2023-06-13 22:45:00
Africa needs to monetize its trees to help stop the global warmingsaid the director of AFC Capital Partners.
The continent hosts the tropical forest of the Congo Basinthe second in size following the Amazon, and almost a quarter of the world’s mangroves. Forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, mitigating the effects of burning fossil fuels and other sources of greenhouse gases by creating so-called carbon sinks.
What if the sea level rises faster?
What is the “monetization” of African forests?
“If you think regarding Africa and what is the biggest return on a mitigation investment, it’s not really energy because we need energy. It is our forest, the mangroves“, said Ayan Zeinab Adan, chief executive of AFC Capital Partners, in an interview on Tuesday. “We need to create value around the people who live in those forests because that is what will save the world. That is Africa’s greatest contribution to net zero emissions program”.
While some African countries, most notably Gabon, have pushed to be rewarded for their efforts to preserve forest cover, not enough has been done to monetize their natural assets, Adam said at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Africa conference in Marrakech. , Morocco. His company, a unit of the African Finance Corp, is seeking raise $2 billion for climate-resilient infrastructure funds.
More effort is also needed to give Africans alternative cooking fuels to coal and wood to reduce deforestation, he added.
In 2080, a third of the world’s population would live in dangerously hot areas.
What are the benefits of sustainable development of African flora
Income or benefits from forests in the form of carbon creditswhich polluters buy to offset their emissions, or debt-for-nature swaps, which are debt reductions to protect natural assetsshould be used to develop the continent, he commented.
“We have this great resource that no one recognizes. We get the wrong prices and do not act as we should”, he added regarding the efforts of African nations to get paid to preserve or expand their forests.
On the other hand, he insists that they have not created a way to guarantee that the people who live in those areas have a vested interest.
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