That Africa is a victim of climate change is true –
BUT – it is not the only narrative.
Africa is also fully endowed with a bounty of renewable sources of energy and minerals used in clean energy technologies. With the largest young population on earth, our continent has the ancestral knowledge, the workforce, ingenuity and energy to help solve the world’s biggest problem – the climate crisis.
Climate Story Lab Africa is a convening that supports, elevates and amplifies visibility & access of African perspectives, experiences and solutions on pressing climate issues to global audiences, policy makers, private stakeholders, NGO’s, corporates and peers through compelling works of storytelling.
We are continuously interrogating the theme:
What is the climate justice narrative for Africa?
In the 2022 edition, together with our partners, we run co-curated sessions on: Climate leadership, The Doers and the dreamers, Energy justice for who? and Powerful storytelling projects being made right now on the continent in collaboration with affected communities, ranging from podcasts to documentaries to board games and Fashion installations showcasing climate-conscious engagement.
Africa is at the nexus of the world’s transition to a decarbonized economy. Fully endowed with a bounty of renewable sources of energy and minerals used in clean energy technologies. While these resources provide immense economic opportunities for Africans, the continent still remains energy poor with 600 million people still lacking access to electricity and most communities deprived of these perceived benefits. At this nexus, there are those who insist on Africa’s right to explore its God-given resources in the form of fossil fuels to meet development ambitions commensurate with population growth, while others believe we need to urgently leverage on green opportunities to unlock innovation and economic growth in hydrogen export, carbon capture and carbon credits sale.
One thing is clear, Africa with all its natural wealth is strongly poised to be on the frontline in tackling the current climate crisis.
What would a just transition, that is reflective of the realities on the continent, inclusive of the youth and concerns of African communities look like?
This session will unpack Africa’s potential to spearhead the green revolution and also acknowledge our internal weaknesses that have in the past affected our communities’ inclusion, tech and finance.
This session is curated in partnership with Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Nairobi Office Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania
These times call for courageous, visionary, innovative, unconventional thinkers and doers to lead the continent through a pragmatic green transition and transformative economic systems.
We need – leadership.
A third of the people considered most at risk of climate hazards in the world live in Africa. In areas that are vulnerable to climate shocks. It is projected that by 2050, Africa’s population will double to more than 2 billion people, with those between 0-24 years old increasing to nearly 50 percent, making Africa the continent with the largest young population. By that same year, 86% of the world’s extreme poor will live in Africa.
In the face of such mind boggling statistics, post pandemic inflation, heightened inequity and climate crisis, what kind of a leader (s) can we trust to steer the continent into a transformative and just future? Is the current brand of leadership capable of meeting this moment?
This session will paint a profile of the leader(s) we must demand, that we must become, to generate ideas, policies and ways of thinking that allow us to collectively build equitable, lucrative and inclusive systems that centre our communities success.
This session is curated in partnership with Saracen OMD
At the onset of the first wave of COVID 19 outbreak, Africa defied many dire predictions that foretold the doom and gloom that would befall the continent. The success was largely credited to community engagement in the response that saw low infection rates. Majority of this population live in urban centres with a median age of 19 years old.
Meet the bright, resilient, agile young people in Africa.
They have their heads in the clouds and their feet on the ground, with 60% of them under the age of 25. This group is made up of the geniuses of our time, the round pegs in square holes, exceptional solutionists, activists, social innovators and techies who are disrupting the state quo with innovations that are solving climate problems at the community level and at scale. From circular economy, to green transport to hydro powered mini grids to early warning weather systems, they are innovating and they need capital to scale and to launch their start ups.
We need policies that articulate an African green deal that is inclusive of this demographic.
This session will interrogate why Africa is lacking in capacity and tech required for the green energy revolution, despite a young and tech savvy population with several Africa countries leading in fintech. How should we be re-skilling the youth for these opportunities?
Join the conversation as these champions discuss their latest innovations, ambitions, fears and green opportunities for the youth of Africa.
This session is curated in partnership with Treeco Fund
We need a multitude of new stories made by different communities, aimed at different audiences, and made in different ways. Stories that reflect experiences, perspectives and realities of the climate justice narrative we envision for ourselves on the continent.
We believe in the intersectionality of the work we do as artists and storytellers by collaborating with scientists, policy makers, civil society, community organisers and activists for a just and equitable future, because through the power of storytelling, we change narratives, norms, conversations and culture.
In this session, powerful climate story projects and fashion installations will be pitched. They are compelling works of art done by brave storytellers in collaboration with communities on the frontline of climate change.
Come ready to learn and support this work to get made, get seen by the audiences that matter and achieve the intended impact.
This session curated in partnership with Doc Society
Boubé and his Fulani tribe prepare for the seasonal migration with his tribe, an adventure that has sparked conflict over the recent years as water and grazing shrinks due to climate change. He has a plan to approach the tensions differently this time, in the hopes of finding a new way to co-exist.
The New Boats (Chi-gie Chorga) is an investigative documentary that presents an eye opening look at the impact of International Industrialised fishing in West African waters and its disastrous effect on local communities. Sulaiman Kamara a local fisherman and Woody Backie Koroma the Public Relations Officer of Sierra Leone Artisanal Fishermen Union are passionately advocating on behalf of local fishermen and are desperately trying to prevent an environmental disaster with West African fisheries on the brink.
On the misty mountains of Mt. Mwanzo lives the H20 family. Four children Raha, Tambo, Zebbi, and Babu H20 need to join their parents, Dr & Mrs. H20 at Lake Mwisho. They need to take the dangerous journey through Mwanzo town. But this time, it’s going to be a difficult journey – the town faces deforestation, water thieves, and water wastage. You have to help this family of water drops reach Lake Mwisho with as much water as possible, and help the careless residents of Mwanzo town save water too! Time is of the essence…
Downstream is the perfect educational tool for children in upper primary grades four to six to enhance children’s knowledge in science topics such as water conservation and pollution, topics covered in the CBC and IGCSE syllabus. It is not only for children and teenagers, adults and families too will have plenty of fun as they navigate their way to lake Mwisho.
“With Grace” is a short documentary featuring a playful girl, Grace, from rural Kenya with a lot of energy, humor and big dreams!
Just like many children growing up in a small rural farm on the Eastern part of Kenya which is a predominantly semi-arid/arid area, Grace and her Family have been vulnerable to the impacts of droughts and other extreme weather patterns, hence a shortage of resources. Her family has lived as farmers in balance with nature for generations, but now climate change is threatening to destroy it all.
Through Grace’s story we are able to collaboratively make this short documentary about a playful childhood at the frontline of climate change. This is a story about climate challenges, but also about laughter, family love, hope and all the fun you can have when you have eight siblings to play with.
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