By Sarah Kirikumwino | 03 Aug 2025 | Laudato Youth Initiative – Presenter on Ethics and Spirituality of Integral Ecology, Laudato Si Africa Conference, LSAC Bethany Land Institute, July 23–25, 2025 – Stories of Young African Voices Advocating for Ecological Conversion”. As Africa commemorates 10 years since Laudato Si’, this conference asked a fundamental question: Where is Africa in the story of integral ecology? My response, from the Laudato Youth Initiative perspective would base on five strategic themes as taught and live in our leadership of young people in oor Laudato Si Clubs, while pointing to our hopes and growth opportunities to fordge the way forward after the conference.

Our culture, belief systems and traditions all praised and believed in forming young people from childhood about conservation practices; be it being taught to own gardens or raise animals at a young age in homes and schools, to hearing stories of the importance of traditions and totems and what they meant. Stories of faith interwoven in the life of Uganda martyrs for us brings out the notion of integral ecology well. Today across Uganda, our Laudato Si Clubs champion tree planting campaigns, agro‑ecology, and community-based zoning initiatives aiming at restoring degraded lands with indigenous and fruit trees to promote ecological resilience aligned with African cultural values like trees for food security and alternatives of living to mitigate tree cutting as our finding clearly indicate most most cut trees to earn a living so ours is to provide alternatives for instance communities tend to save fruits trees for food and income, we now senstize people about the importance of indigenous trees in a cultural context like they provide medicine, attract rain, offer natural shelter, some support intercropping etc. Our youth network now spans schools, parishes, and dioceses, coordinating planting alongside civic education and agro‑ecological innovation with communities to foster mutual co operation and unite for climate action.

Through ecological education embedded in “Laudato Si Clubs,” youth redesign curricula to include sustainability literacy, science expos, climate innovation booth, and garden laboratories. This formational work strengthens both ecological awareness and emotional resilience among youth navigating climate stress and mental well‑being challenges in our recent Laudato Si Green Festival we saw how this method can help us situate ourself on the path to ecological recovery.

Whereas we expounded alot about this during the panel discussion on Mobilizing Youth for Integral Ecology. Our Young Laudato Si Club members leverage digital storytelling, social media campaigns, youth-led documentaries and research publications to amplify Laudato Si messaging. LYI’s research wing documents sustainable practices, publishes articles, and shares African eco-theological narratives to shape public discourse and deepen cultural roots in integral ecology.

We conduct interfaith events—including the Season of Creation—African youth and faith allies engage in dialogue for climate justice. At Konge Lukuli Parish, LYI and other stakeholders have often organized interfaith conferences, convening Christian, Muslim, and indigenous voices for joint discernment and action rooted in spirituality and ecological solidarity.

Youth-led activities under LYI works to mobilize the youth and communities with adaptation initiatives—waste management, agro‑ecological farming, community clean‑ups, and intergenerational ecological pilgrimages. These include ecological pilgrimages to shrines associated with ecology/St.Adolf our patron, game parks, and flood‑affected zones, building grassroots awareness and resilience through experiential learning and civic engagement all these are a good way to draw roadmaps of our ecological footprint.

What is happening to creation? As African youth we testify to worsening climate threats—floods, land degradation, water scarcity, illegal mining, and poverty disproportionately affecting children and women. Yet, through their activity, they bring hope and action. Celebrating climate justice, LYI unites youth for ecological conversion grounded in African spirituality and Catholic social teaching, responding to both the “cry of the earth and the cry of the poor”  As we heard from Augustine we deeply reflect on the realities of “integral ecology,” which our Holy Father Pope Francis’ terms as interconnection. I often tell people we are profits and gains to each other because nature is interrelated, as Augustine also confirms in terms of “African traditional systems.” Where tradition, sees in the world a descending order from gods to ancestors to humans and to the natural world, a “mystical relationship” that puts humans at its center but nonetheless “doesn’t give permission or leeway to use nature as they want.” going ahead to identify parallels between Laudato Si’s emphasis on the common good, community and sustainability and African traditions such as the transmigration of souls and totems. Respecting the community, as simple as the principle that, on encountering a tree full of mangoes, “you don’t beat every mango out of the tree. Leave some mangoes for the people after you.” What Kind of world would we wish to leave the future generations? Pope Francis asks us in Laudato Si. Well

• The reality is Inter‑generational storytelling sessions around the Uganda Martyrs, local wisdom traditions, and Ubuntu philosophy as tools for integral ecological formation and justice advocacy . These achievements showcase how young Africans are rooted in faith, rooted in culture, and energized to steward creation that culminate in areas for Growth & Sources of Hope that come with challenges and opportunities.

• An emerging ecological consortium in Uganda and across Africa, aligned with Laudato Si and building a community-style movement for climate justice and dignity and as Laudato Youth we believe “To walk the path of integral ecology means to live an African worldview that weaves creation, human dignity, cultural wisdom, and justice in one fabric.” As a Laudato Youth panelist, I celebrates the strides made and call us all to nurture and scale this initiative. Our generation, rooted in faith and integral ecology that builds on our African Interpretation of Laudato Si is a strength for our cultural integration and identity, the question is are well all ready to steward our common home and embody “Integral Ecology” as care takers of Gods creation in every corner of Africa. Checkout our Laudato Si Series