Voices

Women take on climate change in Zambia

Zambia is being hard hit by climate change, which is causing more frequent and severe droughts, flash floods and changes in the growing season. One of the reasons Zambia is so vulnerable to climate change – particularly droughts – is because 300,000 hectares of trees are being lost to deforestation each year because of charcoal production.

A treasure of untold stories

My name is Lydia Wanjiku, CEO at Lensational. I joined Lensational in February 2015 after learning about it through a tweet by Hivos International about an organization empowering women using photography. I will tell a story of visual stories, and how these are told through the eyes of many women at the frontline of climate change.

Making global climate finance work for local solutions

How to mobilize climate finance is one of the key recent debates sparked by the climate crisis. The first step is to recognize that not all countries bear the same responsibility for the crisis, nor are they equally able to respond to it. This means that those countries which have contributed most to the climate crisis are obliged to provide financial resources to assist developing countries implement climate action plans. But this is just the supply side: the way finance is mobilized. The way the money is spent is more complex. How best to distribute (enough) climate finance justly and equitably is a tricky question. One that’s at the heart of climate justice. Let’s get to the bottom of it!.

Young Kenyan activist fights for climate justice

Julius Mbatia is a young Kenyan climate activist. He has been pushing for years for policies that will reduce the impacts of climate change that are forcing many people in his country to earn less, live in poverty, and go hungry.

Telma and her Indigenous community fighting for the Amazon

In Brazil, Telma heads the Union of Indigenous Women of the Brazilian Amazon (UMIAB), an organization that champions the rights of Indigenous women. Her community lives on the Mangueira Araçá lands in the Amajari region, where the climate crisis is a cause for deep concern. “We have been fighting for years to preserve our territory and to protect the Amazon rainforest from mining and pollution. Now we have to fight against climate change,” she sighs

Yuliana campaigns for the climate with saplings

Yuliana travels through Indonesia with the innovative action group Geng Motor Imut to raise awareness about climate change and sustainability. The effects of climate change are noticeable wherever she looks. “The weather is getting warmer, water reserves are drying up, the rainfall is erratic, and droughts last longer. This year in Kefa City it’s been intensely hot. Just five years ago, it tended to be cool from the afternoon until morning. But now, it’s hot all day,” she says.

Endeavour to protect land and marine environment

Climate change directly threatens people's livelihood, with substantial impacts on local community. While indigenous people are uniquely vulnerable to climate change, they are leading the way in innovative adaptation work, using traditional knowledges and novel approaches.

Miti tree nursery in Nyeri County

Michael Waiyaki is the founder and CEO of the Miti Alliance, a registered social enterprise in Nyeri County, Kenya. Besides aiming to plant five million trees by 2025, their work is focused on educating the current and next generation of conservationists.

Planting mangroves by the sea

Joyce Koech, Co-founder of the Blue Earth organization explains in the video below how her organization is combatting climate change by planting mangroves near Mombasa.

Greening drylands in Magadi

Mana Omar is the founder of Spring of the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SASAL) in Magadi, Kenya. SASAL is a non-governmental organization that works with pastoral communities to build climate resilience in these dry areas.