By Melody Chironda
Chacha and Mbumila delivered a clarion call to action for African youth, urging them to rise up and become the protagonists of change during an interview with. Their words, brimming with passion and conviction, echoed the urgency of the moment, urging their generation to rise up and claim their rightful place as changemakers.
"The summit shows that African countries are committed to finding solutions to the climate crisis. By working together, they can develop solutions that will help the entire globe. These solutions must address the three main challenges of climate change: pollution, biodiversity loss, and rising sea levels," said Chacha.
"For example, Kenya has taken the commendable initiative of adopting a carbon credit system. This is a groundbreaking move that other countries can learn from," he added."African heads of state have issued a declaration on climate change, and all countries are committed to implementing its terms. This is a positive development that could help to make progress on this global challenge.
"In fact, 17 of the 20 countries in the world that are most severely affected by climate change are in Africa," he said."We had to make a statement that Africa does not want to be victims of climate change, but rather champions of climate action." "The third thing I noticed was the need for accountability. Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank, spoke about this and emphasized that we, as African Youth Climate Champions, need to champion a tracking system to track all the promises that are made. This is the only way to hold leaders accountable, as there have been many promises made in the past with no delivery.
"For example, farmers who are experiencing low crop yields may not realize that this is due to climate change. The changing rainfall patterns that are causing the low harvests are a direct result of climate change. The first thing that we need to do is to raise awareness in the community about climate science and how it is affecting them. Once people understand the science, they will be more likely to take action to address climate change," he said.