The Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) has described as “reckless” remarks made by US President Donald Trump at the United Nations General Assembly, where he dismissed climate change as the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”.
Trump called the carbon footprint “a hoax”.
However, PACJA, the umbrella body of African CSOs on climate change, says such statements are scientifically false and morally indefensible.
“For millions of Africans, climate change is not a debate. It is a daily reality,” Dr. Mithika Mwenda, Executive Director of PACJA said.
“From prolonged droughts in the Horn of Africa, to deadly cyclones in Mozambique, to unprecedented floods displacing communities in West Africa, the crisis is exacting a devastating toll. Africa contributes the least to global emissions yet bears the brunt of its impacts. When powerful leaders mock the climate emergency, they undermine the global solidarity urgently needed to save lives and livelihoods”.
According to PACJA, Trump’s rhetoric emboldens climate denial, delays global action, and distracts from the responsibility of industrialised nations to lead in reducing emissions.
“The science is clear: without decisive mitigation, Africa faces a future of deepening hunger, water stress, conflict over scarce resources, and forced migration. Denying this reality is an insult to the children who go to bed hungry after crops fail, to the women walking longer distances for water, and to the young Africans whose futures are shrinking under the weight of an unjust crisis,” said a statement from Dr. Mwenda.
PACJA calls on all responsible leaders to reject climate denialism in every form, emphasising that the global community cannot afford to treat science as opinion or justice as optional.
“We remind world leaders that the Paris Agreement was not built on ideology, but on evidence and fairness. Its survival depends on recognising that addressing climate change is not charity, it is justice.
“We urge the United Nations, governments, and civil society worldwide to reaffirm their commitment to climate action, to stand with vulnerable communities, and to expose rhetoric that risks the lives of billions. It is our collective duty to uphold and amplify the truth: that climate change is real, urgent, and inseparable from the struggle for justice and survival,” said PACJA.
The group says members will continue to mobilise African voices to ensure that no amount of rhetoric, no matter how powerful the speaker, derails the urgent task of protecting lives, ecosystems, and the future of our planet.