Agriculture, forestry and other land uses together account for about 62% of Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, land degradation, deforestation and biodiversity loss are eroding Africa’s resilience.
But land – especially agriculture – has been on the margins of climate change initiatives. Even at the annual global climate change conference, land hasn’t featured much.
This is changing. In September 2025, Africa’s climate community met in Ethiopia, to agree on the continent’s climate priorities ahead of this year’s global climate conference, COP30. They agreed that land could be Africa’s most powerful tool in tackling climate change.
