Short Abstract

This panel reframes climate justice in Africa, focusing on locally led, climate-just approaches that transcend adaptation to drive systemic socio-ecological transformation. It highlights indigenous knowledge, reparations, and African agency for generational justice and sustainable futures.

Description

Climate change poses urgent and multifaceted challenges for Africa, disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities despite the continent’s minimal contribution to global emissions. This panel critically reframes climate justice in African contexts, moving beyond adaptation and resilience toward transformative socio-ecological change grounded in justice. Centering African agency and indigenous knowledge systems, Papers will explore procedural, distributive, retributive, and generational dimensions of climate justice. The panel will examine local and regional examples of climate-just initiatives that integrate reparations, community leadership, and ecological restoration to challenge global inequities and foster systemic change. Discussions will highlight the role of marginalized groups, especially women and youth, as innovators and frontline defenders of environmental sustainability and social justice. Drawing on movements like the African Climate Change Human Rights Advisory application, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance efforts, and feminist climate justice leadership, the panel underscores how African-led frameworks offer novel pathways for holistic transformation. It aims to provoke critical reflection on achieving climate justice that strengthens sovereignty, equity, and sustainability within Africa’s development futures. The panel invites papers that will contribute to reframing climate action debates through a justice lens reflective of African realities, histories, and aspirations for transformative futures.

This Panel has 1 pending paper proposal.
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