World Earth Day: MBPP Coalition Urges Govts to Protect Africa’s Ecosystem

Venica Uchechukwu Enugu 

As the world commemorates Earth Day 2026 today, the Africa Make Big Polluters Pay (MBPP) coalition has called for urgent and concrete action to address the escalating climate crisis and the systemic forces driving environmental degradation across Africa.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the coalition said this year’s theme, “Our Power, Our Planet,” underscores the reality that the climate emergency is no longer a distant threat but a present and intensifying emergency. 

“Whether in the forests of Kenya, or in Nigeria’s grasslands, from biodiversity loss and extreme heat, to erratic rainfall, rising sea levels, and climate-induced displacement, the impacts are already being felt globally,

with disproportionate consequences for countries in the Global South, particularly across Africa, which contributes the least to global emissions but bears a disproportionate burden,” the coalition stated. 

It stressed that Africa must not continue to serve as a testing ground for experimental carbon schemes or externally imposed solutions that fail to address deep-rooted inequalities.

 It also rejected the positioning of African lands and ecosystems as sites for unchecked extractivism under the guise of green transitions, carbon offset markets, or mineral-driven energy agendas that reproduce historical patterns of exploitation. 

Reaffirming the Polluter Pays Principle, the MBPP coalition called for strict accountability from fossil fuel corporations, including Shell, Chevron, and ExxonMobil in the Niger Delta, as well as from Chinese companies in the Congo and other industrial actors whose activities continue to degrade ecosystems, erode livelihoods, and increase adaptation burdens. 

“As exploitation of Africa’s resources grows, the earth’s climate deteriorates,” the group stated. “The coalition hereby calls for an immediate halt to all new fossil fuel exploration and a structured, time-bound phase-out of existing infrastructure.

Furthermore, the group also demanded a strong transition and governance framework that respects ecological sovereignty and prioritises the rights of communities in Africa who steward these ecosystems. 

It added: “We reject the growing commodification of nature through carbon markets, biodiversity offsets, and speculative ecological finance mechanisms, which often allow continued emissions in industrialized economies while shifting ecological burdens onto the Global South. 

“Ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, soils, and oceans, must be protected by streamlining practical solutions across all government policies as living systems rather than reduced to tradable financial instruments.”

Affirming the significance of soils in ensuring food security, carbon storage, and ecosystem stability, the MBPP Coalition warned that increasing pressures from industrial agriculture, reckless mining, and poorly regulated carbon offset projects ,threaten soil integrity. 

“Soils, the coalition believes, are a dynamic component of the earth and living systems essential to climate regulation and biodiversity, and must not be treated as tradable carbon sinks.”

Therefore the MBPP coalition stressed that meaningful climate action must embrace systemic transformation, end fossil fuel dependence, and prioritise community-led and Indigenous governance of natural resources. 

It added: “This year’s Earth Day must go beyond symbolic observance and instead signal a decisive shift toward ecological protection, enforceable climate justice, and systemic accountability. 

“The MBPP Coalition affirms that without holding major polluters accountable, ending fossil fuel expansion, and rejecting extractive and commodified approaches to nature, global climate goals will remain unattainable. 

“We therefore call for urgent action grounded in collective responsibility and the shared agency of people, communities, and governments to confront the climate crisis.”

The Africa MBPP coalition is a group of over 32 organizations across the continent, committed to holding polluting corporations accountable for their significant contributions to the climate crisis. 

Through the MBPP Storytelling Platform, the coalition illuminates the detrimental effects of transnational corporations’ extractive practices, challenges misleading and false narratives, and advocates for sustainable alternatives.