Africa

Throughout Africa we see problematic environmental issues like climate change, deforestation, improper waste management, desertification, water pollution and land degradation due to human activity. There is an increase in drought, monsoons, flooding and food insecurity.

This has threatened the livelihood of people, species and ecosystems. We are calling on everyday citizens to rise up and come together to engage the public, educate people about the environment, and act to make positive and sustainable changes to protect the earth that we all live on. Earth Day is not a day, but a movement.

Interested volunteers, organizations, schools and institutions are encouraged to empower one another and come together to act before, during and after April 2020. The 50th anniversary of Earth Day has the bold ambition of becoming the largest environmental movement to occur across Africa. Though the environmental challenges are enormous, individual voices can unite and act to build a movement that is large, connected, and impossible to ignore.

Earth Day Network currently has staff members on the ground in 9 different sub-Saharan countries across the African continent, including Niger, Senegal, The Gambia, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

Aside from these countries, we have volunteers in other sub-Saharan countries and hope to engage all of Africa in the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

We are partnering with organizations such as African Wildlife Foundation, Global Youth Biodiversity Network, Environmental Conservation Network, and Waterkeeper Alliance. Institutions such as Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies are among the universities that are committing to do something for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

This is a grassroots campaign being led from the bottom-up by volunteers. People from all walks of life are challenged to come together, form networks and establish Earth Day campaigns that best suite the needs of their communities. We also engaging youth groups, schools, universities, non-profits, faith-based organizations, women’s groups, conservation/environmental organizations, business, and government bodies. The key is to form networks and partner with one another to develop celebrations for Earth Day!

What can you do

• Choose from one of our campaigns or develop your own environmental projects to celebrate.
• Organize or volunteer in a cleanup.
• Work with schools to educate and interact with students on environmental issues.
• Develop citizen science campaigns.
• Plant trees.
• Start a recycling campaign.
• Organize rallies/marches with university students and local leaders.
• Be creative and do something!