Advancing Climate Justice and Humanitarian Action: Celebrating African Women's Leadership

Celebrating Prof. Okorodudu-Fubara from Obafemi Awolowo University and Ms. Joyce Msuya from the United Nations:

The month of March is Women’s History Month, a unique period that marks women’s historical and contemporary achievements across the world. In line with this significant moment and the impetus for gender equality, the African Women’s Leadership Series celebrates African women’s outstanding contributions and examines the prevailing challenges that still require intensified investments for change to empower women.

For our third instalment in the series, we are celebrating African women leading on climate justice. As the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report recently published in February 2022 shows, women are disproportionately impacted by climate change particularly in Africa, but our guests are climate champions that have overcome the barriers. They are Prof. Okorodudu-Fubara, one of the founding mothers of environmental justice research and education who laid the foundation for climate justice work in Africa, and Ms. Joyce Msuya, a United Nations leader who has worked hard to advance climate justice in global policy and Africa. Our honorees will share their journeys, challenges, and advice to emerging young female climate leaders. There will also be an opportunity to ask them questions.

Organized by Allard PhD Candidate, Temitope Onifade, and his team and collaborators at the UBC School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (UBC SPPGA) and the United Nations, this event is brought to you on behalf of the Liu Institute Network for Africa (LINA) and the Collective for Gender+ in Research hosted at the University of British Columbia’s Office for Regional and International Community Engagement (UBC ORICE).

PANELISTS:
 

In February 2022, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Joyce Msuya of Tanzania as Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator in the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). With 2,200 staff across 60 countries around the world, OCHA is the UN entity responsible for bringing together humanitarian organisations to ensure a coherent and timely response to emergencies. Ms. Msuya brings more than 20 years’ experience in international development and finance, spanning strategy, operations, and partnerships, and with diverse assignments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.  Since 2018, Ms. Msuya served as Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. Between 2018 and 2019, she served as UNEP’s interim Executive Director at the Under-Secretary General level, leading the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly and mobilizing resources to support its mission.  

Professor Margaret Okorodudu-Fubara is a 1972 graduate of the University of Lagos. After becoming a lawyer in 1973, she obtained her master’s and doctoral degrees in 1977 and 1980, respectively, from Harvard Law School, USA, after a first master’s degree from the University of London, UK, in 1975. She is the 1st Professor of Environmental Law in the ECOWAS sub-region, 2nd Professor of Environmental Law in sub-Saharan Africa, and the 1st Woman Professor of Law in Nigeria’s first generation/federal university.

Moderator. Elsabé Boshoff is a Doctoral Fellow at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo. Her research focusses on the right to sustainable development as an emerging human right in the African human rights system. Broadly, she is interested in human rights issues related to environment, sustainable development, extractive industries, and transitional justice, with a primary focus on the African context.