African civil society organisations are outraged by the Degrees Global Forum being hosted in South Africa next week, calling it an act of climate colonialism effort to co-opt the African climate movement, academics, and youth that will threaten the sovereignty, ecosystems, and futures of African peoples.

Under the guise of climate action, the forum plans to promote Solar Radiation Management (SRM) – a geoengineering technology observers believe will interfere with the Earth’s atmosphere with risk for catastrophic and unpredictable consequences.

“SRM is not a neutral scientific endeavor but a neo-colonial political development that reflects deep asymmetries of power, knowledge, and accountability. Attempts to deploy or test these risky, unproven and dangerous methods in Africa aims to turn the continent into a laboratory for the manipulation of the atmosphere, land, and oceans.

“These actions pose serious threats to environmental integrity, regional sovereignty, and the rights of communities across the continent and are designed to help global north countries to evade their responsibilities for causing the climate crisis while continuing to exploit and profit off Africa for fossil fuels and other resources to fuel their continued, unsustainable levels of over-consumption,” the Hands Off Mother Earth! (HOME) Alliance disclosed in a statement. 

HOME Alliance added: “The Degrees Forum is advancing an agenda that directly contradicts the continent’s position on solar geoengineering. In 2023, African ministers clearly expressed their opposition to Solar Radiation Management during the 19th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), stating their concerns on promotion of geoengineering technologies, particularly solar radiation management, and called for a global governance mechanism for non-use of Solar Radiation Management. This stance echoes the widespread concerns of scientists, academics, communities, and climate and environmental justice groups globally.

“This also comes off the back of a withdrawn, problematic resolution on SRM at the 6th session of the United Nations Environment Assembly in 2024, where African countries strongly advocated for the Assembly to reaffirm a precautionary approach to geoengineering, as established by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other UN bodies and called for non-use governance mechanism.

“Real climate solutions lie not in false solutions and dangerous distractions, but in approaches rooted in Indigenous knowledge systems, community-led adaptation, agroecology, and energy justice.”

African civil society leaders have been reacting to the development.

Dr. Mfoniso Xael, Programmes Manager, Health of Mother Earth Foundation, said: “Aside from being very commendable, the position of AMCEN on SRM – calling for non use Agreement on Geoengineeering – from their 19th ordinary session in 2023 was clear and projected the interest of Africans, especially those of indigenous groups and vulnerable nations. The fact that The DEGREES Initiative is planning to host their global forum on SRM this May in an African nation – South Africa, that call does not just go against AMCEN’s position but is also a cuff on AMCEN. This move greatly undermines the efforts that African Ministers are putting in to protect Africa and African people. This forum should not be held in Africa nor should the outcome of the forum be allowed to breed.”

Kwami Kpondzo, Director Centre pour la Justice Environnementale, Togo, said: “It is disappointing that despite the strong opposition to SRM on the continent, DEGREES Initiative continues to push for the modelling of SRM. The African continent and its peoples are not guinea pigs or objects for experimentation. Free us and free the continent from your absurd ideas of technologies that you think can help solve the climate crisis. It’s a distraction from real solutions.

Dean Bhekumuzi Bhebhe, Senior Advisor, Power Shift Africa, said: “They gather in Cape Town to debate spraying the sky, dimming the sun, and tweaking the thermostat as if Earth were a malfunctioning machine and Africa, the test bench. But Africa is not an experimental testing ground. The Degrees Initiative cloaks hubris in policy lingo, but geoengineering is not a solution it’s a techno-fantasy for avoiding real change.

“While we fight to stop emissions, they draft plans to rearrange their fallout. This is not innovation, it is in fact evasion. The climate crisis does not need solutions such as “solar radiation management”, it needs justice, courage, and the end of fossil fuels. Anything less is smoke and mirrors, mostly smoke.”

Amos Nkpeebo, FIDEP Foundation, Ghana, said: “The science is clear and so is the injustice. We cannot engineer our way out of inequality. In Africa, communities living on the frontlines of climate change are not asking for speculative techno-fixes like SRM that reinforce global power imbalances. They are calling for tangible investments in clean water, inclusive energy access, sustainable food systems and climate-resilient infrastructure.”

Josué Aruna, Executive Director of Congo Basin Conservation Society CBCS-Network DRC, said: “As Africans, our cultural values must remain the foundation of our development and our future. Highly dangerous technologies like SRM are leading us toward the distraction of the century, which whitewashes the responsibilities of Northern countries regarding climate change. We will never be ready to swallow global stupidity at the expense of our cultural and ecological future. Stop imposing your thoughts on us. Those who love Africa must invest in renewable energy, agroecology, and the restoration of degraded landscapes.”

Gideon Akoto, Friends of the Earth, Ghana, said: “As the climate crisis intensifies, powerful actors in the Global North are increasingly promoting geoengineering – technological interventions such as solar radiation modification and carbon dioxide removal – as urgent solutions. Many proposed carbon removal projects, for instance, rely on large-scale monoculture plantations that threaten food sovereignty, displace Indigenous peoples, and disrupt ecosystems.

“Similarly, solar radiation modification experiments could alter rainfall patterns and climate systems globally, with no meaningful participation or consent from the most affected communities. Climate justice demands a rejection of false solutions and a commitment to people-centered response led by frontline communities. The future of climate action must be rooted in equity, not in the continuation of colonial legacies through technological dominance.”

Kenneth Nana Amoateng Executive Director, AbibiNsroma Foundation, Ghana, said: “Degrees Initiative, respect Africa’s position on Solar Radiation Management. SRM will not solve the impacts of climate change but rather affect our oceans, biodiversity and our traditional medicine. African will be the biggest loser from geoengineering technologies. Degrees Initiative don’t Geoengineer Africa!”

Kamese Geoffrey, Bio Vision Africa (BiVA) Uganda, said: “Geoengineering is going on the African continent at the back of our communities. The African continent has been turned into a laboratory of diverse geoengineering tests, and we say no to the secretive manipulation of our continent for profits behind our backs. We demand Free, Prior Informed Consent so we can ensure these harmful technofixes do not happen in our lands, skies and oceans.”