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Paper short abstract

Reclaiming climate futures in Southern Africa: Ubuntu-driven solidarity shifts responses from adaptation to transformative justice, centering local agency & challenging global inequalities."

Paper long abstract

In Southern Africa, climate impacts exacerbate historical injustices, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. While mainstream climate discourse emphasizes adaptation, this paper argues for transformative change rooted in ubuntu—a relational ethic of interdependence. Drawing on Zimbabwe’s climate struggles, it examines how grassroots movements reframe climate justice as a struggle for dignity, equity, and self-determined futures.

The paper interrogates:

- How ubuntu-informed practices challenge individualist, technocratic approaches to climate change.

- Ways local solidarities address intersecting crises (climate, poverty, colonial legacies).

- Tensions between global climate frameworks and community-led transformative agendas.

- Potential for ubuntu to reshape climate governance and partnerships.

By centering African futures and ubuntu as epistemic anchors, this paper advocates for climate justice that disrupts dominant narratives, redistributes power, and reimagines development as collective liberation. It highlights how ubuntu-driven solidarity can shift responses from adaptation to transformative change, centering local agency and challenging global inequalities. This approach may foster more inclusive, resilient futures aligned with Southern Africa’s needs. The paper concludes by exploring implications for policy, partnerships, and praxis, emphasizing ubuntu as a lens for reimagining climate justice in Africa.