AllAfricaNews – As the climate emergency worsens, it is more important than ever to address our environmental crisis.
The world has borne witness, firsthand, to the devastating impacts of the climate emergency as extreme events like floods, cyclones, droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires are happening more frequently and with more severity, and driving millions of people into food insecurity, water stress, poverty, and illness.
The science is clear, the climate emergency is a real and pressing issue.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s sixth assessment report sounded a “final warning” that the planet is warming at an alarming rate, and human activity is the primary cause. The world is facing irreversible damage caused by rising greenhouse gas emissions, and the changes we experience will only increase with additional warming. The IPCC report shows that human actions still have the potential to determine the future course. The comprehensive assessment of climate science published by the IPCC marshalled the work of hundreds of experts and peer-reviewed studies.
The report’s central message is this – the climate crisis is worsening, and we must act now.
Storytelling – The Key to Climate Action?
How do we support communities to take urgent climate action?
One powerful way to do this is through storytelling. By tapping into Africa’s culture of telling stories to share ideas, important information and warnings, we can raise awareness of the climate crisis, build community support for climate action and inspire people to do what we so urgently need to do.
A gathering of journalists and climate action champions convened to deliberate on the significance of storytelling in promoting climate adaptation measures in Africa. The event, facilitated by Acquire by Pin Africa, sought to foster a broader range of narratives, enabling climate information to reach African communities more effectively.
Africa is the most vulnerable continent to the climate emergency, despite contributing only 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project Africa Report. This is because Africa is in many places hot, and dry with a large population that relies on agriculture for its livelihood. Agriculture is the backbone of Africa’s economy and accounts for the majority of livelihoods across the continent that are being impacted by extreme weather events.
However, the voices of journalists from the Global North often dominate conversations about climate. This is a problem because it can lead to a narrow focus on the impacts of the climate crisis in the Global North, and it can also marginalise the voices of people from the Global South who are disproportionately affected. The panelists highlighted the importance of storytelling in driving climate action.