INDIVIDUALS, households, organisations, institutions, nations and global climate communities have their own climate resolutions for 2025.
Some climate action resolutions stem out of the unfinished climate business of 2024, while some originated from the unfinished climate concerns at local, organisational, institutional and national climate goals never fulfilled.
Some climate resolutions stem out of the treacherous and dismal showing of developing countries at the just ended global landscape of COP29.
The choice of words like “unfulfilled” or “unfinished” climate action business are polite terms for signifying failure.
Of course, nobody wants to fail, but failing is the best learning curve too.
People always learn from their past mistakes, to smarten up, build their future and resilience.
It is only in climate action strategies that stakeholders do not seem to learn much and realise the folly of their climate behaviours.
The reason being that the same mistakes that led everyone to these current climate problems continue to be repeated.
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All the climate stakeholders, from the local to the global landscape, have their climate adaptation and mitigation unfulfilled.
All these would amount to collective desired climate action strategies designed to change the world and make it a better place.
The overused term “climate action” emanates from desired action plans that every climate stakeholder envisages.
Every action would not look that bright and beautiful, but hidden in some climate actions are climate truths, deceptions, chaos and lies.
There are climate success stories that have been witnessed in 2024 and before, visualised, contextualised and fulfilled.
There has also been a wave of climate disinformation, misinformation and miscommunication, designed to counter the recorded climate gains by twisting and falsifying the global climate communication narrative.
The global climate challenges that defined climate action strategies in 2024 and before would establish themselves as collective climate resolutions for 2025 and beyond.
This means that climate challenges and risks like flooding, drought, extreme weather conditions and rising temperatures, heatwaves, carbon emissions, loss and damage, wildfires, deforestation and degradations, advocacy, early warning systems (EWSs), among others, are ongoing, recurring and reshaping, thereby proving difficult to manage.
All the climate risks named above can be contextualised in different formats.
Therefore, every stakeholder has a role to play and become part of a long framework of global climate initiatives.
What this means is that collective efforts should be seen in managing floods, through mapping, planning in terms of before, during and after the flooding.
This year, there should be a reduction in flood-related deaths, injuries and even cases of trauma.
Relocation of flood victims needs to be prompt and swift to avoid casualties.
There should be improvement in climate proof infrastructure like strong bridges, roads, schools, clinics and houses designed to absorb and withstand flood shocks.
A systems approach and thinking are required to make every connection and structure part of a supportive system.
Managing floods and the provision of timely early warning updates would cushion communities from climate-induced loss and damage to infrastructure, livelihoods and human lives.
EWSs normally empower the public with disaster preparedness information and providing scientific forecasting indicators for approaching climate hazards.
These also include the need for integration between scientific early warning systems with indigenous knowledge systems, indicators.
The current El Niño-induced drought, which is threatening to repeat itself in the new year, needs lots of planning, actions and mechanisations.
There is need for maximum utilisation of water bodies to irrigate fields so as to improve food security, fight hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
Irrigation is key in transforming food supplies and adaptation to the impacts of climate change.
This also includes investing in climate smart agriculture, where solar power is used for clean agricultural purposes, conserve water and increase yields.
Food security is everyone’s responsibility and is key to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) 1 (no poverty), 2 (zero hunger), 3 (good health and wellbeing), 6 (clean water and sanitation) and 13 (climate action), among others.
There are human behaviours that need to be toned down such as reducing wildfires as well as taking a back step in deforestation.
In that area, ongoing climate awareness is a necessity too.
Citizens should know that fire education and forest conservation literacies are key to sustainable development.
Trees and water are essential livelihood options, otherwise without trees there would not be water resources.
For local communities, narrowing knowledge gaps is essential for climate literacy.
Early climate action plans should be strengthened at local levels and harmonised with regional and global actions.
Climate mitigation challenges are mostly sector-specific, while climate adaptation challenges are much widespread and localised.
Mitigation emission sectors involve energy, transport, agriculture, forestry and other land uses.
Waste management issues also fall under the mitigatory category.
For these reasons, people need to cut down on emissions at home, companies, businesses and local areas so that they reduce their carbon footprints and realise carbon efficiency.
Those in the transport sector are required to be actively involved in their emission reduction activities through managing truck, car, lorry, air and sea transport emissions, among others.
The solution: Cycling, although we know that many people do not like the idea, although it has both ecological and physiological benefits.
The agricultural sector as well is quite emission intensive as fossil fuels power machines such as tractors, combine harvesters, trucks carrying agricultural produce and commodities to and from the markets.
The energy sector is also emissions loaded and stakeholders should vigorously participate in low carbon transitions, while investing in solar, wind, biogas energy and practising smart agriculture.
Smart agriculture has multiple benefits like water conservation, environmental upkeep, moisture retention while at the same timecutting down on costs.
In this regard, renewable energy uptake needs to improve in 2025 and beyond to deliver communities and sectors from over reliance on fossil fuels generated products.
Our forests should come as a number one priority in terms of respecting and sanctifying them through avoiding deforestation however small or huge.
Where deforestation has occurred, there is need for rehabilitation through reforestation and afforestation programmes that will, in turn, contribute to the greening of the environment.
Trees have essential benefits as they can also be used for carbon markets and trading.
Among the various forms of climate risks and challenges that can be turned into climate opportunities, surely individuals, institutions, companies and organisations cannot fail to find one or a few climate resolutions to work on and change the complexion of the environment.
There are so many climate resolutions that stakeholders can engage in, while these outlined above serve as sustainable pointers.
- Peter Makwanya is a climate change communicator. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted on: petrovmoyt@gmail.com
