The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) through its Agroecology and climate change working group has convened a civil society organisations debrief and strategic consultation meeting in Addis Ababa, bringing together 42 participants from 16 African countries.

 The two day meeting, taking place on January 28 to 29, 2026 creates a critical space for collective reflection on the outcomes of COP30 and for shaping a coordinated African strategy toward COP32.

African civil society participation at COP30 in Belém, Brazil was strong and diverse yet the final outcome texts did not meaningfully recognize agriculture food systems or Agroecology within adopted decisions.

While political momentum around adaptation and climate finance continued to grow, locally led approaches such as Agroecology remained insufficiently reflected in global commitments.

The meeting is therefore designed to unpack these outcomes in depth, consolidate lessons learned from African engagement at COP30 and identify key advocacy gaps that must be addressed in the coming negotiation cycles.

Participants will examine developments related to the global goal on adaptation, climate finance, the Just transition work programme, national adaptation plans and the stalled agriculture negotiations under the SSJWA track, with a focus on how African priorities and community driven solutions can be more effectively advanced in formal climate processes.

A central focus of the discussions will be strengthening coordination between African civil society organisations, national policymakers and members of the African Group of Negotiators, to ensure more aligned, strategic and technically grounded engagement in future COP processes.

 The consultation will also explore how African CSOs can deepen collaboration with governments and regional institutions, enhance their collective advocacy capacity and secure stronger positioning for Agroecology as an African led adaptation pathway within national and global climate frameworks.

Over the two days, participants are expected to develop a shared interpretation of COP30 outcomes, build a clearer understanding of negotiation dynamics and jointly design a unified roadmap guiding Africa’s advocacy efforts toward COP31 and COP32.

The process aims to strengthen readiness among civil society actors to influence climate policy spaces while reinforcing partnerships that elevate African voices and community realities in climate decision making.

Climate Change experts report that 70 percent of the global disasters are caused by climate change.

They argue that climate change has caused increased heat, drought, insect outbreaks among others, in turn these changes have made wildfires more numerous and severe.

The experts added that the warming climate has also caused decline in water supplies, reduced agricultural yields and triggered heat- related health impacts.

Speaking to the media, Prof. Josephine Ngaira, climatology from Masinde Muliro University said that 70% of the global disaster is caused by climate change which brings out things like landslides, diseases, droughts that bring starvation.

“The food insecurity in the Country and it is because of climate change,” she said, adding that the majority of the Kenyans of the global population, 40% live below the poverty line.

She added that Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology has partnered with Kenya Redcross and Bungoma County to do intensive research on climate change.

 Jane Mukonambi, Bungoma County climate change director said that climate change is a phenomenon that is affecting the world at large that needs researchers to put their heads together to find the mitigation measures.

“Climate change is something that has created negative impacts both human lives and animals globally that is why we have come up with this partnership to see how we can mitigate it,” she said.

In Bungoma, the director noted that they have a legal registration in place where they have come up with the county climate change policy and the County finance policy.

She added that the county also has the climate change funds act that will foresee how the issue is going to be funded in the region.

Mukonambi noted that the county government of Bungoma has boarded MMUST and Redcross so that they can help in carrying out research on the climate change issues.

“We have to bring other partners in place to help us do research to help address the climate change issues in the region,” she said.

To ensure that the community also understands about climate change, the director noted that the County has formed climate change planning committees in all the 45 wards in Bungoma that will share the information on climate change to the grassroots.

She pointed out that the county also has the climate change steering committee headed by the governor to oversee the funding modalities towards climate change in the county.

She added,” We shall not only work with Masinde Muliro University but also bring on board other Institutions that will help in doing research and informing the public,”

The climate expert said that the research shall be done at the University level and it will also give an opportunity for other researchers to do it.

She said that the county has prepared the County climate change action plan 2023-2027 that has captured all the actions that should be done by the key players adding that the plan will be launched.

Dr. Ferdinand Nabiswa, from Masinde Muliro University said that there is an upsurge of the jiggers in the region affirming that it is a clear indication of climate change.

On his part, Bungoma governor Kenneth Lusaka reiterated the county’s commitment to proactive measures against climate change and its repercussions, demonstrating an amplified dedication to climate resilience and endorsing sustainable practices as a means of mitigating the impacts of climate change, in line with the stipulations of UN sustainable development goal 13.