Are you a young person living in Africa and want to take action contributing to a pro-environmental change?

You are unsure what to do best due to the complexity of the environmental crisis and the multiplicity of options? This Toolkit is for you - developed by young environmental leaders and activists across Africa! In this toolkit, you find information and guidance on how you can engage and lead pro-environmental change on four different levels (without necessarily requiring a lot of resources or time): an individual, local & national, international, and social-media communication level.

One of the major challenges our society currently faces is the triple planetary crisis, referring to the three interlinked issues: climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven the dramatic health risk, environmental destruction and biodiversity loss can cause, given the high interconnectedness between environmental and health emergencies (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2018).

In the aftermath of this pandemic, we must not fall back to business as usual but rethink habits and structures causing this environmental crisis and actively engage in pro-environmental change. In 2015, 192 countries signed the Paris Agreement in 2015, a legally binding international treaty to limit global heating to 1.5 - 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels. Unfortunately, current commitments are not enough to reach these Paris targets.

A high inequality can be observed across countries in their contribution and suffering in relation to the environmental crisis. Many high-income countries produce more global ecological damage than low-income countries (Ritchie, 2018). Nonetheless, it is often low-income countries which are disproportionately impacted by climate change. You can read more on how the environmental crisis affects our lives in Africa in Info Box 1. We in Africa, the largest young population in the world (over 400 million young people aged between 15 and 35) have the power to contribute to pro-environmental change and shape the future we will be living in.

The Global Environmental Outlook for Youth - Africa makes clear that Africa’s sustainable future can be bright if we all work together hard on a sustainable change. While science is clear that the environmental crisis is irreversible, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report shows that there are at least 8 reasons to remain hopeful and take action! Many political leaders have already acknowledged that we have many essential skills to protect the environment: We have the energy, idealism, creativity to transform the ingrained societal structures imperative for innovation and we have not (yet) been shackled to the comfort of habits and systems.

What to find in the Toolkit and where?

In Chapter 1, you will find a range of inspiration on how you can engage in more pro-environmental behaviour at home. We refer to pro-environmental behaviour as “behaviour that consciously seeks to minimise the negative impact of one’s actions on the natural and built world” (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002, p. 240).

Chapter 2 provides you with tips and ideas for actions you can take to promote sustainable behavioural change in your community (neighbourhood, school, college, or university) and country. It also informs on the UN Initiative: Green Jobs for Youth Pact. In Chapter 3 you can find guidance on how to contribute to sustainable change at the African regional and international level such as in the UN system or in Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). In Chapter 4, we provide step-by-step guides on how to effectively use different social media platforms to raise environmental awareness