On Africa Day, we reflect on the African Union's theme of ensuring sustainable water availability and sanitation systems, recognising these as vital for economic transformation and climate resilience. This article explores the interconnected challenges of climate change and community agency in Africa's development.
This Month, we celebrate Africa Day on the 25th of May which the African Union (AU) has themed “Assuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to Achieve the Goals of Agenda 2063.”
This theme elevates water and sanitation to a continental political priority, recognising them as catalysts for economic transformation, climate resilience, public health, food security, and regional stability – all of which remain at the mercy of how we navigate the climate change and the just transition.
Whilst African countries are amongst the least historic producers of global carbon emissions, we remain the most vulnerable to and impacted by climate change in multiple of ways including water stress, damaging agricultural harvests, affecting lifestyles, and amplifying gender and other dimensions of inequality.
For many of our communities, particularly rural and traditional communities, climate change is not a distant or abstract concept.
