Africa Innovates Magazine - Flipbook - Page 4
FOREWORD
As countries face their ‘now or never moment’ for decisive
climate action, local communities across the world are
already designing and implementing an astonishing range
of cutting-edge climate action initiatives. The challenge
now is to rapidly surface and scale-up the very best of
these grassroots solutions to drive a critical mass of climate
action that will help to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees
Celsius.
This second edition of the Africa Innovates magazine is a
concrete contribution to such efforts. Informed by a range
of key actors including the United Nations Development
Programme’s (UNDP) Accelerator Labs network and
the United Nations Climate Technology Centre, the
publication pinpoints 50 leading climate action innovations
in Africa, pioneered by a range of visionaries across the
Continent including women and young people. That
includes everything from biodegradable packaging that
is extending the longevity of food products in Benin; to
an A.I. powered system that is helping farmers to manage
scarcer water resources in Tunisia. Or look to clean cooking
stoves distributed by women entrepreneurs in Kenya;
electric delivery vans partly made from recycled materials
in South Africa; and Ghana’s first-ever house made from
plastic waste.
Yet, the Continent of Africa remains the least connected
region in the world, with only around one in four people
having access to the internet.1 Led by bodies such
as the Broadband Commission, expanding access to
affordable broadband internet will be pivotal to advancing
technology-driven climate action solutions. In a wider
sense, it will also open-up potentially millions of new jobs
and livelihoods, driving down poverty and inequalities.
At the same time, many countries will need to transform
outdated systems including updating laws and regulations
and making it easier to start a business. This will provide
local innovators and entrepreneurs with the space to
experiment, to fail, and to try again.
The United Nations is at the forefront of efforts to sustain
the global surge in homegrown solutions in the wake of
COVID-19. Strategic innovation has been identified as one
of three enablers in UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025 to
scale-up development impact for our country partners and
within the organization’s own system. Putting this plan into
action on the ground, entities like the UNDP Innovation
Facility -- and the UNDP Accelerator Labs network, which
is active in 37 countries on the Continent of Africa -- will
continue to support local innovation to drive forward
new climate action solutions and progress across all 17
Sustainable Development Goals. These are vital efforts
as our window to slow climate change is closing fast with
perhaps only a decade remaining. As #FutureSmartUNDP,
we keenly understand that the greatest asset in our
collective quest to realise a net-zero future lies in
harnessing the immense power of human ingenuity.
Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP)
1
https://www.uneca.org/stories/eca-concludes-review-of-the-2022-edition-of-the-economic-report
4
SHOWCASING AFRICAN CLIMATE CHAMPIONS
