By Abbas Nazil
Faith leaders, civil society organisations and climate advocates across Africa have launched a new interfaith campaign demanding urgent and rights-centred climate action ahead of the 32nd Conference of the Parties, COP32.
The campaign, known as “Africa Can’t Wait: Interfaith Voices for Just Climate Action”, was launched in Addis Ababa alongside the Fourteenth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa, CCDA-XIV.
The initiative is calling on governments and climate-finance institutions to move beyond commitments and ensure climate action reaches communities facing the greatest impacts of climate change.
Across Africa, communities are increasingly confronting droughts, floods, food insecurity, displacement and loss and damage linked to climate change.
The campaign seeks to place the experiences, voices and locally developed solutions of African communities at the centre of national, regional and global climate discussions.
Organisers said the campaign would focus on four major areas, including climate finance, adaptation, resilience and loss and damage, renewable energy and clean cooking, as well as restoration and nature-based solutions.
They are particularly calling for climate finance to reach local communities and support locally led initiatives instead of being restricted by complex systems that make access difficult for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
ACT Alliance General Secretary Rudelmar Bueno DeFaria said faith networks across Africa were already supporting communities to adapt to climate change, strengthen resilience and implement practical solutions.
He said the campaign would help transform the experiences of faith actors into collective evidence that could demonstrate what just climate implementation looks like at community level.
Norwegian Church Aid Advocacy Programme Africa Programme Director Guro Almas said many solutions to Africa’s climate crisis were already being developed by African communities.
She said the priority should be ensuring that those solutions receive the resources required to expand their impact while strengthening the voices of faith leaders, young people and affected communities.
Laudato Si’ Movement Executive Director Lorna Gold said climate action should not be viewed solely through emissions targets and environmental indicators, arguing that it was fundamentally about protecting life, human dignity and the common home.
Faith actors are already involved in renewable energy initiatives, protection of land and water resources, community resilience and responses to climate-related disasters.
Tinashe Gumbo, Programme Executive for Ecological Justice at the All Africa Conference of Churches, said faith-based organisations were often among the first responders when communities experienced droughts, floods, landslides and other climate-related emergencies.
He said commitments made by developed countries needed to be matched with concrete implementation that could protect vulnerable communities.
GreenFaith Africa Regional Programme Manager Pius Oko said African communities should have a meaningful role in shaping decisions on climate finance and solutions rather than being invited to international climate meetings only to describe the damage caused by climate change.
He said the campaign would bring together faith voices and community experiences to ensure African realities and locally led solutions are reflected in international decision-making.
The initiative recognises faith communities as leaders, advocates, implementers and trusted partners with extensive links to communities across the continent.
Organisers intend to use advocacy, public mobilisation, storytelling, media engagement and evidence generation to strengthen an interfaith climate movement across Africa.
At the centre of the campaign is a target to mobilise one million signatures in support of the just and rights-centred implementation of climate action.
The signature campaign will seek to unite faith communities, women, young people, civil society organisations, climate-affected communities and other groups around demands for climate action and accountability.
Organisers are also calling on policymakers, development partners, businesses and citizens across Africa and beyond to support the campaign.
The mobilisation is expected to continue as campaign partners build momentum towards COP31 and COP32.
For the organisers, the campaign is intended to ensure that climate commitments move beyond conference halls and policy documents into tangible finance, protection and practical action for communities already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate.
