African environmental movements

Citation

Steyn P (2022) African environmental movements [Africans saving Africa themselves]. In: Grasso M & Giugni M (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Movements. Routledge International Handbooks. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, pp. 109-122. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367855680-9

Abstract
The contemporary environmental movement in Africa is a diverse movement that consists of tens of thousands of smaller scale environmental organisations working across the continent on a variety of environmental issues in an attempt to address current and future environmental, social and economic problems and challenges. It is in many respects a young growing movement that emerged in the post-Cold War period, though its roots date back to the conservation movement of the colonial era. The colonial-era conservation agenda continued well into the independence era, and the contemporary African environmental movement build upon, reacted against and greatly expanded on what had come before. It is currently predominantly occupied with brown environmental issues such soil, water and air pollution, lack of basic services, and the impact of global climate change on African livelihoods.

Keywords
Africa, environmental movements; climate activists; environmental activists; environmental change; NGOs; environmental policy and practice;

People

Dr Phia Steyn

Lecturer, History