A number of women across Africa have been included in this year’s BBC 100 Women list of inspiring and influential women.

Making the list this year is Jennifer Uchendu, the only Nigerian on the list, devoted to climate change and mental health advocacy, whose recent work has focused on exploring the impacts of the climate crisis on the mental health of Africans, especially young people.

The 30-year-old environmentalist runs SustyVibes, a sustainability-focused organisation, to draw leaders to action on the United Nations (UN) climate change conference, widely known as the Conference of the Parties (COP).

For the first time, to recognise the disproportionate impact of climate change on the lives of women and girls, this year’s BBC 100 Women list specifically highlights a group of women leading the battle against the climate crisis.

 By naming 28 Climate Pioneers from all corners of the globe, the BBC 100 Women list 2023 celebrates those inspiring and leading their communities to tackle and adapt to the devastating impact of climate change in their regions.  

The announcement of this year’s list kicks off the BBC’s 100 Women 2023 season – focusing on women’s right and diverse life experiences around the globe, with special content including interviews, documentaries, features, digital and social journalism, across the BBC’s UK and global TV and radio services, BBC iPlayer and BBC.com. 

The African women included in this year’s list are: 

• Ulanda Mtamba, a campaigner from Malawi advocating for enforcing existing laws that protect girls from early marriage, as well as for increased investment to address health risks associated with early pregnancy.
• Esi Buobasa, a Ghanaian fishmonger who helped set up an association aimed at helping women in the region, as their source of income is threatened by coastal erosion.
• Najla Mohamed-Lamin, women’s rights and climate activist from Western Sahara, and founder of the Almasar Library Centre, who wants to educate women and children on health and the environment in Saharawi refugee camps in south-west Algeria.
• Neema Namadamu, a disability rights adviser from the DRC who set up grassroot organisation Hero Women Rising, which uses education and technology to amplify women’s voices and teach them to advocate for their rights.
• Vee Kativhu, a content creator and YouTuber from Zimbabwe who launched Empowered by Vee, a platform through which she seeks to make higher education more accessible for unsupported or under-represented students around the world.
• Shamsa Araweelo, a female genital mutilation (FGM) campaigner from Somalia who educates and raises awareness through her powerful and direct online videos.
• Paulina Chiziane, a writer who became the first woman to publish a novel in Mozambique, with her 1990s debut, Ballad of Love in the Wind. She recently won the Camões Prize, considered the most prestigious writing award in Portuguese.
• Yasmina Benslimane, the Moroccan founder of Politics4Her, which promotes the participation of young women and girls in political and decision-making processes.
• Susan Chomba, a Kenyan scientist and director at the World Resources Institute, working to protect forests, restore landscapes and transform Africa’s food systems.

The African women named as one of the BBC 100 Women list’s 28 Climate Pioneers also include:

• Zandile Ndhlovu, South Africa’s first black female freediving instructor, who founded The Black Mermaid Foundation, exposing young people and local communities to the ocean.
• Jennifer Uchendu, a Nigerian mental health advocate who’s recent work has focused on exploring the impacts of the climate crisis on the mental health of Africans, especially young people.
• Wanjira Mathai, a Kenyan environmental advisor with more than 20 years experience, who led the Green Belt Movement, an iconic indigenous grassroots organisation in Kenya that empowered women through the planting of trees.
• Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, an award-winning Ugandan vet and conservationist, working to save the country’s endangered mountain gorillas, whose habitat is being eroded by climate change.

Other notable names from the BBC 100 Women 2023 list include former First Lady of the United States, attorney and campaigner Michelle Obama, footballer Aitana Bonmatí, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, actresses America Ferrera, beauty mogul Huda Kattan, AI expert Timnit Gebru, writer Oksana Zabuzhko and feminist leader Gloria Steinem. 

Yet it is the new names that make the BBC 100 women list so unique. Among them are the 28 Climate Pioneers, announced to coincide with the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, starting later this month in Dubai.

 They also include Paraguayan sprinter Camila Pirelli, Pakistani midwife Neha Mankani and Thai campaigner for indigenous and LGBTQ+ rights Matcha Phorn-in.  

Other women celebrated for their work tackling the climate crisis in different fields, include Brazil’s state minister Sonia Guajajara, firefighter Sofia Kosacheva, and climate advisers Iryna Stavchuk and Christiana Figueres.

The season will look at the practice of child marriage, as 12 million underaged girls are forced into marriage every year. It will explore the spike in climate anxiety concerns with a data-led project, and hear from women whose reproductive choices have been impacted by environmental concerns. It’ll go on the road with Mexican truck drivers in a heavily male-dominated and dangerous business, and also travel up the mountains with a group of shepherdesses who brought wealth and transformed their community in less than a generation.

 The full BBC 100 Women List 2023 can be found here: www.bbc.com/100women 

Liliane Landor, Senior Controller of BBC News International Services: “It is fantastic to see the truly remarkable women named on this year’s BBC 100 Women list. This diverse list of influential and ground-breaking grassroots women, who have been making a difference in their field –  from community level to international politics – are an inspiration to us all.

“In a year where extreme heat, wildfires, floods and other natural disasters have been dominating headlines, and where wars have weighed heavily, it is more important than ever that the BBC World Service continues to shine a spotlight on women globally and their fight back against climate change.”

Alongside the list, BBC 100 Women will present a season of specially commissioned content and documentaries, featuring the untold stories of some of this year’s BBC 100 Women, including: 

 In Conversation 

 BBC News will broadcast exclusive conversations with some of the most globally recognised women on this year’s list:

BBC 100 Women In Conversation: Amal Clooney, Michelle Obama and Melinda French Gates  

Each year, 12 million underaged girls are forced into marriage – a crisis that at the current rate will take over 300 years to fix, says the UN. Now, three of the world’s most high-profile humanitarians have vowed to tackle the issue together. In a BBC 100 Women exclusive, Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney and Melinda French Gates talk about the work they do to combat child marriage and amplify the efforts of grassroots organisations. 

Airs on BBC News on Saturday 25 November at 01:30 and 08:30 GMT, and Sunday 26 November at 07:30, 14:30 and 21:30 GMT