Climate Resilience in Africa: A Grassroots Approach

This chapter scrutinizes Africa's growing climate change conversation and its multifaceted ramifications on economically developed and developing states. It aims to establish the nexus between climate change and its effects on predominantly rural and underserved African societies. Also, it explores African grassroots interventions in climate risk management to identify strategic contributions of highly remote and underserved communities to climate change adaptation and resilience. The central idea is climate resilience which encompasses the capacity of social, economic and natural systems to endure, recover, and develop in the context of climate shock. The concept of grassroots approaches relies on community activities formulated from local knowledge. The term refers to the unique understanding and practices developed by local communities from shared values and togetherness over generations. Grassroots initiatives often provide program-relevant solutions based on traditional African communities outside the institutional channels. Studying climate resilience from the bottom up is significant since conventional global approaches to managing climate change have yielded little or no practical solutions at the community level. The chapter therefore underscores the pressing need for more localized efforts and initiatives from indigenous people and local communities, which have demonstrated higher efficacy levels toward establishing sustainable adaptation practices acceptable to local cultures. This chapter examines climate resilience in Africa through grassroots approaches, emphasizing the crucial role of indigenous knowledge systems, local mobilization, and the respectful integration of technology. It critically examines how rural and underserved communities across Africa, particularly in northern Kenya, Rwanda, and Nigeria’s Niger Delta, respond to climate risks through community-driven solutions.The study employs the Community-Based Adaptation (CBA) framework, emphasizing participatory action research and the synthesis of traditional practices with modern technology. Case studies demonstrate how mobile technologies, such as climate service apps in Rwanda, and traditional governance systems, like the Borana Gada system, provide context-specific, culturally relevant solutions. In the Niger Delta, grassroots policy advocacy groups such as the Bonny Climate Resilience Initiative (BCRI) and the Ogoni Climate Adaptation Network (OCAN)demonstrate how local actors influence national climate adaptation policies. The chapter argues that a hybrid approach, blending top-down and bottom-up strategies is essential for scalable and sustainable climate adaptation.It concludes that while grassroots innovations are practical, challenges remain in digital access, policy integration,and funding sustainability. Nevertheless, empowering local communities through knowledge sharing, technological support, and policy engagement offers a transformative pathway for climate resilience in Africa.