Africa's cities are booming. But they will be hit hardest by climate change. In interviews with 30 urban Africans, including informal waste pickers and UN climate scientists, DW looks at how four big and fast-growing cities are adapting: Lagos to scorching heatwaves, Kampala to rising waste, Cairo to potentially looming drought and Dar es Salaam to choking traffic.

Skipping class to address leaders of some of the world's most powerful cities, 22-year-old Hilda Nakabuye called on the room of mayors to stand in solidarity with young people fighting for the planet.

"I am a victim of this climate crisis and I am not ashamed to say so," said Nakabuye, a student from rural Uganda who now lives in Kampala, at a climate conference in October. Her voice cracking and eyes wet with tears, she recounted how her family had sold its land and livestock after heavy rains and fierce winds washed away crops, and drought dried up wells. "When the money was over, it was a question of survival or death."

The mayors rose to their feet.

Nakabuye, who started campaigning for the environment in 2017, is one of thousands of young Africans who have taken to the streets demanding governments act — urgently — against global warming.

Africa's urban population is set to double by 2050 and its citizens, three-quarters of whom are below the age of 35, are readying themselves for a future of scorching heat — where water is scarcer, air dirtier and floods hit harder and more often.