While there is awareness in Africa for the need for cleaner, smarter and more efficient economies, there remains a danger that citizens' voices are not being heard in the discussion on climate change.

A meeting held in Pretoria this week by Idasa's Small-holder Agriculture project drew an enthusiastic audience who shared an understanding that building a green economy in Africa is necessary in order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Speakers acknowledged there is a conscious move towards making African economies cleaner, smarter and more efficient for the benefit of its citizens. It was clear that business-as-usual has given way to prioritising more sustainable and locally-rooted development principles.

However, the concern was frequently heard that those most in need of development are the ones with the least access to it. One speaker summed it up well: 'Business as usual will lead to the death of smallholder farming.'

There is already evidence of new stakeholder and partnership arrangements and discourses around how to find, fund and replicate sustainable business and livelihood best practices. Unfortunately such arrangements tend to take place without the participation of those who require it the most - the ordinary citizens, many of whom are the small-scale farmers most affected by climate change.

In preparation for the COP17, to be held in Durban in December 2011, Idasa's Small-holder Agriculture project will hold a series of conversations between key policy-makers, business, civil society, academics, researchers and small-holder farmers, which will culminate in an African conference to be held on the side-lines of the COP17.

Idasa's COP 17 seminar on 'Africa and the Green Economy' signals a step in the right direction in creating awareness, and the seminar served as a platform for concerned citizens to voice their concerns and opinions on how the green economy transition is likely to take place and what roles they see for themselves in the transition.

Cllr. Kgosientso Ramokgopathe, Executive Mayor of Tshwane, led a diverse and informative panel in this first seminar. The aim is to follow it up with similar conversations to help build climate-proof societies and strengthen sustainable and inclusive democracy on the continent.