Africa knows the weight of the climate crisis more intimately than most. From parched farmlands to swelling floods, the scars of a warming planet run deep here. And yet, our continent contributes the least to this crisis. This imbalance is why calls for accountability, equity, and repair are growing louder, and why this moment is being named for what it is: the decade of reparations.
At the continental level, the African Union (AU) has declared 2025 the Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations. More than that, the AU has launched a Decade of Action on Reparations and African Heritage (2026–2036), committing the next ten years to repairing the legacies of slavery, colonialism, ecological destruction, and systemic inequality.
This vision sits alongside the United Nations’ International Decade for People of African Descent (2025–2034), which calls for recognition, justice, and development for African and Afro-descendant communities globally. Together, these frameworks mark an unprecedented moment in history, where continental and global bodies are aligning around the call for reparations as a pathway to justice.
Recently, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion that gave hope to many. It affirmed what communities on the frontlines have always known: that reparations are not only about money. They are about healing. They are about restoring ecosystems, reviving biodiversity, compensating those harmed, and ensuring dignity and justice for people and nature alike.
It was in this spirit that the African Union ECOSOCC, the African Futures Lab, and Biophilic Conversations came together to co-host a powerful webinar. The dialogue brought together thinkers, doers, and dreamers to ask:
What does climate reparations mean when defined from an African perspective?
How can Africa shape its own strategy as we move towards COP30?
What alliances can we build across the Global South to strengthen our collective voice?
The conversation was not abstract. It was urgent. It was about reclaiming agency. It was about saying: we will define what justice looks like for Africa.
This moment was made even more meaningful for us because of our Director and Operations, Mary Morrison’s recent appointment to the AU ECOSOCC Climate Change Working Group.
For us at Biophilic Conversations, Mary stepping into this space is a living example of what reparations look like in practice, voices from communities and civil society finding their way into continental policy tables. She brings with her not just expertise, but also a passion for ensuring that justice for people and justice for nature walk hand in hand.
From the beginning, Biophilic Conversations has been about reimagining the ways humans relate to nature. Reparations are at the heart of this. They ask us to remember that the climate crisis is not just an environmental issue, but a story of broken relationships, with the earth, with memory, with one another.
This is why we root our work in:
Narratives – storytelling as a form of repair, restoring cultural memory, and reshaping how justice is imagined.
EcoEngage – equipping communities with legal literacy and civic power, because justice must also live in laws and policies.
Green Careers – creating opportunities that allow young people to thrive while caring for the planet they inherit.
For us, reparations are about building futures where ecosystems and communities heal together.
This decade will be remembered as the decade of reparations. Not as a slogan, but as a turning point, when Africa rose to demand justice and to chart a new path. A decade where reparations meant planting trees, restoring rivers, investing in youth, telling our own stories, and repairing what was broken, both seen and unseen.
To everyone who made this conversation possible, William Carew, Kyeretwie Osei, Samira Ben Ali, Junecynthia Okelo, Lucien Limacher, Henrietta Ekefre, and our very own Mary Morrison, we say thank you. To our host, Dr. Patrick Toussaint, the African Union ECOSOCC, and the African Futures Lab, your leadership in creating these spaces of dialogue lights the way forward.
The work has only begun. Reparations are no longer a distant dream; they are a call to action, here and now. And Africa is answering.
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