“We need to learn from this pandemic on how we respond, on how we recover, but also in terms of how we treat nature,” Dr Musonda Mumba, Director of the Rome Centre for Sustainable Development and a leading African adaptation specialist, argues in an exclusive interview with CDKN.

She spoke with CDKN, shortly before taking up her new post, and when she was still serving as Head of Terrestrial Ecosystems at the United Nations Environment Programme, about how Africa is at a watershed moment for environmental protection.

“We’re seeing that climate change brings about an intersectionality of issues, whether it’s dealing with plastics, with food systems, with economics or with pollution, all of this is interrelated,” she said. “There’s a lot of drive and leadership being shown across the African continent [to deal with these interrelated pressures], which is great.”

She points to inspiring examples of integrated environmental restoration and livelihood development in Africa, which offer real shoots of hope for the future:

“We’ve seen what the African continent is doing in terms of addressing the impacts of climate change, for example, the African Great Green Wall initiative, this is the world’s largest restoration initiative, it’s absolutely amazing. The communities there are involved in restoring this mosaic landscape, be it planting trees, planting grasses and also making sure the interventions are really meaningful and important…We’re beginning to see how the land is beginning to respond to this restoration agenda...and we are beginning to see in some areas rainfall patterns beginning to shift a little bit.” It’s a classic case where community engagement is driving changes that are valuable for people’s livelihoods and security.

This is one of six short video interviews that CDKN undertook with African adaptation experts to explore how the continent can accelerate adaptation. Find out more about the film series ‘Adaptation Voices’.