Southern Africa Region Climate Action Network
Committed to combating harmful climate change!
Learn moreSouthern Africa Region Climate Action Network (SARCAN) is a non-governmental and not for profit organization. SARCAN is a network of member organizations from all over the region committed to combating harmful climate change. This network is based on trust, openness and democracy. It is first a network of organizations brought together by a common concern. The network of independent members of SARCAN act in terms of their own mandates and organizational aims and objects.
SARCAN’s goal is to promote Government and individual action to limit human induced climate change to ecological sustainable levels. SARCAN members work to achieve this goal through information exchange and the coordinated development of CSO/NGO strategy on international, regional and national climate issues. SARCAN has national network hubs that coordinate these efforts around the region. SARCAN members place a high priority on both a healthy environment and development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the future generations to meet their own needs.
The vision of SARCAN is a world striving actively towards and achieving the protection of the global climate in a manner which promotes equity and social justice between peoples, sustainable development of all communities, and protection of the global environment. SARCAN unites to work towards this vision.
2021 to 2025
This strategy will present the alternative solutions to the current systems that are causing the climate and social crisis, and would include the work we do around climate action plans, renewables, financial markets’ systemic change, just transition, building resilient communities and cities, addressing social injustice and inequalities, amongst others.
SARCAN will work towards supporting the development of demands, taking into account the needs and priorities of local communities and civil society stakeholders in their work for a Just Transition, including sustainable livelihoods and decent jobs that ensure gender and social equity. The
work on the Just Transition will not only focus on sectors and communities that need to be shifted away from fossil fuels (e.g. production and consumption of coal), but will also need to address those sectors in the economy and society already impacted by climate impacts (e.g. agriculture, tourism etc.).
SARCAN will therefore unite its network to clearly define and realize the fundamental role and space Civil society and communities hold in developing, shaping and creating radically transformative societies that are
based on community-driven values for societies that are socially sustainable, equitable, respective of human rights and ecologically healthy.
As part of this work we will challenge conventional solutions that reinforce
broken societal systems and instead bring about and support the development of bottom-up driven solutions as credible and sustainable alternatives.
This will include all the work on fossil fuels, false solutions, big agriculture, and other polluting sectors. It also includes working against the rise of autocratic, right wing governments, organizations and media.
SARCAN will support advocacy and campaigning by its Members, Nodes and other partners and coalitions with regards to ending investments in the production and consumption of fossil fuels.
In addition, SARCAN will oppose technologies, interventions and policies by governments and corporations that are being promoted under the guise of low/zero/net negative carbon and are either smokescreens that do not contribute to a 1.5° C pathway and leads to other unacceptable problems to the environment and society, such as for food security, biodiversity and injustice to vulnerable people.
The Power we want to build is the capability to influence, drive and/or push SARCAN agenda and mission. Power will be built through 3 pillars that are: To mobilise likeminded players in the climate change agenda and nexus issues, to connect with stakeholders who share same vision with SARCAN and lastly to influence power holders from local level to regional level. It will involve building on the lived experiences and knowledge of communities on the ground, and about
people on the ground building the ways and means to make their voices heard. Building power is therefore not an act of building the power of people, but about organizing among people to help unleash the power and agency that already exists
SARCAN will mobilize stakeholders from national level to regional level
making sure that they also join the network.
SARCAN will tuning into voices on the ground and collaborating with them to bring them into regional and international spaces Supporting and/or developing tactical campaigns together with those concerned voices from crisis-impacted communities.
Fore fronting voices from crisis-impacted communities
This includes all the work we do in the
UNFCCC as well as other multilateral fore
such as the G7 and G20, IMF/World Bank
meetings, CBD etc.
Office 13, First Floor, Zapalala Building
86 Herbet Chitepo Street • Bulawayo
+263 71 567 8123 (ZIM)
+27 79 784 5417 (SA)