‘I have learnt two things from this workshop: responding to climate change is a matter of urgency, and it’s not that difficult for us to make a difference in our countries.’

Stephen Forbes, Director Botswana, was speaking after the British Council’s second annual sub-Saharan Africa Climate Workshop, held in Johannesburg recently.

‘I will be taking some of the things that were discussed here back to Botswana and implement them in my office,’ he added.

The aim of the workshop was to build a regional team for the development and delivery of the British Council’s climate work.

External participants were there to advise the British Council on ways to ‘green’ their offices and reduce their carbon footprint.

Among these advisors was Jerry Harrall, an architect. His presentation focused on how the British Council could make offices more environmentally friendly. Harrall spoke about using solar energy and natural ventilation rather than air conditioners.

He thanked the British Council for giving him the opportunity to share his work. ‘I am privileged to be around such intelligent people who have hope for Africa.’

Speaking at the workshop, MC and Director British Council Nigeria Peter Upton said climate change was an urgent matter for debate.

The author of the book Guerrilla Gardening, Richard Reynolds, gave a presentation about the guerrilla gardening movement, why it matters and how it can be replicated.

He described this as the illicit cultivation of someone else’s land, or people gardening in public spaces to beautify those pieces of land. Gardening takes place at night to minimise run-ins with authorities.

‘Guerrilla gardening makes good use of land that wouldn’t otherwise lift people’s spirits, for purposes such as beautification, food, community life, expression and business.’

Jane Hendry, of the British Council in Nigeria, said she enjoyed the experts’ presentations at the workshop.

‘I learnt a lot from them and that inspires me to make a positive change in the way I run my projects in Nigeria. Out of these workshops I start asking myself questions like how I can do things better.’

‘The workshop gave me a lot of new ideas,’ said Deputy Director Zimbabwe Ignatius Mabasa.

‘I have many exciting ideas flowing in my head right now. I have been doing a lot of work trying to establish what has already been done locally. In terms of policy a lot is happening in Zimbabwe which we aren’t part of.

‘I now have a sense of how we can engage with organisations that are doing work at the grassroots level. In Zimbabwe there is a need for a co-ordinator who will create an enabling environment for work on climate change. We hope that we will be able to network more and find ways to take the process forward,’ said Mabasa.

To find out more about climate change in Africa, visit this page. To read more about British Council events and programmes, please visit this page. Read our latest news here: News in Africa section.