Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate has used a new Al Jazeera interview to argue that Africa is paying a heavy price for a climate crisis it did not create, calling on major polluters to be held accountable and on global climate discussions to stop leaving the continent out.
FAKTA
- Vanessa Nakate is a Ugandan climate activist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, appointed by UNICEF on 15 September 2022.
- She appeared on Al Jazeera’s “Talk to Al Jazeera” programme in an episode titled “Africa is not responsible for climate crisis: Activist Vanessa Nakate”, published around 28 September.
- Her message: Africa bears the consequences of a crisis caused largely by others, yet is often excluded from climate discussions.
- She said major polluters should be held accountable for their role in the climate crisis.
- Nakate founded the Rise Up Movement to elevate the voices of African climate activists and a project installing solar panels in rural Ugandan schools.
Vanessa Nakate: Africa must not be left out of climate talks
In the interview, Nakate argues that progress on climate action has been slow and that Africa is frequently left out of the conversations where decisions are made. Her case is one of climate justice: the continent contributes little to the emissions driving global warming, yet faces droughts, floods, food insecurity and displacement on the frontlines of the crisis.
She says those responsible for major pollution should answer for their role — a call that echoes the long-running demand from developing countries for the historic emitters to pay for loss and damage already being suffered.
A voice shaped by frontline experience
Nakate began her activism in January 2019 with a lone climate strike on the streets of Kampala, inspired by Greta Thunberg. She rose to international prominence in 2020 after a news agency cropped her out of a photograph with white climate activists at the World Economic Forum in Davos — an incident she said showed how African voices are erased from the climate debate.
Her UNICEF appointment in 2022 followed a visit to the Horn of Africa, where she witnessed children suffering from the worst drought in the region in 40 years. UNICEF notes that of the 33 countries where children are at “extremely high risk” from climate impacts, the top ten are all in Africa.
Hopelessness — and reasons to continue
The programme description presents Nakate as sometimes feeling hopeless about the pace of change, yet encouraged by grassroots initiatives that give her a reason to keep going. Her account combines criticism of slow, exclusionary climate politics with recognition of the work happening from the ground up.
Her message to the international community is threefold: bring Africa into the discussion, hold major polluters accountable, and recognise the local solutions already being built across the continent.
Read more climate stories at Watan News, and watch the full episode on Al Jazeera’s Talk to Al Jazeera. See also UNICEF’s profile of Vanessa Nakate.
