Announcing Climate Narratives Lab: Navigating the Politics of Climate Narratives

Surge Africa Organisation, in partnership with The Instituto Procomum (IP), is excited to announce the Climate Narrative Labs, set to take place in Santos, Brazil from June 19 to June 22, 2024. The event, themed Climate Narrative Lab will delve into the critical intersection of political communication and climate justice advocacy in Latin America and the African continent.

This Lab is happening at a critical juncture where partnerhsip and collaboration among global southern allies is integral in shaping a global agenda that takes into account indigenous struggles for environmental justice.

The Climate Narratives Lab will bring together activists, storytellers, indigenous voices, and environmental and human rights defenders to delve into strategic communications and public engagement as powerful tools to advocate for greater accountability on people-power dynamics as it relates to environmental justice. The lab also aims to bridge political communications gaps in climate justice advocacy by addressing core issues that intersect race, neocolonialism, finance, equality, social justice, among others across Africa and Latin America.

From June 18 to June 19, the Lab will host a seminar with guests from Baixada Santista, Brazil and Nigeria. On June 20 to June 21, there will be an immersive lightning lab format where 25 selected individuals will immerse themselves in the development of prototypes related to climate narratives in arts, activism, international cooperation, and open data. 

The international collaboration is being run under SurgeX Media, a project of Surge Africa that promotes impact storytelling, cultural movements and narrative change across the global south. The Climate Narratives Lab marks SurgeX's inaugural Lab in Latin America, with the aim of exploring connections from socio-cultural and political dynamics that shape both Latin American and African continents.

The Procomum Institute, through its citizen laboratory, Lab Procomum, is committed to developing creative, innovative and collaborative solutions to improve people's lives and solve contemporary problems.  Since 2019, Lab Procomum has been working to strengthen prototypes (ideas, projects and interventions) linked to climate adaptation, focusing their efforts on the people who suffer most from its effects.