Africa’s Creatives Are Promoting Sustainability to Combat Climate Change

Despite its massive population, Africa currently contributes the least of all continents to global carbon emissions, but rapid development threatens to shift the scales. Fortunately, a growing number of creatives are voicing concerns and taking action to promote sustainability across the worlds of architecture, fashion, and visual arts. Architecture’s most prestigious honor—the Pritzker Prize—was recently awarded to Diébédo Francis Kéré, a Burkinabè-German architect known for ingenious, climate-resilient structures, that draw on historic architectural best-practices from his country of origin, Burkina Faso. Another example is, Rwanda’s Gahanga Cricket Stadium, which opened in 2017. It has been recognized for utilizing sustainable construction methods. It won awards for its distinct design that blends the stadium into the surrounding area and merges cricket with Rwanda’s famously hilly terrain. In Ghana, the seat of the presidency, Jubilee House draws upon local culture for the design of the structure. In the quest for sustainability, solar panels are being installed as part of the government’s “Solar Rooftop Programme” to utilize solar energy to power government buildings.

SOURCE: QUARTZ AFRICA