Vanessa Nakate says Africa is paying a high price for a crisis it did not create

Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate says Africa is paying a high price for a climate crisis it did not create, according to the description of an Al Jazeera Talk to Al Jazeera programme published on 28 September.

Nakate is a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. The programme description says she believes progress has been slow and that Africa is often left out of discussions about the crisis.

She says major polluters should be held accountable. Her argument places responsibility for climate action alongside the experience of a continent that is paying for a problem it did not create.

The description also says Nakate sometimes feels hopeless. At the same time, she is encouraged by grassroots initiatives, which give her a reason to continue looking for progress.

The programme presents her message as a call for a fuller climate discussion: Africa should not be left out, those responsible for major pollution should answer for their role, and local initiatives should be recognised as a source of hope.

The description places these points together rather than treating them as separate concerns. Slow progress and exclusion from discussions are part of the problem she identifies, while accountability and grassroots work are part of the response she describes. Her mixture of hopelessness and encouragement gives the programme a picture of climate politics that is difficult but not without reasons to continue.

Her account therefore combines criticism of the pace and scope of the response with recognition of work taking place from the ground up. The featured image is a licensed landscape from South Africa, not a portrait of Vanessa Nakate. It is used to illustrate the African environmental setting and is not presented as a picture of the activist.