance on Natural Resources Governance (WANRG) led nationwide actions across four districts in Sierra Leone, bringing climate justice conversations directly to communities most affected by environmental degradation. In the West African country, Climate change has had a significant impact on agriculture, exacerbating the existing challenges of low productivity and food insecurity.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women make up almost 70% of Sierra Leone’s agricultural workforce, and FAO’s support aims to empower women to adapt to climate shocks that threaten food production and household incomes.

These impacts, including unpredictable rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts, and increasing occurrences of extreme weather events such as floods and storms, are disrupting farming activities and resulting in declining crop yields. Further, environmental concerns caused by extractive projects are adding salt to the injury.

In the eastern districts of Kono and Kenema, outreach efforts focused on women working on the front lines of natural resource management, highlighting how extractive activities and climate change are eroding livelihoods.

“Climate justice is a women’s rights issue! Across four districts, we took bold action to ensure women’s voices are at the heart of environmental protection,” the organization’s statement read.

The alliance brought together local leaders and policymakers in Bo District for a stakeholder dialogue to develop and implement gender-sensitive climate policies, with commitments to integrate women’s voices into national climate strategies and to demonstrate tangible policy support for climate justice.

“When women lead, the planet wins. We are not just victims of climate change; we are the leaders, the innovators, and the defenders of our land,” The organization’s statement highlighted. This should inspire the audience with pride and confidence in women’s vital role in climate justice.

Across the continent, similar demands were echoed. In Liberia, the Natural Resource Women Platform (NRWP) described the moment as critical, warning that climate change continues to disproportionately affect women in rural, coastal, and resource-dependent communities.

“Across Liberia and the wider region, women are experiencing the harsh impacts of environmental degradation, land dispossession, and the growing burden of sustaining livelihoods amid the climate crisis,” the organization said in a statement from Monrovia.

The group pointed to worsening coastal erosion in Buchanan, increasing urban pollution, and challenges for women farmers due to erratic rainfall and soil decline. These realities should evoke empathy and a sense of urgency in your audience to support community-led solutions.

Central to the demands raised during the day of action are calls for reparations for communities affected by historical and ongoing environmental exploitation, an end to destructive extractive practices, and greater accountability from governments and corporations driving climate harm.

These calls were reinforced by regional movements such as the Global Convergence of Struggles for Land, Water, Seeds, Forests, Savannas, and the Sea in Central Africa, which framed the climate crisis as part of a broader system of dispossession.

“Land, water, forests, and the sea are fundamental rights, not commodities,” the coalition declared, calling for the dismantling of extractivist systems and for communities to be placed at the center of decisions affecting their territories.

In Central Africa, women’s organizations are already moving from declarations to strategy. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Indigenous Women and Local Communities for Sustainable and Participatory Development (FACID) brought together civil society groups to develop joint action plans and strengthen advocacy for climate justice.

“These are our struggles, and African women across the region have come together to reflect on climate change issues. There is drought, water pollution, air pollution, and soil pollution, as well as deforestation. All these scourges of climate change are affecting the African continent.  Since we cannot work in isolation, we have established the Constituent Assembly of African Women on Climate Justice to fight for climate justice through actions that bring about solutions that serve everyone,” said Marie Dorothée Lisenga, a coordinator with FACID, adding that women are at the forefront of the fight against climate change, and their leadership must shape the response.

As momentum builds beyond the April 15 mobilizations, organizations say the focus is now on sustaining pressure through advocacy, alliance-building, and grassroots action to ensure that climate justice is not reduced to rhetoric.

“We commend the growing movement of African women rising in unity to demand systemic and transformative change. Their call for reparations is not only for compensation; it is for dignity, justice, and the restoration of lives, lands, and livelihoods,” The group emphasized. This framing should foster respect and moral support among your readers.

The African Women’s Climate Justice Day was organized by NGO partners, civil society, and community-based organizations, and allies across Africa, including Women and Development (Nigeria), WoMin African Alliance, SynDev (Senegal), Green Development Advocates, and RADD (Cameroon), among others, who hosted solidarity actions and activities.

Environmentalists have called on government to strengthen enforcement of environmental laws to curb the continued destruction of wetlands, forests and other natural ecosystems, warning that weak implementation is worsening flooding, land degradation and climate vulnerability in Uganda’s urban and rural areas.

The warning was issued by conservation advocates during a tree-planting and environmental awareness campaign in at Gayaza Junior School in Wakiso District, where stakeholders said ongoing encroachment on protected ecosystems is undermining national conservation efforts.

Enjer Ashraf, Executive Director of the My Tree Initiative, said the rapid loss of wetlands and forest cover is already contributing to environmental disasters, particularly flooding in Kampala and surrounding areas.

“The continuous flooding you see in Kampala and other areas is a result of people degrading natural resources like swamps and forests,” Ashraf said.

He noted that many wetlands and forest reserves are being cleared for settlement, industrial developments and other construction projects, despite existing legal protections meant to safeguard them.

According to Ashraf, while Uganda has environmental protection laws in place, enforcement remains inconsistent, allowing encroachment to continue with limited consequences for violators.

He warned that if the trend is not reversed, the country risks more severe climate-related impacts, including increased flooding, loss of biodiversity and declining agricultural productivity.

The environmentalist made the remarks during a tree-planting exercise at Gaaza Junior School, where more than 500 fruit trees were planted under a broader campaign promoting environmental restoration and climate awareness among young learners.

“As we plant trees to regreen the environment, the spaces where this should happen are being taken over,” he said, calling for tougher action against illegal developments in protected ecosystems.

Push for climate education in schools

Beyond enforcement, the My Tree Initiative also urged government to integrate environmental conservation and climate change education into the national school curriculum, saying early awareness is critical in addressing long-term environmental challenges.

The call was made during the same school-based tree-planting programme, which also saw stakeholders plant mango, avocado and jackfruit trees as part of efforts to establish a sustainable school orchard system.

Organisers said practical environmental education—such as tree planting—should complement classroom learning to help pupils develop long-term conservation habits.

“We believe integrating environmental aspects, including climate change, into the curriculum can help advance awareness among young people,” a representative of the initiative said.

They argued that schools provide a strategic platform for shaping behaviour, noting that children are more likely to adopt environmental practices if exposed to them early.

Private sector joins conservation push

The campaign has also attracted private sector participation, with companies pledging support for nationwide tree-planting initiatives aimed at promoting sustainability and reducing environmental degradation.

Crown Beverages Limited has launched a school-based tree-planting programme targeting more than 2,000 trees across Uganda this year, beginning with 600 fruit trees at Gaaza Junior School.

Pearl Elizabeth Kitimbo, Brand Communications Manager at Crown Beverages Limited, said the initiative is intended to promote environmental responsibility among young people.

“Planting trees is one way of addressing global warming and ensuring future generations have a better environment,” Kitimbo said.

He added that involving children in such programmes increases the likelihood of long-term behavioural change and helps extend conservation practices into households and communities.

Gaaza Junior School officials welcomed the intervention, describing it as a milestone in promoting environmental awareness and nutrition among pupils.

“This is a memorable day because we have never planted such a number of trees before,” said Mrs. Lillian Nyanzi Gwokyalya, Quality Assurance at Gayaza Junior School

She said the fruit trees will provide long-term benefits, including food supply for learners and improved school environmental conditions.

Stakeholders involved in the campaign have urged government, development partners and private sector actors to scale up similar initiatives across the country, arguing that combining enforcement with education and community participation is key to reversing environmental degradation.

They said Uganda’s growing environmental challenges require a coordinated approach that strengthens law enforcement while also promoting awareness and sustainable practices among future generations.

Source: nilepost.co.ug