Unlocking Africa’s Resilience: Putting People, Finance and Justice First

Community promoting Analog forestry practice in Kikandwa (Mityana district, Uganda).
Photo: Kikandwa Environment Association

At dawn in northern Mozambique, fisherman Joaquim Langa pushes his canoe into waters that no longer behave the way his father once knew. “The sea is angrier now,” he says, recalling how cyclones in recent years have erased mangroves that once shielded the coastline (UNEP, 2023). Each season brings higher tides, unpredictable storms, and shrinking fish stocks. 

Joaquim’s story mirrors that of millions across Africa living at the frontline of climate disruption—where adaptation is no longer optional, but a daily necessity.

For Africa, the forthcoming seventh UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, from 8 to 12 December 2025, comes at a defining moment: How can it advance sustainable solutions while navigating mounting debt, persistent climate shocks and urgent socio-economic demands?

UNEA-7 will take place under the theme "Advancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planet” .

A triple crisis squeezing development choices

The IPCC Sixth Assessment Report notes that Africa is warming faster than the global average, with climate shocks eroding up to 15% of GDP annually in some regions. Yet many countries spend more on debt servicing than on health or climate resilience (AfDB, 2022). With growing populations demanding energy, jobs and basic services, governments are forced into impossible trade-offs.

At the same time, across the continent, people are demonstrating what resilience looks like in practice.

People-led solutions pointing the way

In Ethiopia’s Tigray region, community-led terracing has helped restore degraded hillsides and revive food production (UNCCD, 2021). In Benin, women-run solar cold-storage hubs reduce food loss and emissions (IRENA, 2023). South African youth cooperatives are turning waste into value, strengthening a circular economy model central to the African Green Stimulus Programme.

These local solutions prove that sustainability is not an abstract aspiration—it is a practical pathway to improved livelihoods.

Finance reforms will determine Africa’s trajectory

Africa receives less than 12% of the adaptation finance it needs (UNECA, 2022). To scale people-centred solutions, UNEA-7 must stand in support of accelerating fiscal reforms consistent with the Bridgetown Initiative (a proposal to reform the world of development finance, particularly how rich countries help poor countries cope with and adapt to climate change), including:

• State-contingent debt instruments, such as hurricane and climate-disaster clauses, which pause payments after shocks, have already been tested in Caribbean nations.
• Climate resilience bonds supported by Multilateral Development Bank guarantees, lowering borrowing costs for adaptation infrastructure.
• Reallocation of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) through African institutions like AfDB to expand concessional finance.
• Domestic reforms—phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, adopting fair carbon pricing, and incentivising circular industries—implemented with social safeguards.

These instruments can unlock the fiscal space needed to prioritise adaptation, ecosystem restoration, clean energy and social protection.

Sustainability must advance, not compete with, development

Africa’s environmental and development agendas are inseparable. Clean energy expands economic opportunity; nature-based solutions protect coastlines and livelihoods; circular economy models create jobs; and climate-smart agriculture stabilises food systems. These pathways align with the AU Climate Change and Resilient Development Strategy (2022–2032), which places people at the centre of resilience.

A message to UNEA-7

As Joaquim prepares for another uncertain day at sea, he offers a quiet hope shared by many across the continent: “We just want to live with the sea, not fight it.” Africa has the innovation, the knowledge and the will to build a resilient planet. What it needs is fair financing, strategic reforms, and global partnerships that match its ambition.

For Africa, UNEA-7 is a moment to lead—and the world’s moment to act.