Mobilizing the private sector is essential to closing persistent gaps in financing, infrastructure, and innovation.  While much of this capital and innovation originates in Western or global markets, its application and value must gear towards that of emerging economies, where health systems face the greatest climate risks. Done right, this approach can protect the most vulnerable from climate-health risks while also reinforcing economic stability, reducing long-term costs, and opening new markets for inclusive growth.

Private sector engagement must therefore be framed not only as a corporate social responsibility, but as a return-on-investment opportunity: healthier, more resilient communities reduce supply chain risks, stabilize workforces, and expand consumer markets. The report outlines four key domains where private sector action can strengthen health system resilience: 

• Innovative Financing, such as blended finance, green bonds, and outcome-based mechanisms.
• Infrastructure & Technology through renewable energy-powered facilities, and scalable digital platforms and solutions.
• Risk Management & Insurance, including climate-triggered insurance models; analytics, and protection products.
• Collaborative Partnerships that align commercial expertise with public health priorities and that build capacity to ensure workforce resilience.

Despite this potential, private sector engagement remains limited by misaligned incentives, regulatory uncertainty, weak impact measurement frameworks, and structural challenges. This report presents actionable solutions ranging from policy incentives to standardized metrics and inclusive investment models—to unlock meaningful participation.

The report calls for a shift toward more practical, results-driven collaboration between sectors, with equity—especially inclusion of women, youth, and local communities—as a core design principle for health system resilience.

Learn more about our Climate & Environment sector portfolio.

The post Report: How Private Sector Involvement Can Enhance Climate Adaptation within Health Systems appeared first on Camber Collective.

Around the world, 2025 was a year of unmistakable challenges. Cuts to foreign aid and development programs brought devastating human consequences. Wars and genocide continued, and governments used the most vulnerable at home and abroad as pawns in deadly political games. 

But amidst this darkness, we also witnessed meaningful progress. Across the social sector, partners, funders, and communities stepped up to fill gaps and adapt to uncertainty. At Camber, we found ways to meet the moment and drive impact for those most affected. 

In the spring, we launched a new strategy outlining our next chapter with a focus on field-building—a discipline aimed at breaking down siloes, cultivating shared agendas and collective action, and amplifying the impact organizations have across entire fields of practice. We also achieved B Corp recertification, executed our first Internal Equity Survey, welcomed six new colleagues, and celebrated nine promotions—including bringing our colleague and Shared Prosperity lead Marc Allen into the partnership.  

In 2025, we partnered with 27 organizations around the world on 42 projects. From women’s health innovation to climate resilience to income inequality, our work touched on some of the most important issues of our time. But don’t just take it from me. Below, we highlight work from across our sectors and the meaningful impacts each project has made. 

As a team, we found joy in personal accomplishments and milestones. We celebrated Camberians’ weddings and welcomed new Camber babies. We cheered on colleagues who became certified fitness instructors, one who earned a sommelier certification, many who ran full and half marathons, one who won a poker tournament, and several who completed new degrees. Our team also deepened their commitments to board and community service, volunteered locally, and directed $30,000 in nonprofit giving to make a difference. 

As we head into 2026, I’m holding the highs and lows with equal clarity and gratitude. The highs remind me of what we can build together, while the lows show me both why our work matters and why we must persevere. 

Read on for some of our most significant accomplishments from 2025. If you want to learn more about what we do and how we might work together, please reach out. 

With gratitude,  

Brian Leslie

Rethinking Resilience: Drawing Connections Between Climate and Health 

The Brief: Public health and climate change are inextricably linked—but too often addressed in isolation. In the fall, we partnered with Gavi and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to challenge this narrative through a novel report: Protecting Our Future: An Investment Framework for Quantifying the Climate Adaptation Benefits of Health and Immunisation Investments establishes a first-of-its-kind framework that quantifies the value of health investments for climate adaptation.  

The Solution: The report was released at COP30, the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Brazil, in November 2025. Our findings highlight the often-overlooked role that health systems play in helping communities adapt to climate change, particularly around immunization.  

The Impact: The report has sparked new conversations among multilateral development banks, donors, and country actors by bridging technical evidence with advocacy and policy potential. Stakeholders have been equipped with shared language and tools to advance long-term systems change in vulnerable communities around the world.  

Read the full report here or via AIIB’s website. Additional thanks to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and our other collaborators for their support. 

Investing in Healthcare and Rural Economies: Strategic Planning for United Indian Health Services 

The Brief: Last year, we worked with the United Indian Health Services (UIHS) to help them chart a course for the organization’s future and determine how to make amplify their impact. UIHS is a coalition of nine American Indian tribes who focus on lifting up culture, community, health, and economic prosperity for their members—many of whom live in rural communities. 

The Solution: This was not a typical strategy project—it required careful and equitable systems thinking and expansive conversations across the region. We conducted research on comparable organizations, interviewed board members and community stakeholders, and laid out options to illustrate key trade-offs and strategic choices for UIHS. 

The Impact: After close collaboration, UIHS decided to establish a new foundation focused on investing in the healthcare workforce and care model innovation to improve tribal career opportunities in their rural communities. The result will go beyond healthcare—these investments will improve the health, economic opportunities, and quality of life for generations to come. 

Learn more about UIHS’s important work. 

Spotlighting Women’s Health Innovation: Pushing for Investments Around the World 

Photo Credit: Gates Foundation / Marlena Waldthausen

The Brief: For years, women’s health research and development (R&D) has been underinvested in and underrepresented, despite the $1 trillion opportunity that closing this gap represents. In 2023, we partnered with the Gates Foundation and National Institutes of Health to establish the Innovation Equity Forum (IEF), a group of more than 250 global experts in women’s health research and development. This diverse group is committed to advancing a more equitable, coordinated, and innovation-driven ecosystem for women’s health R&D. 

The Solution: We kicked off 2025 by publishing the 2024 Women’s Health Innovation Opportunity Map Progress Report, highlighting promising strides made in 2024 and areas for immediate action. In order to translate the data into action, we coordinated across the forum to develop actionable concepts to advance women’s health. Our efforts culminated in IEF’s global convening in October in advance of the World Health Summit in Berlin, bringing together more than 150 stakeholders to refine and align on these concepts and infuse them into the broader women’s health innovation ecosystem.  

The Impact: The Opportunity Map website, which launched in the fall, provides a new home for the IEF’s work and highlights tangible ways for stakeholders—from investors to policymakers—to drive meaningful advances in women’s health innovation over the next 15 years. These resources have strengthened awareness of critical R&D gaps across academia, philanthropy, the private sector, and policy circles. 

Learn more about the IEF and explore the Opportunity Map. 

Putting Data into Action: Informing Funding, Strategy, and Policy Development for Economic Mobility 

The Brief: Economic mobility is widely considered to be a cornerstone of American life – available to all who set their sights on it. But in reality, economic mobility has been declining steadily since the 1940s. Our Mobility Experiences initiative aims to support efforts across the country to ensure that future generations have the power to access opportunities that will advance prosperity and well-being for all.  

The Solution: In 2025, we converted our breakthrough Mobility Experiences research into action by equipping 15 place-based initiatives to apply the research in order to develop their strategies, mobilize capital, and improve their programs and services. We provided direct technical assistance to community organizations while also hosting broader public awareness events (like this one in Iowa). 

The Impact: Over time, our data reached more than 100,000+ people, helped inform several hundred million dollars in investments, and improved programs for tens of thousands of people. We supported 15 direct grantees to mobilize capital and improve programs improvement initiatives, and collaborated closely with key ecosystem actors like Harmony Labs and Fisher Strategy Partners to expand the reach and impact of our work. 

Explore the Mobility Experiences dashboard and this video unpacking the efforts. 

Scaling Up Health Campaigns: Improving Global Health & Wellbeing Through Collaboration 

Photo Credit: Federal Ministry of Health & Social Welfare, Nigeria / SWAp Office

The Brief: The Collaborative Action Strategy (CAS) on health campaign effectiveness is a first-of-its-kind commitment by the global health community to align in support of countries and their planning, implementing, evaluating, and financing of health campaigns in a more collaborative way. It is designed to bolster countries’ existing efforts while improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of campaigns for a range of public health issues. 

The Solution: In 2025, we helped the Health Campaign Effectiveness Coalition put the CAS into action. We supported the implementation of CAS in two focus countries, Nigeria and Ethiopia. In Nigeria, we piloted efforts in three states to integrate malaria and neglected tropical disease campaigns into the largest measles and rubella vaccination campaign in the country’s history, which aims to reach over 100 million children. We developed a customized strategy and provided hands-on support through workshops, stakeholder engagement, and project management. Our efforts culminated in a major integrated campaign in October and the official adoption of the Nigerian CAS in December. These efforts united global, country, and local stakeholders, including the Gates Foundation, UNICEF, World Health Organization, Global Fund, CBM, and Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and National Primary Healthcare Development Agency. We also coordinated closely with the Measles & Rubella Partnership, where Camber colleagues serve as the Project Management Unit, to coordinate across initiatives.

The Impact: Health campaigns are a critical way that countries like Nigeria tackle a range of public health issues, from measles to nutrition. For too long, these issues have been siloed. Taking a collaborative, interdisciplinary, and integrated approach through CAS is more cost effective, efficient, and less burdensome on communities and health workers than running separate, siloed campaigns. This is a particularly critical need given recent cuts to global health infrastructure. Through our work in 2025, stakeholders in Nigeria showed that future campaigns will be more integrated through early planning, shared calendars, strong collaboration, robust and integrated data systems, harmonized payment structures, and improved advocacy and communications. They have committed to advancing these objectives as they scale up this work across the country in 2026.

Learn more about the CAS and explore its resources.

The post Reflecting on 2025: A Year of Unmistakable Challenges and Deepening Impact appeared first on Camber Collective.

The landscape of African agriculture is intricate, situated within a blend of diverse cultures, crops, and environmental challenges against the growing resilience and innovation of African farmers. Over time, three themes have shaped this narrative: a pressing call for climate action, the quest for expanded market access opportunities, and essentially uplifting smallholder farmers from poverty’s grasp. These themes are interwoven into the daily fabric of millions, illustrating a challenging yet optimistic path towards sustainable development and food security throughout Africa.

Central to this topic is the smallholder farmer, the cornerstone of Africa’s agricultural sector and on the frontlines of our changing climate, navigating the complexities of unpredictable weather patterns, market fluctuations, and barriers to global agricultural trade. Efforts to mitigate these challenges by African nations, NGOs, and local communities have largely focused on enhancing climate resilience, broadening market access, and implementing effective poverty alleviation strategies, reflecting the continent’s rich diversity and unwavering spirit.

Amidst this evolving agricultural landscape, cassava is emerging as a beacon of hope, particularly in Nigeria, Africa’s agricultural hub. Rather than just another cash crop, cassava symbolizes a future where climate challenges are met with resilience, market opportunities are diversified, and the fight against poverty amongst shareholder farmers is more effectively waged. With its exceptional adaptability to adverse climate conditions, cassava offers Nigeria a unique opportunity to showcase how agriculture can adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Cassava also holds promise in the industrial sector, potentially becoming a key player in the emerging biofuels & biomaterials industry. From bioethanol to starches and flours, emerging cassava derivatives underscore its versatility and potential to unlock new domestic and international market prospects. This potential in Nigeria not only addresses current climate and economic challenges but also paves the way for steady economic growth, poverty reduction, and sustainable agricultural practices.

The evolving case of cassava in Nigeria represents a new narrative, charting a potential future where agricultural sustainability and the well-being of smallholder farmers take center stage in Africa’s development agenda. As the focus shifts towards leveraging cassava’s potential in Nigeria, it illuminates the crop’s pivotal role in shaping not only the present agricultural landscape but also the future legacy of agriculture on the continent.

To read the article in a PDF, click HERE

Cassava in Nigeria

Cultural and Economic Significance

Cassava holds an important place in Nigeria, not only as a staple food, but as a cultural emblem and a significant economic driver. Deeply ingrained in the nation’s cultural fabric, cassava embodies resilience, versatility, and community unity, permeating Nigerian traditions, rituals, festivals, and daily life across diverse ethnic groups and celebrating the heritage & ingenuity of smallholder Nigerian farmers. Cassava-based dishes like garri, fufu, and pounded yam are central to Nigerian cuisine and culture, serving as symbols of identity and continuity across generations. The role of cassava extends into ceremonies and local economies, often involving community-led cultivation and processing efforts that strengthen social bonds and collective well-being, while the vibrant exchange of cassava products at local markets underscores its importance not just in economic terms but as a focal point for community interaction, where stories and cultural values are shared.

As the world’s largest producer of cassava, Nigeria’s reliance on this crop is profound, supporting over 30 million farmers and marking a crucial component of the global market[1]. Beyond its role in sustaining rural economies and supporting smallholder livelihoods, cassava’s vast industrial potential—from bioethanol to pharmaceuticals—positions it as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s agricultural and industrial strategies. However, the journey to harnessing cassava’s full potential is met with challenges, including low technical efficiency and suboptimal yields[2], necessitating efforts to enhance production efficiency and improve farmer livelihoods. Cassava’s adaptability makes it a key player in food security and nutrition for millions of Nigerians[3], with its potential to influence future production, industrialization, and food supply trends. The ongoing evolution of cassava as an industrial raw material and a staple in urban households indicates its expanding role in Nigeria’s agricultural and economic landscape[4]. Addressing production challenges, enhancing value chain processes, and leveraging its industrial potential are critical for tapping into cassava’s capacity to drive economic growth, ensure food security, and uplift millions of Nigerian citizens.

By embracing cassava’s cultural significance and addressing the challenges it faces, Nigeria can underscore the crop’s role not just in agriculture but as an essential part of the nation’s cultural identity and heritage. This holistic approach aims not only at economic growth and food security but also at preserving the cultural essence that renders cassava truly indispensable to Nigeria and its people, ensuring it continues to nourish, empower, and sustain future generations.

Climate Resilience

Cassava, known for its resilience to climate changes and extreme weather patterns, can play a vital role in Nigeria’s agricultural landscape in the face of increasingly acute climate change challenges. The crop’s adaptability to conditions such as drought, heat, and poor soil quality, is attributed to its robust genetic makeup and deep-rooting system[5] . This resilience is crucial in Nigeria, where erratic rainfall patterns and rising temperatures are increasingly prevalent. As traditional crops are increasingly vulnerability to these changes, cassava emerges as a sustainable alternative, ensuring more consistent yield rates and requiring lower inputs of fertilizers and pesticides as compared to other Nigerian staples, thereby promoting more stable income and more sustainable farming practices.

Expanding Horizons through Market Access

Current Market Conditions

In the Nigerian market, cassava plays a vital role in food security and economic activity across the country, however, markets for cassava and cassava-based products face significant fluctuations across seasons and changing consumer preferences. Seasonal variations, the effects of climate change on productivity rates, and limited preservation techniques for fresh cassava create significant price, and therefore profit, volatility within internal markets[6], contributing to supply inconsistencies, waste, and unpredictable income for Nigerian farmers. In the international market, Nigerian cassava encounters strong competition from other national producers who often have advantages in production efficiency, quality standards, international trade agreements, and infrastructure capacity due to stronger economies of scale and better access to capital. Despite Nigeria’s rank as a leading cassava producer by tonnes grown, challenges in production, scaling, and post-harvest handling hinder its ability to fully tap into these international markets and establish a consistent and reliable export demand for cassava and its derivatives. Current efforts to enhance cassava production and market penetration in Nigeria have been hindered by various constraints due to agronomic, technical, and financial factors, labor shortages, inadequate extension services, and high production costs[7].

Barriers to Market Access

Smallholder cassava farmers in Nigeria face complex challenges to accessing both domestic & international markets and ultimately, achieving sustainable profitability.

On Farm Challenges

The increasingly acute impacts of climate change, including droughts, excess heat, and unpredictable weather patterns pose a new challenge for smallholder farmers with limited resources to respond and pivot to changing conditions. This causes disruptions in agricultural output, unpredictable yields, and challenges farmers’ ability to plan and make accurate predictions. Additionally, over time, these climate-related impacts, alongside limited access to resources and poor soil quality can cause conflicts over land rights, displacement, and migration to urban centers.

Consumer & Labor Limitations

Changes in consumer preferences and a shrinking labor force put increasing pressure on the cassava value chain. As consumers increasingly seek diverse and higher-quality cassava products, smallholder farmers struggle to meet these demands due to limited resources and support. Concurrently, the agricultural labor market faces reductions from rural-urban migration and an aging workforce, leading to a gap that hampers cassava production and processing. Efforts to attract younger workers and align cassava outputs with consumer expectations are essential for the sector’s growth and sustainability.

Inadequate Infrastructure

The impact of underdeveloped transportation & storage infrastructure on capital costs and post-harvest losses for smallholder farmers is well-documented. Poor transportation infrastructure, particularly in the rural areas where cassava is grown, leads to elevated transport costs, increased travel times, and a higher risk of post-harvest loss. These issues are exacerbated during the rainy season when some regions become inaccessible, isolating farmers from their primary markets. Lack of adequate storage facilities force farmers to sell their harvests prematurely and closer to home, often at reduced prices, contributing to economic losses and diminishing the quality & quantity of cassava reaching the market.

Inequitable Access to Finance & Information

For smallholder farmers, limited access to essential capital resources such as credit, market information, and physical inputs, is compounded by high transaction costs and the absence of substantial government and institutional support. Information asymmetry is also a critical institutional barrier for these growers who often lack access to vital financial & market information as well as innovations that could better inform decisions related to crop choice, harvest timing, and market selection, leading to suboptimal farming practices, market engagement outcomes, and ultimately financial stability. While a few initiatives, such as Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) are now working to enhance credit support for smallholder farmers, more attention is needed.

Strategies to Strengthen Market Participation of Smallholder Cassava Farmers

Addressing the obstacles faced by smallholder farmers in Nigeria will require a holistic approach that includes improving infrastructure, enhancing access to resources like credit and information, implementing climate change adaptation strategies, and providing tailored support in conflict-affected areas. By integrating interventions into a cross-sectoral strategy, policymakers and stakeholders can create a sustainable enabling environment for the success of smallholder cassava farmers across the country.

Challenges with Post-Harvest Loss

In Nigeria specifically, infrastructure limitations along the domestic value chain cause significant post-harvest challenges that trickle down into food security, economic development, and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. These losses, estimated at 20-30% of the cassava yield, stem from inadequate storage facilities, inefficient processing techniques, and transportation delays[8]; the highly perishable nature of cassava, with a shelf life of less than 48 hours if not properly processed, exacerbates these issues. Consequently, not only is farmers’ income potential reduced but there are also higher rates of food waste from cassava harvests, with far-reaching environmental implications due to the wasted resources like water and land.

However, minimizing post-harvest loss is not simply an issue of physical infrastructure with impacts spanning beyond physical losses. Post-harvest losses represent a significant inefficiency in agricultural resource use across Nigeria as well as a lost opportunity for income generation and livelihood improvement. Nutritionally, cassava serves as a staple food for millions of Nigerians and reduced availability in domestic markets can exacerbate nutritional deficiencies and food insecurity amongst vulnerable populations. And, traditional practices of cultivation, processing, and consumption, while culturally significant, don’t always align with modern standards of efficiency and food safety. A transition to improved practices requires not just the introduction of new technologies but also respect for cultural norms, alongside education and training to facilitate this change. By combining strategic investments in cassava processing industrialization with efforts to overcome logistical, market, and cultural barriers, Nigeria could transform this critical sector.

Industrialization as a Solution

While culturally significant, the traditional processing methods for cassava are often inefficient and lead to substantial losses. The industrialization of the cassava processing value chain stands out as a key solution, promoting the adoption of modern techniques and investment in industrial-scale facilities to extend the shelf life of cassava products, reduce waste, and enhance the crop’s overall value. Introduction of these modern processing techniques—such as mechanical peeling, drying, and grating—have the potential to drastically reduce post-harvest losses and improve product quality; for example the use of solar or hybrid drying technologies can enhance the drying process, making it faster and less dependent on weather conditions, while better preserving the nutritional value and extending the shelf life. Derivatives such as starch, flour, bioethanol, and high fructose syrup could also open new opportunities for the cassava value chain in both domestic and international markets. Systemically, scaling up cassava processing will require significant investment in industrial-scale facilities that can handle large volumes of cassava with increased efficiency. These facilities, equipped with state-of-the-art machinery, can process cassava into various derivatives with higher precision and lower costs. The establishment of such facilities would not only reduce waste but also enable the production of cassava derivatives at a quality and scale that meets global market standards. Strategic investments in infrastructure, technology, and human capital, supported by conducive government policies, will be crucial to realizing the potential of industrialization.

However, achieving industrialization will require a concerted effort from both the public and private sectors. Strategic investments in research and development can foster innovation in cassava processing technologies and product development but require robust government policies and incentives to attract effective private investment and ensure systemic implementation. These policies might include tax breaks, subsidies for cassava processing technologies, and grants for research into new cassava derivatives.

Thoughtful development of physical infrastructure is also necessary to build out the sector without exacerbating other local issues. Establishing processing facilities in proximity to cassava farming communities will be vital to reduce logistical challenges and ensure that the benefits of industrialization reach the rural areas where cassava farmers live while spurring further local jobs and economic benefits. Embracing sustainable infrastructure, such as waste recycling and energy-efficient technologies, can ensure that industrialization does not come with negative environmental costs. By prioritizing the industrialization of cassava processing, Nigeria can transform a key agricultural sector, turning post-harvest challenges into opportunities for growth, innovation, and sustainability.

Considering Sustainability

With the development of Nigeria’s cassava industry, there is also an opportunity to better integrate sustainable farming practices that can increase production, reduce environmental impact, and promote long-term agricultural sustainability. Practices such as agroforestry, conservation tillage, integrated pest management, crop rotation, intercropping, and efficient water management are crucial for improving soil quality, biodiversity, soil health, and water retention, ultimately supporting robust cassava production long-term[9]. Moreover, the industrial demand for cassava can drive the development and adoption of climate-resilient varieties, supporting adaptation efforts, and ensuring a stable cassava supply under changing climatic conditions. Cassava industrialization can also aid in carbon reduction through sustainable bioenergy production like cassava-based bioethanol, offering a renewable alternative to fossil fuels with a lower carbon footprint. By focusing on climate-resilient ag development, sustainable practices, and industrialization, countries like Nigeria can become leaders in climate resilience, environmental sustainability, and economic development, setting an example for climate-smart agriculture and industrialization in tropical regions.

Improved Cassava Value Chain

Coordinated, intentional, and efficient investment in Nigeria’s agricultural infrastructure and policy landscape has the potential to drastically improve ecological and market outcomes for smallholder cassava growers across the country.

Cassava’s Systemic Spillover Effects

Aside from agricultural development, a richer cassava industry in Nigeria also holds a secondary potential to serve as a catalyst for broader economic development and community empowerment. At the heart of this transformation is the potential to create a multitude of jobs across the value chain—from the fields where cassava is cultivated to the processing facilities where harvests are transformed into valuable derivatives such as starch, flour, bioethanol, and high fructose syrup. This expansion would significantly bolster incomes for smallholders and entrepreneurs alike, offering them avenues to break free from the cycles of poverty that are prevalent in rural communities. Beyond the tangible economic and infrastructural benefits, the cultivation and industrial processing of cassava weave a thread of social cohesion and equity through communities. As women and youth often play significant roles in cassava cultivation and processing, their empowerment through these activities promotes gender equality and youth opportunities for employment, which are critical aspects of Nigeria’s equitable development.

The ripple effects of such economic empowerment extend deep into the fabric of communities, seeding resilience and fostering a robust foundation for sustainable development. It is proven that improved incomes lead to enhanced food security, as families can afford a more nutritious and varied diet, while spending locally and saving excess profits, better equipping agricultural communities to withstand the fluctuations of markets and the unpredictability of climate impacts. Furthermore, the industrialization of cassava processing paves the way for infrastructural development, including roads, storage facilities, and energy access, which are vital components for cross-sector rural development. These improvements not only facilitate the cassava value chain but also enhance the quality of life for the community at large, providing better access to markets, schools, and healthcare.

The integration of sustainable practices in cassava production—such as agroforestry, conservation tillage, and integrated pest management—underscore the commitment to environmental stewardship, ensuring that economic development does not come at the cost of the environment. These practices not only enhance the sustainability of cassava cultivation but also contribute to broader environmental goals by maintaining ecosystem health and biodiversity, which are essential for long-term agricultural productivity and community well-being. By continuing to invest in the cassava value chain, from enhancing production techniques to expanding industrial processing capabilities, and by fostering an enabling environment through supportive policies and investments, Nigeria can harness the full potential of cassava as a vehicle for transformative change, paving the way for a future where economic empowerment and sustainable development are inextricably linked, ensuring that no member of the community is left behind in the journey towards prosperity and resilience.

Cassava as a Tool for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

In the complex story of Nigeria’s farming world, cassava emerges not merely as a crop but as a beacon of hope and transformation. Its story, intertwined with the threads of climate resilience, market expansion, and poverty alleviation, shines a light on a path toward a more sustainable and prosperous future. Cassava stands at the forefront of Nigeria’s battle against climate change, offering a resilient crop alternative that can thrive under the duress of shifting weather patterns and environmental challenges. Its cultivation and processing, underscored by sustainable practices, not only mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change but also bolster the agricultural sector’s adaptation capabilities through increasingly harsh and unpredictable conditions. Simultaneously, cassava has the potential to significantly broaden market access, both domestically and internationally, by transforming into a plethora of value-added products. From starch and flour to bioethanol and high fructose syrup, these derivatives can unlock new economic opportunities, creating a ripple effect that enhances livelihoods, fosters industrial growth, and propels Nigeria onto the global stage as a key player in the cassava market. Most critically, the expansion of the cassava sector embodies a powerful vehicle for poverty alleviation. By generating employment, improving incomes, and fostering community development, cassava production and industrialization can uplift millions of Nigerians, weaving a stronger social fabric marked by resilience, equity, and prosperity. This transformative potential extends beyond economic metrics, touching the very essence of community well-being and environmental stewardship.

Yet, realizing this vision requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders. Policymakers must craft and implement supportive policies that nurture the growth of the cassava sector, encompassing research and development, infrastructure investment, and market facilitation. Investors are encouraged to see and seize the huge opportunities cassava offers, directing capital towards ventures that not only promise returns but also contribute to the broader societal good. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society must continue to play their pivotal role in advocating for sustainable practices, facilitating knowledge transfer, and supporting smallholder farmers and communities in navigating the evolving agricultural landscape. The call to action is clear: by embracing the cassava sector’s potential and addressing the intertwined challenges of climate change, market access, and poverty, Nigeria can set a course toward sustainable development that honors its agricultural heritage while forging a future of innovation, inclusivity, and resilience. Cassava, as a catalyst for change, offers more than just a solution to immediate challenges—it presents a blueprint for a sustainable agricultural future that can nourish, empower, and sustain generations to come.

[1] Ikuemonisan et al., 2020

[2] Obayelu et al., 2021

[3] Ikuemonisan et al., 2020

[4] Ikuemonisan & Akinbola, 2021.

[5] Akinwumiju et al., 2020.

[6] Ikuemonisan et al., 2020.

[7] Inegbedion et al., 2020.

[8] Uchechukwu-Agua et al., 2015.

[9] Shackelford et al., 2018.

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Inegbedion, H., Inegbedion, E., Obadiaru, E., Asaleye, A., Ayeni, A., & Aremu, C. (2020). Cassava attractiveness in nigeria: a policy improvement approach. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies, 10(2), 157-175. https://doi.org/10.1108/jadee-05-2019-0068

Maass, B., Musale, D., Chiuri, W., Gassner, A., & Peters, M. (2012). Challenges and opportunities for smallholder livestock production in post-conflict south kivu, eastern dr congo. Tropical Animal Health and Production, 44(6), 1221Stre-1232. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-011-0061-5

Molnar, J. (2022). Building an inclusive value chain: gender participation in cassava marketing and processing in nigeria. Environ Sci Ecol: Curr Res, 8(1), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.54026/esecr/1078

Obayelu, O., Obayelu, A., & Awoku, I. (2021). Technical efficiency and socioeconomic effects on poverty dynamics among cassava-based farming households in rural nigeria. Contemporary Social Science, 17(2), 99-116. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2021.1981425

Ojiako, I., Tarawali, G., Okechukwu, R., & Chianu, J. (2017). Household characteristics and market participation competence of smallholder farmers supplying cassava to starch processors in nigeria. International Journal of Agricultural Research Innovation and Technology, 6(2), 42-56. https://doi.org/10.3329/ijarit.v6i2.31704

Ojo, T., Baiyegunhi, L., & Salami, A. (2019). Impact of credit demand on the productivity of rice farmers in south west nigeria. Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 11(1(J)), 166-180. https://doi.org/10.22610/jebs.v11i1(j).2757

Olarinde, L., Abass, A., Abdoulaye, T., Adepoju, A., Fanifosi, G., Adio, M., … & Awoyale, W. (2020). Estimating multidimensional poverty among cassava producers in nigeria: patterns and socioeconomic determinants. Sustainability, 12(13), 5366. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135366

Osuji, E., Igberi, C., & Ehirim, N. (2023). Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies of cassava farmers in ebonyi state, nigeria. Journal of Agricultural Extension, 27(1), 35-48. https://doi.org/10.4314/jae.v27i1.4

Otekunrin, O. and Sawicka, B. (2019). Cassava, a 21st century staple crop: how can nigeria harness its enormous trade potentials?. Acta Scientific Agriculture, 3(8), 194-202. https://doi.org/10.31080/asag.2019.03.0586

Pérez, D., Duputié, A., Vernière, C., Szurek, B., & Caillon, S. (2022). Biocultural drivers responsible for the occurrence of a cassava bacterial pathogen in small-scale farms of colombian caribbean. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.841915

Shackelford, G., Haddaway, N., Usieta, H., Pypers, P., Petrovan, S., & Sutherland, W. (2018). Cassava farming practices and their agricultural and environmental impacts: a systematic map protocol. Environmental Evidence, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-018-0142-2

Uchechukwu-Agua, A. D., Caleb, O. J., Manley, M., & Opara, U. L. (2015). Effects of storage conditions and duration on physicochemical and microbial quality of the flour of two cassava cultivars (tme 419 and umucass 36). CyTA – Journal of Food, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/19476337.2015.1029524

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The 28^th Conference of the Parties (COP28) kicked off in Dubai on November 30^th, providing an opportunity for key stakeholders from UN member states, NGO’s, environmental experts, and the private sector to come together to address our current climate crisis. Here are some of what was top of mind as we headed there.

The COP28 agenda focus is on adaptation efforts and the intersectionality of the current climate crisis

Where COP27 had several key achievements, perhaps most notably agreement to establish the long-debated Loss & Damage Fund, COP28 is set to cover an even more ambitious set of topics. In addition to the Global Stocktake (GST), the COP Presidency has announced the Presidency’s Action Agenda which places a clear emphasis on adaptation, an important acknowledgment that mitigation efforts alone are insufficient to address the deleterious effects of climate change. Included in the agenda’s priorities are the intersections between climate and other key social issues—particularly health, food systems, and economic mobility.

Our firm’s deep experience working at intersections such as these has many on our team eagerly awaiting this year’s event, with many of our internal conversations being around key areas where we expect significant decisions and agreements.

Three key areas to pay attention to at COP28

Building on momentum from COP27, the focus on adaptation support for developing contexts is expected to yield more clarity on how the long-awaited Loss and Damage Fund will be operationalized. Additionally, significant emphasis has also been placed on two key areas of climate’s intersectionality with social impact outcomes—health and food systems.

Loss and Damage Fund

Since the early 1990s, small island nations and other developing contexts disproportionately impacted by climate change have been asking for help dealing with climate-related “loss and damage” incurred due to both acute disasters and ongoing long-term climate effects. Negotiations about loss and damage culminated with the formal creation of a Loss and Damage Fund at the close of COP27. The fund acknowledges the responsibility of developed countries to support lower income countries in addressing acute physical challenges related to the changing climate and represents a major milestone in global climate finance. By supporting developing countries to weather the most acute effects of climate change, the Loss and Damage fund will support developing economies and ensure vulnerable countries are able to continue developing in the face of the climate crisis.

With less than a month before COP28 opens, the committee tasked with developing implementation recommendations for the fund collectively agreed to temporarily house the fund at the World Bank despite considerable opposition from developing countries given the heavy historical influence of developed nations in the Bank’s governance.The committee also agreed to an initial target size for the fund of $500m—significantly below the trillions of dollars expected to be needed to address future climate disasters. Conversations are expected to continue around the issues of funding mechanisms, eligibility, and the scale of financing required. Loss and Damage is a critical mechanism for furthering equity in the response to climate change and ensuring that the many developing countries who have historically contributed the least to climate change are equipped to help their populations adapt to its impacts.

Climate Health Ministerial

Our changing climate presents both short-term and long-term threats to human health. Floods, heatwaves, and storms cause immediate injury and loss of life, while persistently higher temperatures expand the spread of vector-borne diseases. Our recent work with the WHO exploring the intersection of immunization and climate showed how immunization systems are already facing strain due to climate effects while simultaneously being a major emitter of carbon dioxide, globally contributing as much as 3 kg of CO2 per immunized child. It also showed how gender equity is a critical consideration when it comes to health, with women bearing disproportionate vulnerability to both climate impacts and immunization inequities.

The intersection of health and climate is slated to be a point of focus during COP28. COP’s first-ever climate health ministerial aims to solidify investments and policy priorities focusing on the new and rapidly shifting threat to population health imposed by our changing climate. In continuation of the adaptation theme, a wide range of government officials are expected to set out a roadmap and opportunities for action to address the increasing burden of climate change on healthcare systems. Discussions will also include the socio-economic benefits that can result from better health through climate action, highlighting not just the intersectionality of climate and health but their inherent connection to sustainable global development and prosperity.

Food Systems and Agriculture Agenda

Food systems are inherently connected to the issue of climate change. Contributing one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, food system decarbonization is a critical consideration in reducing global GHG emissions. Additionally, rising global temperatures and changing precipitation patterns are destroying crops and threatening food security. Our team saw this firsthand in an engagement where we created a novel systems map to understand the nexus of food systems and climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa. This project showed how food loss and waste and general inefficiencies exacerbate the climate problem, but also how those same climate effects disrupt the food system, accelerate food insecurity, and drastically impact nutrition for vulnerable populations.

COP28 has set the stage for food systems to be a central focus. The COP28 Presidency has put forward the “leader-level Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action”, which includes a voluntary commitment to incorporate food systems and agriculture into NDCs and NAPs by 2025. Additionally, the World Climate Action Summit, a side event for the main conference, will showcase countries that will put forward concrete plans to implement the declaration.

The future of climate-related impact work is intersectional

COP28 is set to bring awareness to the intersectionality of our current climate crisis, and the proposed agenda sets the stage for conversations about how climate-related interventions are also working to create impact on other important social issues. Awareness alone, however, will not create meaningful impact for communities most impacted by climate change.

The hard work of addressing climate change must include intersectional approaches and interventions, and those who are implementing interventions must consider the wide-ranging implications of their work to effectively maximize impact and improve outcomes.

Camber brings a wealth of experience and expertise to support clients in understanding and addressing the intersectional nature of climate work. Whether it’s bringing a climate lens to existing social impact initiatives or a health or shared prosperity lens to existing climate initiatives, Camber is well positioned to help clients maximize the impact of their strategies and interventions.

To learn more about the intersectionality of climate change, check out these additional perspectives:

• A Climate-Resilient Food System for Sub-Saharan Africa
• Emissions, Climate Change, and Health
• Climate Change and Infectious Disease in Africa
• Just Transition: A Climate Imperative

Based in Washington state, Zack Henderson brings over 10 years of strategy development, investment evaluation and operational effectiveness experience in climate change, global health and development, and financial technology. Zack’s prior strategic work served a range of philanthropic funders, government agencies, multilateral organizations, and for-profit organizations across a broad range of topics including go-to-market planning, impact modeling and portfolio optimization. He began his career with Camber in 2013 where he focused on a broad range of topics from nutrition and maternal and child health to education and climate change, then bridging his career to the technology sector where he led strategy and operations workstreams for a late-stage tech startup focused on financial inclusion. Zack has returned to Camber with a focus on climate change and as a recent graduate of the Terra.do Learning for Action program. He earned his BA in Finance from the University of Washington in Seattle. A Northwest convert from his childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, Zack spends as many waking hours as possible in Washington’s mountains and forests either on a bicycle, skis, or on foot. He has a passion for learning how things work, is a do-it-yourselfer to a fault, and loves experimenting with cooking and eating.

Christopher Chang brings extensive experience supporting clients in measuring and advancing their social impact goals. He has worked with foundations and non-profit organizations on a wide range of issues including K-12 education, early childhood learning, hunger alleviation, journalism and democracy, and workforce development. Chris brings experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methodologies, crafting measurement frameworks, and developing and implementing strategic plans. Chris holds an MBA from the University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business with a Management Science specialization and ESG certificate. Chris is an avid outdoorsman, angler, and amateur mechanic; when not working he can be found out in the mountains or working on the vehicles that get him there.

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A multi-temporal perspective on vulnerability, resilience, and empowerment in Africa

Amidst the sprawling narrative of climate change, an essential facet often recedes into the backdrop: its gendered dimensions.

Climate change is more than just an environmental concern; it’s an amplifier of existing societal structures and disparities. In the vast and diverse expanse of Africa, this confluence of gender and climate has profound implications for vulnerability, resilience, and empowerment. From the immediate ramifications in sectors where women predominantly work, to the broader challenges and opportunities posed by the shift towards a sustainable green economy, and ultimately, to the envisioning of a world where women’s voices lead and shape the climate discourse — each temporal perspective reveals distinct challenges and pathways to empowerment.

In the short term, women’s vital roles in agriculture, artisanal mining, and market sectors expose them directly to the whims of an unpredictable climate, magnifying vulnerabilities. As we transition to the medium-term, the promise of a green economic transition looms large, but without proactive inclusion, women risk being sidelined in this transformative shift. By the long-term, opportunities emerge to not only address immediate impacts or structural changes, but instead to reimagine the very framework of climate governance through a gender-inclusive lens. Women should not merely be beneficiaries of climate policy, but its architects, driving innovation and holistic solutions.

This multi-temporal lens is not just a structure; it’s an imperative. To holistically address the gendered dimensions of climate change, it is vital to understand the intertwined challenges, risks, and opportunities across different time horizons.

Short-term challenges: The immediate gendered impact and African women at the frontline

In the vibrant tapestry of African economies, women emerge as the unspoken anchors, particularly in sectors that are now facing the brunt of climate change’s onslaught. Their daily endeavors, often rooted in the land and the environment, are directly threatened, translating environmental changes into immediate challenges for their households, communities, and, by extension, entire economies.

Agriculture: the lifestream of many, now under siege

In countries spanning from the Sahelian regions to the Great Rift Valley, agriculture stands as a testament to women’s resilience and ingenuity. A majority of the small-scale farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are women,[1] and they are responsible for producing a significant portion of the continent’s food. However, with climate change disrupting rainfall patterns, prolonged droughts and unexpected floods are becoming annual calamities. These aren’t just climatic anomalies; for many women, they mean failed harvests, escalating debts, and nights when their children go to bed hungry. Beyond immediate food security, these impacts exacerbate already prevalent challenges: limited access to agricultural training, credit facilities, and advanced farming tools.

The bustling informal markets: Critical social infrastructure at risk

In numerous African cities, from the alleyways of Marrakech to the busy streets of Accra, the informal market sector buzzes with activity and is predominantly steered by women. These markets, vital for local economies, are incredibly sensitive to climate perturbations. A single flood can wash away a woman’s inventory, accumulated over months or even years. An unexpected heatwave can render perishable goods unsellable. Furthermore, climate-driven changes in market systems can negatively impact informal vendors’ ability to stay afloat, particularly if they don’t have access to formal financial services. For many women in these markets, there’s no safety net; a climate-induced setback can mean spiraling into debt or pushing their families further into poverty.

Artisanal and small-scale mining: vulnerable yet vital

Across Africa, women make up nearly half of the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) workforce.[2] Often existing outside of the formal labor market, these women regularly operate under dangerous and uncertain conditions that leave them particularly vulnerable to both the economic and physical risks of climate change. Without access to skills, resourcing, and legal protections, female miners are disproportionately exposed to the financial and safety risks of an already dangerous profession. To make matters worse, the green transition will require significant increases in the precious metals like cobalt and lithium that fuel “green” technologies. Female miners will likely bear much of the burden of this increased demand.

In understanding the short-term ramifications of climate change through this gendered lens, we witness a theme: it’s not just about economic output or statistical figures but the lived experiences of countless women, the narratives of families under duress, and the ripple effects that shape communities and nations. Climate change and its consequences underscore long-standing socio-economic vulnerabilities—and addressing these immediate impacts is crucial, not just for the women affected, but also for the social fabric of the African continent.

Medium-term risks and potential: navigating the green transition – Paving the way for inclusive sustainability

The clarion call for a green, sustainable future resonates across continents, and Africa stands at a unique intersection of challenges and opportunities. However, the green transition is a uniquely double-edged sword: while the green economy offers vast potential, its dawn risks leaving women vulnerable to unintended hardships. This phase demands more than just economic adaptation; it requires a societal metamorphosis that champions inclusivity and equity at its core.

Emerging green industries: Doors half-open?

With the decline of traditional, resource-intensive industries, the green economy promises a myriad of new job opportunities. Sectors like renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and eco-tourism are burgeoning. However, this shift will also necessitate massive transitions within existing job markets, and without intentional interventions, women are likely to suffer the most from these transitions. As job markets change, studies suggest that gender attitudes drive economic inequities for women during times of financial hardship.[3]

Similarly, women are more likely to miss out on the opportunities afforded by the green transition: as jobs evolve, there’s an urgent need for training and reskilling programs. Yet, due to societal norms and logistical barriers, women may find it harder to access these programs. Whether it’s a solar technician course in a distant town or an online certification hindered by a lack of internet access, the challenge is dual-faceted: making green jobs accessible and ensuring women can access them. Overcoming this means not only creating green job openings but actively dismantling barriers that prevent women from seizing them.

Financial inclusion: more than just access

While the green transition promises innovative solutions, these often come with a price tag. Access to credit, loans, and financial literacy becomes crucial. Yet, many women often find themselves sidelined in the financial landscape. As green businesses emerge and sustainable projects are greenlit, ensuring women entrepreneurs and workers have the financial tools to engage becomes paramount.

Policy frameworks: From neutral to gender-responsive

As countries lay down the regulatory frameworks for the green transition, there’s a risk of these policies being gender-neutral, rather than gender-responsive. For the transition to be genuinely inclusive, policies need to be crafted with a conscious understanding of the unique challenges and potentials women bring to the table. This includes, but is not limited to, affirmative action, targeted grants for women-led green ventures, and mentorship programs.

In the medium term, as Africa navigates the intricate challenges of sustainability, the undercurrent remains: a green future that isn’t inclusive is a half-realized dream. The green transition is as much about technology and industries as it is about people—and ensuring that women are empowered participants, leaders, and beneficiaries in this journey is a non-negotiable.

Long-term opportunities: Amplifying women in climate leadership – the catalyst for holistic solutions

As we cast our gaze to the distant horizon of the climate struggle, the long-term view isn’t just about enduring resilience, but about nurturing a more inclusive vision of leadership in climate spaces. Historically, women’s voices have been relegated to the peripheries of climate decision-making, but the long-term combat against climate change necessitates their central role. For a challenge as vast and multifaceted as climate change, the solutions too must be interwoven with diverse insights, and women hold the keys to many of these nuanced understandings.

The multidimensional lens of women leaders

Women, with their multifaceted roles as informal leaders, community organizers, caregivers, and innovators, often have a deeply holistic understanding of societal ecosystems. Female leadership can help ensure that unintended consequences of climate initiatives, much like the green transition, are mitigated via awareness and understanding of local and community needs. When these insights percolate up to decision-making echelons, they ensure that climate policies are not just reactive but are anticipatory, comprehensive, and deeply empathetic.

Local knowledge, global impact

At the grassroots, women often serve as the custodians of traditional knowledge. This reservoir of wisdom, accumulated over generations, can offer invaluable insights into sustainable practices, resource management, and community resilience. As climate initiatives turn to time-honored and traditional practices for potential solutions, women may hold the key to successful implementation: by amplifying their voices, we ensure that local solutions don’t just benefit one community but can be scaled and adapted globally.

From tokenism to tangible change

For far too long, women’s representation in climate arenas has oscillated between neglect and tokenism. The future demands a shift. Beyond mere numbers, the emphasis should be on creating environments where women’s voices are actively sought, heard, and acted upon. This means challenging patriarchal structures, encouraging mentorship, and building capacity. It means both ensuring that women have the education and resources to engage with standard elements of climate work, while also embracing multifaceted, traditional, and holistic approaches to countering climate change.

The ripple effect of women in leadership

The benefits of women in leadership extend beyond the immediate decisions. When young girls see women shaping global climate agendas, it ignites aspirations. It sends a powerful message that they too can be changemakers. This cascading effect, where one generation of women leaders inspires the next, can galvanize a global movement of informed, passionate leaders in climate and beyond.

In the long arc of the climate narrative, the story isn’t complete without women leading the charge. As the challenges intensify, the solutions too must evolve, and therein lies the potential of women’s leadership. The future of climate action is not just about adaptation and mitigation, but about transformation—and women are poised to be at the heart of this revolution.

Weaving a tapestry of resilience and hope

The interplay between climate change and gender underscores not only pressing challenges but also unprecedented opportunities to sculpt a more inclusive and climate-resilient future. Through the lens of short-term, medium-term, and long-term perspectives, a holistic picture emerges, revealing the layered vulnerabilities and strengths of women in the epoch of climate change.

In the short term, recognizing the immediate gendered impacts, especially in sectors predominantly helmed by women, such as agriculture, provides the impetus for swift interventions. These immediate threats underscore the need to bolster women’s resilience, particularly in areas where their livelihoods and sustenance are intertwined with the environment.

As we navigate into the medium term, the global shift towards a sustainable green economy emerges as a double-edged sword. It carries the promise of revitalization and renewal but could inadvertently perpetuate gender inequities if not managed inclusively. This phase emphasizes not merely the adoption of sustainability but the integration of gender equity into the very blueprint of this transition.

In the long arc towards the future, the long-term perspective magnifies the critical importance of women’s leadership in climate discourse. It’s not about token representation but the profound transformative potential that women, with their diverse insights and holistic understanding, bring to the table.

This comprehensive narrative—spanning immediate actions, transitional strategies, and long-term leadership visions—reiterates the importance of gender-responsive approaches at every stage. As we strive to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, the gender-climate nexus cannot be sidelined. By anchoring our strategies in a multi-temporal framework, stakeholders, be they governments, private entities, or civil society, can collaboratively weave a future where climate resilience and gender equity thrive in tandem. This intersectionality, spanning gender, climate, and broader societal domains like health, food systems, and well-being, mandates nuanced, integrated solutions.

Addressing the gender-climate interplay, especially in regions like Africa, is paramount in our shared journey towards a sustainable future. A multi-temporal approach, championing the immediate, the impending, and the visionary, promises not only resilience but empowerment—heralding a brighter, more equitable, and climate-resilient tomorrow.

The path forward: A call to action

Our journey to understand and address the intricate dance between gender and climate change is not at its end, but rather at an impactful juncture. The next steps we take can either bolster or erode the resilience and empowerment of African women, who stand on the frontline of the climate crisis.

The realities of African women, with their rich tapestry of experiences, cultures, and wisdom, must take center stage in future research. Beyond sterile data and detached observations, we must immerse ourselves in the lived narratives of these women. Their struggles and triumphs amidst the changing climate—whether it’s the farmer battling unpredictable rains in Kenya or the market vendor navigating the aftermath of a storm in Nigeria—hold invaluable lessons for policy design and implementation.

Informed policies are more than just responsive; they are anticipatory, sculpting a path that doesn’t just react to the challenges but paves the way for a brighter future. Such policies should champion the amplification of women’s agency, ensuring their voices aren’t merely heard, but resonate in the decisions that shape their world. In a gender-responsive path forward, all climate strategies must be evaluated through a gendered lens and should ensure access to education, training, and finances and representation in decision-making and leadership.

By fostering environments that support women’s leadership at community town halls, national platforms, and international climate summits, we can tap into the transformative potential that women bring to the table. Yet, the emphasis on African women doesn’t diminish the global nature of this narrative. The continent’s stories, while deeply rooted in its unique socio-cultural and environmental milieu, echo a universal testament to women’s roles as formidable change-makers in the climate narrative. Their resilience, innovations, and solutions can inspire and inform strategies worldwide.

As we look to the future, our vision must be twofold: to adapt to the changing climate while concurrently reshaping it, ensuring that the new world we’re forging has women not as passive participants but as active architects. The charge is clear: in the quest for a sustainable and equitable world, women’s empowerment isn’t just a desirable outcome—it’s a vital catalyst.

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Citations

[1] FAO (2023)

[2] Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (2018)

[3] UN Women, The Levers of Change Gender Equality Attitudes Study (2022)

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Dr. Chidiebere E.X. Ikejemba is the Director of Climate & Environment at Camber Collective. His body of work focuses on climate equity and justice, building resilient climate-smart development programs, strengthening political will for urgent climate change action and many other levers of activation. His theory of impact operates across both the upstream and downstream of a systems chain. that encompasses, just transition, agriculture & food security, migration, economic & rural development, climate education, waste management (circularity), healthcare, corruption and democracy, energy access, gender inclusion, carbon neutrality and other dimensions. The circularity of Camber’s approach and theory of influence is, we believe, the most congruous path to balancing economic reality and humanitarianism.  

Ella Geismar is a Consultant in our San Francisco office. She is a strategy consultant with experience in creating stakeholder-led, community-oriented programs and policies both domestically and abroad. Prior to joining Camber, Ella was a researcher and consultant on Hawai’i’s first ever state-level food systems strategy, an active initiative seeking to center resilience, equity, and indigenous knowledge into Hawai’i’s management of land and resources. In addition to her work in food systems and sustainability, Ella has worked extensively in higher education access. From 2018-2020, Ella served as the Programs Director at Parami University, a Bard College partner institution and Myanmar’s first-ever liberal arts institution. She also worked as a consultant for Fulbright University Vietnam, the first such institution in Vietnam, and as the Academic Associate for a network of dual-enrollment public high schools in cities across the United States seeking to promote college access and equity for underserved student populations. Ella holds a Master of Public Policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and French from Wesleyan University. In her free time, you can find Ella hiking, biking in the East Bay hills, and hunting down new food experiences

The post The Imperative of a Gendered Approach to Climate Change appeared first on Camber Collective.

As we reduce emissions, let’s not forget about the impact of climate change on health

Climate change is affecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the quality of food we eat. Over the past decades, it contributed to a rapid increase in asthma cases and allergies and the spread of mosquitoes to higher hemisphere regions, with the US seeing the first cases of local malaria transmission in two decades [1]. The WHO (World Health Organization) projects that, all else equal, between 2030 and 2050, climate change is expected to cause approximately 250,000 additional deaths per year from heat stress, malnutrition, malaria, diarrhea, and heat stress [2].

Extreme climate events have significantly increased over the past 50 years

Over the recent decades, extreme climate events have significantly increased, primarily floods, storms, and wildfires. This affects millions through population displacement, socioeconomic shocks, direct mortality, and health impact (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Number of extreme weather events and people affected [4].

Note: Each dot represents an event; the circle size represents the number of affected persons.  

According to IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) scenarios, global temperatures will continue to rise, causing more adverse effects on human health. The burden of many climate-sensitive health risks is projected to be greater at an increase of 2 ◦C above pre-industrial temperatures than at 1.5 ◦C., highlighting the sensitivity of health conditions to minor changes in global temperatures [3]. We outline examples of crucial health conditions expected to exacerbate if we continue our current trajectory in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Illustrative health effects of climate change [5]

Global warming with unequal local impacts

While global warming is measured against the global average target of 1.5◦C, the local impact varies significantly, with some regions bearing a significant burden. More countries are undertaking better vulnerability and adaptation assessments to understand the health risks they will face as temperatures rise. These analyses have highlighted the most vulnerable populations, often the elders, children, and people living in remote areas [7].  

We have highlighted below in Figure 3 the projected temperature increase in select countries, highlighting the global disparities. Even the national average hides vast differences in the sub-national regions, with some areas extremely vulnerable to changing conditions. Rapid projected population growth in most countries will also contribute substantially to the number of people affected by temperature rises and extreme weather events.

Figure 3. Projected temperature changes under different climate-change scenarios and population growth between current and 2050. [8] [9]

What are we doing about it: Current funding trails projected need

While the scientific community and country priorities emphasize the growing challenge that the globe faces related to climate and health, funding commitments at the intersection of these sectors have continued to trail behind the projected need.

Development finance institutions (DFIs) have increased their commitments to climate in recent years and, on average, committed to nearly doubling their spending on climate from 2020 to 2025 [11]. Certain DFIs have even made ambitious commitments until 2030, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WBG), which have committed to dedicating 75 percent of commitments to climate finance by then. While spending on climate has been increasing, the share of spending to mitigate health impact remains very low at under 6% of climate adaptation funding [10].

Figure 4. Breakdown of Adaptation spending by major MDBs in 2020/2021 [10][11].

Despite the recent push by some major development finance institutions to increase overall climate spending and adaptation spending as a percentage of this amount, total mitigation spending by multilateral development banks (MDBs) was still over three times that of adaptation spending in 2021[11].

The focus of development finance institutions on mitigation activity (vis-a-vis adaptation) or the importance of CO2 reduction as the defining metric to measure the impact of climate projects may explain their hesitation to shift funding into the climate-health nexus.

On the health side, DFIs bolstered their spending during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across four major MDB (WB, IDB, AfDB, ADB), health funding rose 3-fold from $3.8 billion in 2018 to $12.1B in 2021 [12]. Despite this pandemic-driven increase, the overall health sector constitutes a small portion of total funding and trends between 5% and 15% for most bilateral and multilateral institutions [13].

Despite the recent momentum in the climate and health sectors individually, funding at the intersection of climate and health has remained stagnant. It is not yet a stated focus of most funders. 

The philanthropic sector has followed a similar trend as development finance institutions. While many philanthropies dedicate energy and funds to the climate and health sectors individually, few of these institutions have declared a focus at the nexus of the two. Wellcome Trust is one of few large foundations with an expressed focus on funding climate-health interventions, communicating the intersection as one of their three focus areas related to health [13]. This presents an opportunity for other foundations to direct capital to an underfunded sector to catalyze additional investments.

What’s holding us back: Key challenges to increase capital commitments

Funders face several challenges when deciding to invest in projects at the intersection of climate and health; if addressed, there is potential to vitalize commitments in the space [13]. These challenges range from a need for a shared definition and impact metrics for climate-health investments to a lack of robust evidence across these interventions.

Thoughts on a way forward

Considering the challenges depicted above, a range of actions can be undertaken to address the key issues hindering further commitments to climate-health initiatives.

Here are three recommendations to address the challenges outlined [13]:

The upcoming COP28 is a promising opportunity to delve deeper into this topic as it is the first COP conference that includes an entire day dedicated to the health sector. This global convening presents a unique occasion to gather key stakeholders to identify solutions to these challenges, garner momentum, and solidify commitments at the climate-health nexus.

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Citations

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/27/health/us-malaria-mosquitoes.html

[2] Climate change and health (who.int)

[3] Health risks of warming of 1.5″00B0`0C, 2″00B0`0C, and higher, above pre-industrial temperatures (iop.org)

[4]  Data from EM-DAT. The International Disaster Database; Graphic produced with RAW Graphics.

[6] Data from https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/chapter/chapter-7/; graphic produced in Microsoft PowerPoint.

[7] Climate change and health: vulnerability and adaptation assessment (who.int)

[8] Climate Risk Country Profiles | Climate Change Knowledge Portal (worldbank.org)

[9] World Population Dashboard (unfpa.org)

[10] How much bilateral and multilateral climate adaptation finance is targeting the health sector? A scoping review of official development assistance data between 2009–2019 – PMC (nih.gov) citing Lancet Countdown data.

[11] 2021 Joint report on multilateral development banks’ Climate finance (eib.org)

[12] Microsoft Word – 2023-04 Making it work – role of MDBs – final.docx (actionsantemondiale.fr)

Melissa Flores leverages her background in quantitative analysis and research to support clients’ strategic decision-making centered around social impact. Prior to Camber, Melissa worked as consultant at the UN World Food Programme, providing operational and programmatic support to the organization’s global food security monitoring initiative. Melissa began her career as a financial consultant, working on risk mitigation strategies for Consumer and Healthcare clients in the United States. She holds an M.A. in International Development from Sciences Po’s Paris School of International Affairs and a B.A. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.

Abdel Agadazi is a Camber Collective alum. While with the firm, he worked with clients on their strategy and investment planning via data-driven decision-making and market analysis. Prior to Camber, Abdel led consulting engagements at Accenture, supporting global clients on their digital transformation journey. He began his career building technology systems for optometrists and healthcare clients in the United States. Abdel is also involved in supporting entrepreneurs in Europe and Africa through growth and operational advice. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Master’s in advanced analytics from IMT Atlantique, a top-tier French engineering school. Abdel grew up in Lomé, and he enjoys cooking and playing basketball. Our Paris office mates look forward to seeing him strolling the streets as an amateur photographer.

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The Challenge 

Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to the impacts of climate change and is already experiencing symptoms of climate catastrophe such as increased temperatures, extreme weather events, rising sea-levels, and altered rainfall patterns. The impact of climate change on the health of Africans is significant, with some studies suggesting that climate change could cause an additional 100,000 deaths per year by 2030 [1]. Addressing the intersection of climate change and infectious disease in Africa requires urgent action by governments, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations. Further, climate change greatly exacerbates health problems on the continent, including the transmission of infectious diseases.

As climate change intensifies and the planet warms, infectious diseases—many of which are climate sensitive—are provided with the ideal environment to thrive as well as expand across geographies. Changes in temperature, rainfall patterns, and humidity are altering the distribution and behavior of disease vectors such as mosquitoes and ticks, thus increasing the prevalence and transmission of diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and Lyme disease. As their natural habitats disappear, animal species are being forced to occupy new areas, which enables the potential spread of zoonotic diseases, both animal-to-animal, and animal-to-human—such as Ebola, Lassa fever, and Rift Valley fever.[2].  

Flooding, also more frequent and severe due to climate change, can contaminate drinking water sources, further increasing the risk of waterborne diseases. We will then expect to see a rise in diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, and hepatitis A through changes in precipitation patterns.

Solutions

It can certainly be discouraging and alarming to consider the possibility and preponderance of such dire outcomes, however, there are several policy, behavioral, resource, and systemic mitigations that can be put in place. Some have already risen to the level of urgent imperatives.

Strengthening surveillance & monitoring systems

Healthcare workers who are trained in disease surveillance, laboratory diagnosis, and outbreak response are crucial to the success of surveillance and monitoring systems. Information and communication technologies such as mobile phone technology, GIS mapping, and social media can also improve the efficacy of these systems.

Effective surveillance and monitoring systems are crucial in addressing the nexus of climate change and infectious disease in Africa. To enhance these systems, a comprehensive approach is required. Early warning systems that utilize real-time data, modeling, and risk assessments are invaluable in detecting the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. Furthermore, integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) systems that use standardized case definitions and reporting mechanisms enable the rapid detection of disease outbreaks through the tracking of cases by medical professionals and other stakeholders such as local health officials [3].

Public-private partnerships that bring together governments, the private sector, and international organizations to invest in disease surveillance and response systems are vital to effective disease control. So is improved data sharing across sectors such as agriculture, environment, and health will allow for earlier identification of potential outbreaks.

Furthermore, community participation in surveillance and monitoring systems is vital for strengthening surveillance and monitoring systems. Communities can be upskilled in recognizing and reporting disease outbreaks, and community health workers can collect data on disease trends. By bolstering surveillance and monitoring systems, we can promptly detect and respond to disease outbreaks, mitigating the impact of climate change on infectious disease transmission in Africa.

Ensuring climate resilience in healthcare infrastructure

Ensuring the climate resilience of healthcare infrastructure is imperative. As climate-caused extreme weather events become more frequent, infrastructure planning and strategies must meet the moment to mitigate the risk of infectious disease transmission. Some of the necessary actions include investing in water and sanitation systems able withstand climate change-induced impacts and weather events, construction of climate-resilient housing, and the promotion of renewable energy sources.

Healthcare facilities must be built and/or repaired and upgraded so that they may withstand climate-caused challenges, with updated building codes featuring climate-resilient design such as elevated floors, reinforced walls, and wind-resistant roofs. Backup power systems will ensure that  healthcare facilities can continue to provide essential services during power outages. Addressing this deficit is of urgency given how many healthcare facilities in Africa are underdeveloped, lacking basic amenities such as clean water and sanitation [4]. Not only does this insufficiency makes delivering life-saving care an extreme challenge, it also further exposes patients and healthcare workers to infection and disease transmission.

To respond effectively to the health effects of climate change, healthcare workers must receive new training and updated equipment. This upskilling can range from education on how to diagnose and treat climate-sensitive diseases such as malaria and dengue fever to the management of extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods. Moreover, as we recall from the recent disparities around the COVID pandeminc, healthcare workers must imperatively be supplied with the proper personal protective equipment to safeguard themselves and their patients.

Investing in innovative research and development

It is essential to invest incrementally in the development and deployment of new technologies that can enhance healthcare delivery amid climate change. For example, remote diagnosis and treatment of climate-sensitive diseases can help to decrease the need for patients to travel long distances to receive healthcare. Digital health platforms also enable disease surveillance and response, allowing healthcare workers to promptly detect and respond to disease outbreaks [5]. Such investments can also help identify novel strategies for preventing and controlling infectious diseases.

Some innovations we need to see include research on the influence of climate change on disease transmission, the creation of new vaccines and drugs, and the evaluation of innovative prevention and control measures.Collaborations between the public and private sectors are also imperative in order to leverage resources and expertise in developing and implementing climate-resilient, innovative solutions that can address the health impacts of climate change.

Promoting behavior change to mitigate challenges

Education and awareness campaigns will encourage behavior change focusing on the risks of climate change and infectious disease. In the face of climate change and an increasingly interconnected world, it is imperative that individuals take proactive measures to reduce their risks. Such efforts can include handwashing, safe food preparation and storage practices, and other hygiene measures. Community engagement is critical in promoting behavior change, ranging from identifying local health needs to developing and implementing culturally appropriate health programs. Community health workers play an important role in delivering health education and promoting behavior change within their communities.

Traditional healers and community leaders also serve as resources for their communities, and their knowledge must be incorporated into future resilience design. Behavioral change can be incenvtiveed at the individual level, such as through rewards for households that adopt sustainable practices. Incentives can also be depoloyed at the community level, such as in encouraging widespread adoption of climate-resilient ag (drought-resistant crops, drought-sensitive irrigation, etc.). At the civic, regional, or national level, regulations and policies come into play in promoting systemic behavior change. Examples include clean energy requirements, or safe hygiene practices in healthcare facilities. Policies could also encourage sustainable farming practices, such as crop rotation and conservation agriculture.

Addressing immediate implications of climate change

Efforts to build climate resilience to reduce Africa’s vulnerability should also provide communities with basic amenities to weather the impacts of climate change. Amenities such as access to water and sanitation, electricity for productive use, clean cooking and climate-smart agricultural systems, and food preservation methods enable sustainable rural landscapes. Governments should encourage investment into standard primary health care centers to respond proactively to emerging infections through a “ONE Health [6]” approach.

Conclusion

The impact of climate change on the transmission of infectious diseases has been significant, leading to health, economic, and security implications. A comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach involving all stakeholders—governments, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations alike—is necessary to address this challenge. Actionable solutions including strengthening surveillance and monitoring systems, ensuring climate resilience in healthcare infrastructure, investing in innovative research and development, promoting behavior change to mitigate challenges, and addressing immediate implications of climate change. By taking urgent action, we can improve the health and well-being of people on the continent, reduce the burden of infectious diseases, and promote sustainable development.

The intersection of climate change and infectious disease is a global challenge, and solutions developed for Africa can be applied to other regions of the world facing similar challenges. There is an urgent need for increased investment in addressing this challenge in other parts of the world. This investment will improve the health and well-being of people in Africa, as well as contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goal number 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all.

Additionally, the intersection of climate change and infectious disease represents one dimension of the interconnected impacts of climate change on all domains of life and society (e.g., agriculture, food systems, overall health, etc.). Solutions addressing this nexus should maintain perspective on the intersectional influences of climate change.

Dr. Chidiebere E.X. Ikejemba is the Director of Climate & Environment at Camber Collective. His body of work focuses on climate equity and justice, building resilient climate-smart development programs, strengthening political will for urgent climate change action and many other levers of activation. His theory of impact operates across both the upstream and downstream of a systems chain. that encompasses, just transition, agriculture & food security, migration, economic & rural development, climate education, waste management (circularity), healthcare, corruption and democracy, energy access, gender inclusion, carbon neutrality and other dimensions. The circularity of Camber’s approach and theory of influence is, we believe, the most congruous path to balancing economic reality and humanitarianism.  

Notes

¹ UNECA, “Climate Change and Health in Africa: Issues and Options,” United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, 2011.

² E. S. Brondizio, J. Settele, S. Díaz and H. T. Ngo, “IPBES (2019): Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services,” https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3831673, Bonn, 2019.

³ Kang G et al., “Improved surveillance of infectious diseases in resource-poor settings: The value of analytical epidemiology,” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 20, no. 10, pp. 1728-1735, 2014.

⁴ Nguh BL et al., “Assessing the healthcare delivery system: A cross-sectional survey of healthcare managers and administrators in Cameroon,” Journal of Hospital Administration and Management, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-11, 2017.

⁵ Mwapasa V et al., “The role of mobile health technologies in the fight against infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review,” Journal of Medical Internet Research, vol. 20, no. 8, p. e10756, 2018.

⁶ ‘One Health’ is an integrated, unifying approach to balance and optimize the health of people, animals, and the environment. The approach mobilizes multiple sectors, disciplines, and communities at varying levels of society to work together. This way, new and better ideas are developed that address root causes and create long-term, sustainable solutions. One Health involves the public health, veterinary, public health, and environmental sectors. The One Health approach is particularly relevant for food and water safety, nutrition, the control of zoonoses (diseases that can spread between animals and humans, such as flu, rabies, and Rift Valley fever), pollution management, and combatting antimicrobial resistance (the emergence of microbes that are resistant to antibiotic therapy).

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Challenges and Opportunities for Children’s Health in Sub-Saharan Africa

Through qualitative research, we identify three primary challenges impacting agricultural food systems and nutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa, all of which are further exacerbated by climate change: 

Population and urban growth: By 2030, Africa’s population is expected to increase by 42% over its 2015 population and the population in Sub-Saharan Africa will have doubled by 2050

Strained food systems: Sub-Saharan Africa’s continued malnutrition challenge is driven in part by food systems which cannot meet the needs of its populations

Income inequality: Some of the highest GDP countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, also have the highest prevalence of income inequality.

Climate change, through conditions of acute weather events and slow-onset effects, produces the following direct effects:  

Societal implications follow from the direct effects of climate change conditions:  

The coalescence of societal implications, direct effects, and climate change conditions—exacerbated by food systems—impacts nutrition: 

Access to nutritious food: By 2050, climate change will result in additional price increases of 5-25% for the most important agricultural crops

Utilization of nutritious food: More prevalent infectious diseases and worse water quality reduces the capacity to utilize nutritious food.

Availability of nutritious food: Reduction in food system productivity due to climate change limits the availability of nutritious food 

Access to nutritious food: By 2050, climate change will result in additional price increases of 5-25% for the most important agricultural crops

We identify key insights about the challenges posed by climate change and food systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: 

The nexus between climate change, food systems, and nutrition is not adequately recognized and resourced 

Impactful action requires extensive, catalytic collaboration and commitment by a vast collection of sectors and stakeholders 

Effective interventions will require forward-thinking policies and supportive government structures 

Food system solutions require innovative technologies and abundant capital investments which are tailored to the African context 

Synthesizing the challenges surfaced in the report, we identify seven opportunities for impact: 

1. Coalition Building: International Climate, Food Systems, Nutrition Collaboration and Advocacy 

2. Impact Investment: Convergence of Climate, Food Systems & Nutrition 

3. National Food Systems Support: Efficiency and Resilience 

4. Decreasing Impact of Reduced Nutrient Bioavailability 

5. Incentivizing Low Footprint, Resilient and Adaptive Agro-Practices for Smallholder Farmers 

6. Urban-Focused Behavior Change: Sustainable Consumption Patterns 

7. Innovation: Sustainable, Scalable Storage and Transport Solutions  

Read the full report here.

Dr. Chidiebere E.X. Ikejemba is the Director of Climate & Environment at Camber Collective. His body of work focuses on climate equity and justice, building resilient climate-smart development programs, strengthening political will for urgent climate change action and many other levers of activation. His theory of impact operates across both the upstream and downstream of a systems chain. that encompasses, just transition, agriculture & food security, migration, economic & rural development, climate education, waste management (circularity), healthcare, corruption and democracy, energy access, gender inclusion, carbon neutrality and other dimensions. The circularity of Camber’s approach and theory of influence is, we believe, the most congruous path to balancing economic reality and humanitarianism.  

The post Climate Change, Food Systems, and Nutrition appeared first on Camber Collective.

• Equity – exists when all people have access to economic opportunities, regardless of race, gender identity/expression, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, disability status/orientation, age, or any other identity, societal, or cultural factor.  
• Efficiency – is defined as reducing negative environmental impacts from economic activity. At the same time, efficiency entails deploying economic activity to drive increasingly positive environmental impacts.  
• Environmental Friendliness – is a principle that ensures new technologies don’t engender a downward spiral of life conditions for future generations.  

This climate-action approach unites science, economics, and politics, creating a shared understanding of both the societal/economic costs and the benefits. Just Transition goes beyond merely maximizing the social and economic opportunities of climate action—additionally, it seeks to minimize a wide range of common challenges. In so doing, it ensures effective social dialogue among all impacted groups.  

The Urgent Need for Just Transition 

The industrial revolution, powered by fossil fuels, delivered extraordinary growth over the past century, but the environmental costs were enormous ​[1]​. We live in a different era today, the age of climate emergency. Hence, Just Transition needs to happen fairly, and fast.  

Transitioning to a more resilient, green, and climate-neutral economy is an urgent task that governments, businesses, and individuals must address together. The combined efforts of all stakeholders—from national governments and local communities to citizens, civil society groups and companies—is key for success.

And while this new paradigm of climate protection is at once promising and challenging, particularly for developing countries, the imperative in this moment is to ensure a win-win outcome for all. To be “just,” a Just Transition must not only consider but prioritize and centre the needs of vulnerable groups. If successful, these solutions can result in the greening of economies, more deeply sustainable management of natural resources, and increased energy efficiency and waste reduction. And by addressing poverty, inequality, and gender gaps, Just Transition will also promote social justice and environmental justice.   

As a framework and guiding principle, Just Transition offers many opportunities for achieving local, national, and cross-cutting social objectives. It is unequivocally pro-growth and can potentially radically transform how decisions around future economies and societies are made. Again, this fact is particularly pertinent regarding low- and middle-income (LMI) countries.  

Another benefit of the Just Transition practice is that, if executed properly, it has the ultimate potential of eliminating poverty, by promoting human dignity, justice, and sustainable development ​[2]​. Conversely, planned solutions that ignore the Just Transition mindset prove to be inequitable, inefficient, and unsustainable. They risk missing essential decarbonization, sustainability, and economic targets. The result of this failure is precarity for the well-being of future generations.  

There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Solution: Localization Matters 

While many individual countries are determining what their greening processes will look like, we must bear in mind that each nation faces its own unique set of obstacles, both external and internal. These factors must be considered as country innovators, leaders and strategists collaborate on climate solutions with local stakeholders.  

In accordance with local societal, economic, demographic, resourcing, and marketing factors, nation-wide businesses and industries will need to adapt to new patterns of supply and demand. To succeed at this, in-country stakeholders will inevitably need to re-vision their traditional national business model or models. These future workforces and business owners will require new skills, experiences, and expertise—and they must be attuned to the communities, regions, and nations where the change is taking place ​[3]​.  

To engender a Just Transition approach that is applicable to each country’s needs, the localized policy environment will be a critical investment trigger. In designing policies, each country’s institutional and legal environment will be highly influential. 

The Mindsets and Collaborative Efforts That Will Drive Just Transition  

Sustainable development through Just Transition can only be accomplished through a collaborative effort from all stakeholders. This collaboration requires the engaged partnership of governments, businesses, communities, and individuals, all working together to maintain productivity while fostering interdependence. Otherwise said, sustainability is an ever-evolving process of integrating multiple stakeholders into a mutually beneficial, cooperative, and productive relationship.  

A solid social consensus is also essential to driving sustainability. Every party must remain focused on the goal, and committed to an ongoing and triangulated dialogue, along with collaborative design. Together, these parties can build a comprehensive, long-term, coordinated policy framework for the policies and procedures that will impact workforce, organizational grown, and provide essential social welfare services alike.  

In addressing both the current opportunities and the challenges around climate, policies and programs must also recognize the dimensions around gender. Gender is a powerful lens for understanding how humans connect with the environment through both work and leisure time ​[4]​. Because Just Transition seeks to ensure that all people, regardless of identity or situation, have access to healthy environments in which to live, work and play, gender is but one of the intersectionality that climate solutions must consider.  

A Just Transition model shows how all members of the population can be afforded an opportunity to create and contribute to shared prosperity. Thriving local economies, right livelihood, stronger communities and protected human rights are within sight.  

Also Needed: Resources and Truth-Telling 

While we recognize that climate solutions and economic and employment challenges inherently linked, we also must agree that no single factor, group of factors—much less the complexity of systemic intersections—can be tackled without significant additional resourcing.  

Furthermore, as much as we will acknowledge that Just Transition can deliver substantial financial, economic, and social impacts, we must consider the significant barriers that stand in the way of successfully implementing beneficial policies. One primary impediment is the entrenchment of vested interests within dominant political and economic systems.  

Since the Industrial Revolution and the colonial march, these systems have been formulated with little consideration for individual producers/workers, their livelihoods, or communities. This destructive cycle is acute in developing countries, where outdated development strategies explicitly and acutely increase greenhouse gas emissions and environmental degradation, as just one example. If we truly seek to improve the quality of life of people both in the Global North—and, more pressingly, the Global South—the new low-carbon economy must merge economic change with equally bold shifts in policies, institutions, and practices. Policy measures must both stimulate innovation and support the fast deployment of sustainable energy, low-carbon transport, waste management and sustainable land use.  

There already exists an overwhelming body of evidence to support the possible benefits of urgent climate action, despite the high price tag. One such report, from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is “The Economics of Decarbonization: Investment Needs for a Low-Carbon Transition in the Energy Sector,” finds that through at least 2050, “the more aggressive the decarbonization pathway is, the higher the rate of investment required would be ​[5]​.”  

Addressing the challenges of a Just Transition is not simply a matter of finding affordable solutions. It also requires deliberate attention to how a transition is financed and by whom; governments, private organizations, financial institutions, and the international populace all have critical roles to play. 

Beyond Dollars, Euros, Nairas, Dinars, Rands, and Pounds: Other Factors that Stimulate Successful Just Transition 

To be clear, however, addressing the challenges of a Just Transition is not simply a matter of affordability. Solutions also require deliberate attention to how the transition is financed, and by whom. As stated earlier, governments, private organizations, financial institutions, and the international populace all have critical roles to play. The local policy environment also needs to support creative collaboration: knowledge transfer, and the sharing of innovation in technology, as well as people talent, between firms and across industries will foster greater success.  

Policies that operate collaboratively greatly spur productivity and jobs creation alike. Particularly in the Global South, Just Transition outcomes also rely on unwavering private-public partnerships. Cross-sector collaborations of this sort will hasten the most sustainable and just engagement: bottom-up.  

With a bottom-up approach, individual and community stakeholder/beneficiaries—those who are best situated to understand the impacts of bold climate actions—can develop locally led, inclusive solutions with deeper and more sustainable impact. These outcomes are even more sustainable, particularly if donor funding or support were to diminish, as sometimes happens when Global North funders shift their programmatic priorities.   

Bottom-up approaches are key to Just Transition because they also slacken bureaucratic bottlenecks. Most importantly to the thesis of justice, however, is the fact that a bottom-up approach is a people-centered transition, putting trust and power in the hands of the underserved and neglected and communities. To put a finer point on it, it is an equitable countervalent to what is too-often a coercive demand of top-down approaches. Forcing market, behavioral, or systemic change through imposing policies and declarations may provide short-term gains and temporary satisfaction, but bottom-up tactics, rooted in the lens of lived experience and localized needs, provide the true sustainable solutions. 

When I was at COP27 earlier this fall in Sharm El Sheikh, there was much discussion about how the optimum moment to instigate Just Transition processes for climate was five years ago. Be that as it may, let there be no doubt: the next best time is right now.   

​[1]   ​E. Wrigley, “Energy and the English Industrial Revolution,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, p. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2011.0568, 2013.  

​[2]   ​S. Smith, “Just Transition: A Report for the OECD,” OECD, 2017. 

​[3]   ​” Securing the right skills for the future of work through social dialogue: Canada’s Future Skills Council and Centre,” Global Deal Good Practice, 2021. 

​[4]   ​ILO, “Gender, labour and a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all,” ILO, Geneva, 2022. 

​[5]   ​IEA and IRENA, “Perspectives for the Energy Transition – Investment Needs for a Low-Carbon Energy System,” IEA & IRENA, 2017. 

Dr. Chidiebere E.X. Ikejemba is the Director of Climate & Environment at Camber Collective. His body of work focuses on climate equity and justice, building resilient climate-smart development programs, strengthening political will for urgent climate change action and many other levers of activation. His theory of impact operates across both the upstream and downstream of a systems chain. that encompasses, just transition, agriculture & food security, migration, economic & rural development, climate education, waste management (circularity), healthcare, corruption and democracy, energy access, gender inclusion, carbon neutrality and other dimensions. The circularity of Camber’s approach and theory of influence is, we believe, the most congruous path to balancing economic reality and humanitarianism.  

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Food Security, Urban Migration, Healthcare, Economic Wellbeing & Population Displacement

The Global South, particularly countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face the highest risk of climate vulnerability and developmental issues exacerbated by climate change. For example, the African continent contributes only a small percentage of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but its inhabitants are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change and have the least infrastructure for climate resilience. These issues brought about by climate change impact local environments and trigger several serious problems that threaten the livelihood of most residents. If progressively left unchecked, these issues will undoubtedly create a near-term catastrophic retrogression in the region’s economy.

According to a study on the effects of climate change, a mere 1 °C increase in temperature in developing countries has been found to cause 2.66% lower growth in agricultural output (1). This factor alone leads to, for each degree of warming, an estimated average 1.3 percentage point-drop in economic growth.

Survival on the Line

To put it simply: as humans, our survival is based on the availability and access to Food, Clean Air, Water and Shelter. With any one of these basic needs unmet, humanity can no longer survive. Indeed, climate change threatens the availability of these resources. Of course, this is not new news – but it is urgent. A great deal must be done to return to a state of equilibrium. In rural areas of developing countries, the impacts of climate change dangerously affect the agricultural industry. Particularly, in the SSA region, farming and agriculture are the sectors at the forefront of food security and sustainable jobs. The sector also employs roughly two-thirds of the regional labor force.

The yield potential of many African crops is however not fully realized, due to over-reliance on resources such as inadequate (rain)water and a dearth of nutrients to boost crop production. Rainfed agriculture yields fewer crops, further contributing to a stunted agro sector in Africa. This dearth impacts both livelihood and survival. In addition to creating drag on local economies, poor crop yields force smallholder farmers to seek additional or alternative sources of livelihood, initiating a cascade effect that leads to forced migration to now over-populated urban areas and cities.

While urbanization is generally beneficial, most of Africa’s city dwellers live in extreme poverty—and economic suffering that is likely to increase as climate change worsens. As urbanization rates increase in some developing countries, we are beginning to see a corollary of negative wellness outcomes such as poor nutrition, pollution-related illnesses such as respiratory disease, a rise in communicable diseases, poor sanitation, and uninhabitable housing conditions. (2)

These detriments further strain available resources in urban areas. For example, Lagos is one of the world’s 10 largest cities, sprawling across 1,000 sq. km and housing 20 million inhabitants in a largely chaotic and impoverished setting. Most residents live in informal settlements, also known as slums. With no holistic water or sanitation system, disorganized transportation and extreme traffic congestion, and massive environmental issues such as noise and air pollution, this coastal city is a cataclysm waiting to happen. Indeed, it is predicted that by 2100, Lagos will be the world’s largest city, squashing 100 million people in a grave environmental and social setting.

The predicted major health problems of Lagos residents are further exacerbated by the generally poor quality of health service delivery. Less than half the continent’s population has access to health care, and family planning services are unavailable to half the continent’s women and girls.

While private healthcare is available to some, its high cost makes it unattainable to most people, as the region’s largest social challenges include unemployment and vulnerable employment, which are often linked with the effects of climate change. These challenges are growing in severity, as population growth remains high, and poverty and unemployment are also on the rise. Likewise, climate vulnerability is aggravated as there are little to no infrastructure for climate adaptation. 

Job Demand Outweighs Supply

The World Bank reported in 2013 that there would be 10 million new entrants to the labor force every year. As of 2017, other institutions—such as the International Labor Organization (ILO)—have reported that there are at least 20 million young people looking for work every year. The number of job seekers on the African continent is increasing significantly and despite all efforts so far to create more formal jobs for young people, very few of them currently stand a chance of finding employment. The statistics are stark: each year 20 million young people enter the labor market, with only a few gaining formal employment. On the potentially brighter side the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) estimates that if the sector continues to develop, renewable energy jobs could employ 43 million people by 2050.

An example of this discrepancy between job supply and demand can be seen in the country of Uganda. 400,000 young Ugandans enter the job market annually, competing for approximately 52,000 formal jobs.(3) For girls and young women, the job attainment situation is particularly dire. With fewer opportunities to work in the formal labor market, young women are often forced to seek work in the informal economy. As previously noted, climate change continues to disrupt agricultural productivity and supply chains, leading to further regional displacement from rural regions and larger cities alike, with many having no choice but to undertake the long and treacherous journey of (illegal) migration to the EU.

A Moral Obligation to Act

The Global North is responsible for 92% of excess global carbon emissions, according to a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health (4). The findings, based on the idea that the atmosphere is part of the global commons, are worrying considering many experts consider it critical to protect against global warming and climate change. There is a moral obligation to deliver upon the Polluters Pay Principle (5). It spurs sustainable development through the development of innovative strategies for climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience for developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in rural regions to ensure sustainable development.

Each further delay in redressing the detriments of climate development disequilibrium will result in future situational overload, making climate mitigation even more difficult to reach, and destroying the wellbeing and livelihood of millions of people in the not-very-distant future. For those who remain unswayed by the humanitarian imperative, a parallel emergency, based on economic is also evident: delay or lack of climate investment, infrastructure, and innovation applications in the rural and super-urban and rural areas will only make sustainable transition even more exigent. Tangentially, it will also make change, which will become necessary one way another, extremely more expensive.

Over the next series of blog posts, we will further examine the intersection and impact of climate induced changes and development.

Dr. Chidiebere E.X. Ikejemba is the Director of Climate & Environment at Camber Collective. His body of work focuses on climate equity and justice, building resilient climate-smart development programs, strengthening political will for urgent climate change action and many other levers of activation. His theory of impact operates across both the upstream and downstream of a systems chain. that encompasses investment, agriculture & food security, migration, economic & rural development, climate education, waste management (circularity), healthcare, corruption and democracy, energy access, gender inclusion and other dimensions. The circularity of Camber’s approach and theory of influence is, we believe, the most congruous path to balancing economic reality and humanitarianism.

Sources

1 – Dell, M., Jones, B. F., & Olken, B. A. (2012). Temperature Shocks and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century. American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, 66-95.

2 – Kuddus, A., Tynan, E., & McBryde, E. (2020). Urbanization: a problem for the rich and the poor? Public Health Review

3 – Kappel, R. (2021). Africa’s Employment Challenges – The Ever-Widening Gap. Bonn: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.

4 – Hickel, J. (2020). Quantifying national responsibility for climate breakdown: an equality-based attribution approach for carbon dioxide emissions in excess of the planetary boundary. The Lancet Planetary Health, 399-404.

5 – The Polluters Pay Principle is the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment.

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