Africa must make polluters and mineral extractors contribute to the cost of climate change as the continent grapples with increasingly unpredictable rainfall, water shortages and mounting pressure on food production, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has said.
Wetang’ula said African countries needed to move beyond international declarations and establish sustainable financing mechanisms to fund climate adaptation, environmental restoration and protection of communities increasingly exposed to extreme weather.
“We need to commit and punish climate polluters. We are on our own,” Wetang’ula said.
He was speaking in Nairobi on Wednesday during a meeting with a delegation from the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), which is engaging stakeholders on a proposed Model Law on Climate Change for Africa.
The Speaker called for stronger continental laws governing natural-resource extraction, arguing that revenues generated from mining and other activities should help finance climate resilience rather than leave affected communities to bear the environmental costs.
“It should not be left to individual countries to decide what to do with some of our heritage,” he said.
The proposal comes as African countries face a widening gap between the resources needed to protect communities from climate change and the funding available to implement adaptation measures.
The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that developing countries will require between $310 billion and $365 billion annually by 2035 for climate adaptation, while international public adaptation finance stood at $26 billion in 2023.
Wetang’ula argued that Africa should complement its demand for international climate finance with domestic revenue mobilisation, including dedicated levies on environmentally damaging activities and allocations from mineral extraction revenues.
He also proposed consideration of an African Climate Change Fund that would provide predictable financing for climate-related projects across the continent.
“We have the will, laws and treaties, but remain an island that is helpless,” he said, calling for a financing framework that would translate climate commitments into practical interventions.
The Speaker said the effects of changing weather patterns were already being felt in rural communities, where traditional knowledge used to guide planting seasons was becoming less reliable.
“We grew up in rural areas, and our parents, who never had formal education, could predict weather patterns. Today, you cannot predict them. Planting seasons have changed,” he said.
He also raised concerns about diminishing water sources, saying streams that communities had relied on for years were increasingly drying up during prolonged dry spells.
“90 percent of our streams are now seasonal. They dry up for more than four months a year. This is a nightmare,” he said.
The claim was not independently verified during the meeting.
Hon Euphreme Outata, Vice-Chairperson of the PAP Committee on Agriculture and leader of the delegation, said African countries needed legislation that would translate climate commitments into enforceable policies and practical interventions.
“Africa is paying a heavy price for climate change. We need proper taxation of those extracting our minerals,” Outata said.
He said revenues from mineral extraction should be ring-fenced for climate interventions, including measures to protect vulnerable communities from environmental shocks.
The proposed Model Law seeks to provide African Union member states with a common legislative framework covering climate adaptation, mitigation, climate finance, loss and damage, carbon markets and public participation.
Wetang’ula said Kenya, as host of the United Nations Environment Programme, had an opportunity to champion continental cooperation on climate action.
He cited tree-growing initiatives and river rehabilitation efforts as examples of programmes requiring sustained investment.
However, the proposed financing model faces the challenge of balancing domestic revenue mobilisation with calls for greater international support, particularly for African countries with limited fiscal space.
While taxation and mineral revenues could provide additional resources, they are unlikely to bridge the adaptation financing gap on their own. International grants and concessional financing will remain important in helping vulnerable countries respond to climate risks without worsening their debt burdens.
Wetang’ula said African countries should strengthen their capacity to finance their own priorities before approaching international partners to demand greater support.
“We created the Pan-African Parliament to save Africans. There are certain things we can do as Africans before going to the international arena to make our case,” he said.
