African Women are here, Again!
Demands adopted at the Africa Climate Summit 2 – Gender Day, Addis
Ababa,
7 September 2025
We, African women and girls, the custodians of the land, nurturers of life, keepers of our communities, and guardian of knowledge, have gathered here
today, for the second time to assert our collective and resolute commitment to safeguard our continent, our countries, our communities, and our planet
from the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. We are gathered here to demonstrate our power and leadership and claim our rightful place in decisionmaking
processes.
Collectively, we refuse to be confined within colonial boundaries, and we are here as Africans to assert and embrace the ideals of Pan-Africanism. We
stand together in our diverse identities, representing women from the hills and mountains to those from the savannah and islands, women from farming
to pastoral communities, from government to civil society, and academics, encompassing the young, the old and those with differing abilities. We recognize
that patriarchal social structures, exploitative economic models, and existing political structures, with their colonial legacies, disproportionately affect us,
underscoring the urgent need for every voice to be heard and every struggle to be acknowledged and amplified. We are here to do just that.
In this space, on this day, we send a clear and resounding message to our African governments, the African Union, and their allied institutions: African
women’s voices should NEVER be an afterthought. We refuse to be tokenized, brought in to adorn panels, or utilized to fulfill inclusivity quotas. African women
constitute the majority of the people on this continent; therefore, climate debates, discussions, decisions, and actions must be led by us, for us, and with us, not dictated by corporations or so-called developed imperialist partners and their agencies. The systematic exclusion and marginalization of African women’s voices and their agenda on their own land by their own institutions is unacceptable. We stand here, organized at the margins of this summit for the second time, to demonstrate our concerns and to hold the global North
and climate polluters accountable. African women are watching them closely. The only role they should have in the Africa Climate Summit here in Addis is
to commit to fulfilling their responsibilities, providing their fair share of grant financing, and refraining from promoting destructive market-based schemes in
the name of climate solutions.
For those who still doubt the reality or severity of the climate crisis, we are here to share the stories of how it is affecting African women, our societies,
our livelihoods, our well-being, and our economies today. It affects our health, our cultures, our heritage, and our traditions. The struggles of young women
in small island communities, women small-scale farmers grappling with unpredictable weather patterns, women living with disabilities in the face of
climate emergencies, or women residing in urban poor communities are stark testimonies of the impacts, losses, and damages experienced today, on this
continent. The voices of these communities must be at the center of the climate summit agenda.
For those who assume that African women are mere helpless victims waiting to be rescued by white missionaries, we are here to assert and own our complex
realities. Yes, we are among the most affected by the climate crisis, and yet, we are also the creators of real, sustainable, and gender-just climate solutions.
Today, we amplify these solutions, from our knowledge of maintaining seed systems, biodiversity, and soil nutrients for regenerative urban farming to
women-led renewable energy enterprises. African girls employ modern technologies to raise awareness about the climate crisis and promote recycling.
We are equally here again, to offer well-crafted, evidence-based analyses and framing of the state of the climate crisis in Africa, accompanied by practical
and ambitious policy solutions designed to address the climate crisis and its intersecting challenges.
As we gather here, our collective demands are clear: