Support is growing for Cape Town Climate Week, which ended on Saturday after six days of events highlighting climate and social crises, said the organisers. About 500 people, many of them new, joined activities in the fourth climate week held in Cape Town, said Stella Hertantyo, communications manager for the African Climate Alliance.
Intergenerational dialogue between activists, students, community leaders and residents drawn from across the city was lively, she said. Climate week has always been led by the youth and the crowd was about 50-50 young people, Hertantyo estimated.
Cape Town Climate Week attracts a more diverse crowd than the environmentalists and academics usually found in universities and in conference rooms where climate is on the agenda, said fellow organiser La’eeqa Martin. “We draw more grassroots support from across different neighbourhoods,” she said.
The week kicked off with a ‘Cycle for System Change’ event from Mowbray to Langa township, giving riders about 6 kms to enjoy another type of transport and another perspective on their divided Mother City.
“They could look around and notice differences and most stayed on for the next event in Langa on how to build more resilient housing against flooding and fires,” Hertantyo said.
On spatial injustice Buhle Booi, Ndifuna Ukwazi head of political organising, said: “Where someone lives and the condition of their home have a major impact on how they experience climate change, disasters and extreme weather events.”
The lessons from the Langalibalele event highlighted how the most vulnerable communities are mobilising and innovating to implement local solutions in the face of spatial injustice, said the organisers.
“People always ask ‘what can we do?’ and we want to connect people with local organisations in their areas,” said Hertantyo. “We were able to make these connections and they could put names to faces in organisations and networks.”
The African Climate Alliance hosted Cape Town Climate Week with 17 partner organisations across the city.
Sowing the Seeds of Change was a new event intended to highlight how climate justice connects water and energy inequity with issues such as food insecurity. The participants visited a food garden at the Edward Primary School and pocket-sized food gardens at flats in Elsies River.
Where someone lives and the condition of their home have a major impact on how they experience climate change, disasters and extreme weather events.
— Buhle Booi, Ndifuna Ukwazi
“They give residents access to safe green spaces and protect against food shocks,” Hertantyo said.
Participants also visited another food garden where a couple cultivate indigenous herbs and plants, and they went to the Queer Food Collective garden in Delft.
UWC student Sisipho Nqadala, who has attended climate week activities in previous years, found the 2025 programme a true learning experience.
“It is important to look at issues outside the institutions we live in,” said Nqadala, who is at the university’s gender equity unit.
“When we visited people who are growing their own foods, even with [few] resources, we saw how people are sharing seeds and knowledge.
“Today’s session on gender and health showed how it is mostly women who are impacted by flooding and fires and must continue to provide the labour and care ... the women carry the burden,” she said on Friday.
Reviewing the week Martin said: “It has been inspiring how people connected the dots between climate justice and everyday issues. That is at the core of what we want to do. We want to make the conversations about climate justice as tangible as possible.”
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