PressBridge

Moroni, December 2025 – The Youth Climate Conference (COY21), held at the Retaj Hotel in Moroni, brought together experts and young activists committed to combating climate change. Among the speakers, Dr. Hamidou Sanfo, a lecturer and researcher in communication and human sciences, addressed the climate challenges through the lens of peace and human security.

Representing Burkina Faso, Dr. Sanfo—an accredited specialist in peace, human rights, and national reconciliation, as well as a civil officer in the demobilization and reintegration of populations affected by conflicts—emphasized the close link between climate instability and social vulnerabilities.

A Definition that Demands Attention
According to him, climate change manifests as a long-term alteration of global weather patterns, largely accelerated by human activities since the 19th century. Industrialization, deforestation, unregulated agriculture, and fossil fuel combustion are the major historical drivers, now compounded by practices such as the use of non-biodegradable plastics and chemical gold mining.

Consequences Beyond the Environment
The impacts of climate change are felt worldwide: heatwaves and cyclones in the Americas, desertification and reduced rainfall in Africa, food insecurity, mass population displacements like in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, and extreme pollution in New Delhi. Dr. Sanfo highlighted that these disruptions exacerbate tensions, crises, and conflicts, calling for a global and coordinated response.

Concrete and Urgent Solutions
The speaker stressed immediate and structural measures: limiting the import of old vehicles into Africa, promoting daily ecological civic responsibility, planting and maintaining trees, and rehabilitating soils degraded by gold mining.

His intervention underscored the importance of an integrated approach combining climate justice, governance, and peacebuilding. It provided the youth and policymakers in Moroni with concrete and urgent action pathways to address the current climate challenges.