We have been working in partnership with the United Nations High Level Climate Champions since 2021 to raise the topic of open burning of waste on the global agenda, leading to progress in reducing it. We are currently funding a Global Waste Lead, Dr Andriannah Mbandi, to translate learnings from Africa, globally.
Key successes so far include:
- Open burning raised on the agenda for the first time at a high level event at COP26
- Publication of ‘Open burning in Africa: challenges and opportunities’ report
- Resolution signed by 54 African Ministers at the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) to end open burning in Africa by 2040
- Implementation Lab at Africa Climate Week 2022 in Libreville, Gabon
- Implementation Lab and Solutions Roundtable at COP27
- Launch of Multi Stakeholder Partnership
Meet the Global Waste Lead
Dr Andriannah Mbandi's work supports the resilience and mitigation objective of clean air and equity in climate smart cities in Africa in the run up to COP26 through to COP27. It specifically focuses on the issue of open and uncontrolled waste burning which contributes black carbon emissions and air pollution with the aim to develop safe, nature-sensitive solutions based on emissions reductions which do not displace waste pickers and provide improved, safer livelihoods. She is working in collaboration with leaders and peers within the UN Climate Champions Team and external partners including the Marrakesh Partnership.
Andriannah is also building on the Safer End of Engineered Life mission's work to date to align and converge the evidence base, shape the narrative, indicators and create a manifesto that will lead to a range of solutions which are locally context specific on this issue, as well as developing the community of practice.
"Burning of waste is setting alight billions of dollars as this is a missed opportunity to protect the environment, sustain livelihoods, protect human health and reduce contribution ot climate change"
Dr Andriannah Mbandi
Dr Andriannah Mbandi is a chemical engineer, educator and an entrepreneur with 16 years of experience in manufacturing, hazardous chemicals and waste, climate change, mobility and air pollution. She supervises and teaches at the South Eastern Kenya University, as well as working for UNEP, African Governments and sits on various steering groups, including the African Group of Atmospheric Sciences (ANGA). Andriannah is an alumnus of the Faculty for the Future fellowship by the Schlumberger Foundation for women in STEM and a co-founder of AfriSTEM Connection, a company working to increase STEM awareness in underserved communities in Africa.
About the High Level Climate Action Champions
The four serving High Level Climate Action Champions, Gonzalo Muñoz, Nigel Topping Mahmoud Mohieldin and HE Razan Al Mubarak are responsible for mobilising stronger and more ambitious climate action amongst non-state actors. They have a mandate both from the Chilean, UK, Egyptian and UAE governments (as part of COP25, COP26, COP27 and COP28) and the UN Marrakesh Partnership. COP28 is a key moment for the Paris Agreement and for global leadership in climate change. To deliver on our ambition to make 2023 the most impactful year for climate action, we have established a team of nearly 100 global experts who work on a series of cross cutting special programmes and engage extensively with global leaders from across governments, regions, cities, businesses and communities. They use their unique mandate from UNFCCC and COP presidencies to activate and amplify initiatives at a global scale.
The team, which is hosted by the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, is made up of a mix of pro-bono secondments, sponsored roles, volunteers, and contractors.