16th October 2025
Vanessa Nakate also began her journey as a prophet as a solo protestor standing with a placard outside the Ugandan Parliament in Kampala. From here she has inspired a whole youth movement, drawing support from across Africa. Addressing the delegates at the pre-COP26 Youth Summit, she highlighted some uncomfortable truths: “In the past few years, I have seen more and more of how the climate crisis is affecting the African continent. Which is ironic given that Africa is the lowest emitter of carbon dioxide emissions of all continents, except for Antarctica… Many Africans are losing their lives, while countless more are losing their livelihoods.”
In 2022 she addressed Africa’s People’s AGM on EACOP. “It is evident that there is no future in the fossil fuel industry. In regards to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, many people think this is a way of [creating] jobs and economic development. But we know the impacts on our food. We know the impacts on our water. We know the impacts on our livelihood.”
“The International Energy Agency has made it very clear that if we want to [limit global warming] to 1.5 degrees Celsius, then we cannot have any new fossil fuel development. But even at 1.2 degrees, we already seeing the effects of the climate crisis on the African continent … the latest IPCC report projects that 700 million people in Africa will be displaced because of drought.”
Many of Vanessa’s contemporaries have been arrested and imprisoned for taking nonviolent direct action in opposition to the building of the pipeline. (You can read more in this Guardian article – https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/jun/12/uganda-oil-eacop-pipeline-protester-stephen-kwikiriza?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other)
To be a prophet is not necessarily to be respected or applauded: people do not like hearing uncomfortable messages – especially when they are truthful.
“Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.” UN secretary general, António Guterres, April 2022
The Green Tau 