BY OBASA IDRIS OLUWANISHOLA
In Africa, faith-based groups are becoming powerful allies in the fight against climate change, leading efforts to protect the environment and build sustainable communities.
Across the continent, churches, mosques, traditional faith communities, and interfaith organisations are mobilising millions of people to embrace climate-conscious lifestyles, protect natural resources, and support vulnerable communities affected by climate-related disasters.
While governments, development partners, and environmental groups continue to drive climate policies and programmes, experts argue that Africa’s faith communities retain a unique advantage – trust, moral authority, and extensive grassroots networks needed to inspire behavioural change and community action.
The question, however, is how effective these organisations have been in helping Africa achieve its climate goals.
In an interview, Deaconess Funmilayo Agbeja, a member of the Apostolic Church at Ilesa in Osun State, said that Africa remained one of the world’s most religious continents, with Christianity, Islam, and indigenous belief systems shaping the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people.
According to her, religious leaders influence public attitudes and values, as they are well positioned to encourage environmental responsibility, sustainable consumption, tree planting, waste reduction, and climate justice.
“Many churches and mosques now dedicate sermons, seminars, and youth programmes to environmental protection, linking stewardship of nature with spiritual responsibility.
“Environmental advocates say such messages often resonate more strongly than conventional awareness campaigns because they appeal to people’s moral and religious convictions.
“Across Africa, several faith organisations have incorporated climate action into their humanitarian and development programmes,’’ she said.
In the same vein, Mr. Tewaney Seifesllessie, Head of Peace, Advocacy and Ethic Development Senior Climate Advisor, Ethiopian Orthodox Church Development and Inter-Church Aid Commission, said the forest that belonged to the church was promoting climate action.
According to him, the commission is currently working in advocating and conserving some hotspot areas with various interventions at the forest in Ethiopia.
“With this programme, special attention was given to 71 church forests defiantly deliver input for carbon capture storage served as a means of mitigation reducing greenhouse gas emission.
“The church through its theological reflection advocacy strategy sequestrated millions of lbs C02 yearly.
“The major interventions to protect the forest from being encroached are creating alternate clean energy for 1,201 households rely on fuel wood; accessed solar and biogas energy.
“Key value chains were promoted on horticulture, agro-forestry, and beekeeping for 12,500 youth and monastic communities to increase the resilience of production systems,’’ he said.
He said the programme planted 25 million indigenous tree seedlings next to the churches which were produced in 23 forest nursery sites which were owned by youths and monastic communities as a means of income commencing from 2016.
Seifesllessie added that the programme promoted intensive agriculture for more production with limited area of land through eight small scale irrigation schemes next to the forest so that farmers could able to produce three times a year rather than encroaching the forest to get more product.
“Capacity building interventions were conducted for forest users to reduce climate change risks, and vulnerabilities; the program proved to create resilient community in the targeted areas; totally with this program 350,000 people were directly benefited.
“As Ethiopia prepares to host COP32, this presents a timely opportunity to showcase the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church`s centuries-old tradition of environmental stewardship and faith-based climate action to both national and international audiences.
“The church forest model is a unique example of how faith, biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and community engagement can work together to protect creation and contribute to global climate solution,’’ he said.
He said that population growth happened with the last 100 years declined the forestland because of deforestation.
According to him, a century ago, forests covered about 40 per cent of the total landmass of the country now about three per cent.
Of this three percent of natural forest coverage, church forests are the major ones in the northern and central parts of Ethiopia.
In his submission, Mr Moses Baluku, a Climate Beyond Borders Caravan (CBBC) Participant from Uganda, told NAN that climate change had intensified drought, flooding, desertification, food insecurity, and displacement across Africa.
The CBBC, an initiative of the Planet, People and Peace Foundation, is a pan- African, youth-led campaign promoting climate action, across-borders cooperation and green economic transformation across the continent.
Baluku, who is the CBBC General Secretary, said the faith-based organisations often become first responders during emergencies by providing food, temporary shelter, medical assistance, and psychosocial support to affected communities.
“Beyond emergency response, many organisations help farmers adopt climate-smart agricultural practices, diversify livelihoods, and improve water management. Such interventions strengthen community resilience while reducing vulnerability to future climate shocks.