The African Climate Justice Group has released a statement calling on African governments and institutions to respond urgently to the climate, health and Covid-19 crises facing the continent.
The statement has, to date, been endorsed by more than 300 African and international organisations and individuals.
As of August 6, the organisation is starting a week of action, kicking off with a mail storm to key continental institutions including the United Nations Environment Programme, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the African Development Bank Group, the World Health Organisation Africa Region, subregional institutions and national governments.
The group said the Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and is exacerbating existing inequalities in the globalised neoliberal and patriarchal socioeconomic system.
“Cascading social and economic crises are developing and, across Africa, a major food crisis may be looming as informal markets are shut down and African livelihoods are being impacted. Along with this, the climate crisis continues to ravage the African continent and so many parts of the world.
"Both the Covid-19 and the climate crises are human-made, rooted in the way our political and economic systems driven by the lust for profit, treat the Earth and her people,” the organisation said.
Its call for action includes an initial set of demands, including supporting essential services, food, water and healthcare systems; reorganising the economy and supporting and redistributing care work; stopping all fossil fuel and extractive projects and preserving human rights; stopping austerity, stopping the debt crisis, accepting funding support as grants and not loans; and recognising climate debt.