A more just environment in Africa, for women by women

When Adenike Oladosu first heard about Greta Thunberg's fight against climate change, she recognized her home country Nigeria needed to join this fight. But Oladosu also saw that Thunberg's initiative was practically unknown in her country. Adenike Oladosu decided to take matters into her own hands: The then 23-year-old started following Greta Thunberg on Twitter. When Greta followed her back, Adenike Oladosu felt that she was onto something. With her dream of a pan-African climate movement in mind, she launched Fridays for Future Nigeria. From there, "the movement started growing and growing,” she tells DW. 

Adenike Oladosu went on to blog and tweet regularly about the fight against climate change. In an interview with DW, she says: "I am trying to create an African perspective that people can relate to, and we can use it to solve different crises in our society because every society has its own perspective.”

Fighting climate injustice – online

Her main concern: climate injustice, on a geographical and social level. Despite the world facing the effects of climate change, Adenike Oladosu says, it disproportionately affects Africa. According to research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the African continent is warming faster than the rest of world – with the prospects of regions becoming entirely uninhabitable in the future. In 2019, Adenike Oladosu spoke about this at the UN Youth Climate Summit – demanding action from world leaders. In the same year, she received the Ambassador of Conscience Award by Amnesty International Nigeria.

For Adenike Oladosu, the quest for equality for women in society is directly linked to the fight against global warming – which is why she uses the term "eco-feminist” to describe herself:  "I call myself an eco-feminist because women have a very close relationship with the environment. It affects them due to energy poverty, lack of access to education, resources and water,” she says in an interview with DW. 
 

Less water, more threats against women

Three years ago, she also launched the eco-initiative "I Lead Climate”. Her initial goal of the organization was to make the fight against climate change a local affair. She wanted to raise awareness in and for the Sahel region, an area prone to conflict and violence against women.

Lake Chad in the Sahel region is still one of Adenike Oladosu's main focal points. The lake has been a source of livelihood – and water – for the some 30 million people in the lake-adjacent countries of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The shallow lake has been varying in size for centuries, but since the 1960s, the lake has shrunk by about 95% according to the United Nations Environmental Program.

For many women living in the area, the drying up of this main source means no income and further walks to get water for their families. A longer walk means more risks for them. Adenike Oladosu also points to a rise of abductions in the area, child marriages and the fact that more than two thirds of the displaced people in the area are women. The skrinking Lake Chad adds significantly to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

This increases the risk for them on the way. Adenike Oladosu also points to a rise of abductions in the area, child marriages and the fact that more than two-thirds of the displaced people in the area are women. She says this shrinkage underpins one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The power of the network

To fight for this to change, Adenike Oladosu translates her online activism into offline activities, taking a more traditional route to make sure to reach as many people affected as possible. Having a degree in Agricultural Economics, she meets with farmers in different districts – but she also goes to schools and universities, public and private alike. "I try to educate people about the impact because I believe that we must first know the problem before we can solve it,” she tells DW. And her approach bears fruit. She says she is receiving more questions at gatherings and the interest in sustainable farming alternatives seems to be growing.

Her main way of reaching out to women and others in her vast home country Nigeria, however, is still the internet. Using hashtags, she is able to group interests and create networks for those willing to join her effort. "Digital tools are important for us to see how we can bridge that gap in communicating needs to people. And that is what I'm using my social media channels for," Adenike Oladosu says to DW. "All of these things can help to reduce the adverse impact of the climate change crisis."

Her main way of reaching out to women and others in her vast native Nigeria, however, is still the internet. Using hashtags, she is able to group interests and create networks for those willing to join her effort. "Digital tools are important for us to see how we can bridge that gap in communicating needs to people. And that is what I'm using my social media channels to do," Adenike Oladosu says to DW. "All of these things can help to reduce the adverse impact of climate change crisis."