As it calls for climate finance, Africa can showcase homegrown fixes that are beginning to blunt the fallout from rising heat and failed rains.

African climate projects are restoring worn-out farmland, bringing back coastal mangrove forests and moving loans to smallholder farmers at a scale that is starting to show up in national figures. Backers are now pushing for better financing that outlasts donor grants at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, which ends on Monday, 28 September.

African countries are also pushing for changes to the global financial system to deal with debt, high borrowing costs and the flow of finance to developing economies.

The 2026 Africa Sustainable Development Report, published in July and produced by the African Union Commission, UN Economic Commission for Africa, African Development Bank and UNDP, finds that Africa has made measurable gains on water, energy, industrialisation, sustainable cities and partnerships.

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"Africa continues to make measurable gains across many development indicators, and progress is recorded in 12 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), mirroring the findings of previous assessments," the report says in part.

Still, it warns that the pace and scale remain inadequate, held back by financing constraints, infrastructure gaps, climate shocks, conflict, rising debt service costs and institutional capacity limitations.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that the current El Niño is likely...