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For the past ten years, Africa has recorded some of the world’s strongest rates of economic growth. At the same time, many African economies continue to function at well below their full potential. Structural transformation is needed to create more jobs, reduce poverty and accomplish sustainable development objectives.
The African Development Bank’s High 5 priority areas are intended to support African countries’ achievement of the SDGS. They are: Feed Africa; Light up Africa; Industrialise Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life for the people of Africa.
Atta Abdul, Fatima-Zahra, Shuaibu, and Daniel are the faces of a continent that is being transformed. By betting on Africa’s youth, the Bank is banking on the future to make the continent a land of progress, prosperity and hope.
Feed Africa
Since 2015, 74 million Africans have benefited from improved agricultural technologies through the Bank’s efforts to support increased food security on the continent.
In western Mauritania, for example, the Brakna-Ouest irrigation infrastructure improvement project, supported by the Bank in the amount of $12 million, enabled 1 500 farming and livestock-producing families to return to cultivating their fields.
“We come from a farming and livestock-producing family and we grew up in that environment. Our harvest was very poor. We wanted to move somewhere else,” explains Atta Abdul Seck, a project beneficiary in Louboudou in western Mauritania. “As a farmer’s son, what I liked most when I returned was being able to continue farming. Farming is in my blood,” he says proudly.
Light up Africa
Without electricity, agriculture cannot effectively meet the growing challenge of food security in Africa. The Bank has made investment in energy a priority. Since 2016, it has mobilised $12 billion for its “Light Up Africa” strategic priority. Through this investment, 13.4 million people have gained access to electricity.
Morocco has made significant progress in widening access to electricity. In just the past twenty years, the electricity system has expanded to cover almost the entire country. The national rural electrification program, supported by the Bank with 155 million euros, has connected nearly 12.8 million Moroccans to the national power grid.
In Dar El Aïn, a village twenty kilometres from Marrakesh, the arrival of electricity has opened new doors for the women of the “Al Amal” cooperative. They use electricity to process their wheat into couscous or create other barley or wheat-based products. “The cooperative processes local crops into added-value products. Now, with electricity, the women are much more efficient, and their products are of better quality. It creates hope,” says Fatima-Zahra, a thirty-year-old member.
Industrialise Africa
As part of the Bank’s “Industrialise Africa” priority, 9 million people have gained access to private financing. In Nigeria, for instance, where more than 70 percent of the population depends on agriculture, fluctuating harvests have significant repercussions on yields, income and food security.
One solution is fertilizer, particularly if locally produced. The Bank provided $100 million to support construction of a modern fertilizer plant in Port Harcourt.
Shuaibu Yusuf, a farmer in his thirties who live near Port Harcourt, has experienced the impact of this project in his daily life. “When I used this fertilizer, I saw the difference. My harvest increased by more than 40 percent. I can feed myself, pay for my children’s education, and even their medical expenses,” he says. “I’m going to encourage my children, my neighbours and members of my community to increase their farming activities so we can all progress together,” Shuaibu continues.
Integrate Africa
To derive more benefit from industrialisation, Africa must become better integrated in terms of trade and markets. Through integration, African countries can gain access to larger markets and thereby increase incomes for millions of residents through new opportunities.
Since 2015, 69 million people have benefited from the Bank’s support for new transport infrastructure that has advanced integration. Gaps in the primary transport corridors have been filled, links between countries have been strengthened, and intra-African trade has been revitalised.
A good example of this is The Nairobi-Addis-Ababa corridor, which received$670 million in Bank financing and which has enhanced the potential for trade and job growth in Ethiopia and Kenya.
Daniel Yatta, a forty-year-old Kenyan lorry driver, has been transporting goods between Nairobi and Addis-Ababa for 15 years, and has seen the new road’s impact on his business. “ Back in the day, it would take more than two weeks to drive between Addis and Nairobi,” he says. The new road has made his life much easier. “With the new road, the trip takes only a few days. With 30 tonnes of freight, it only takes about 24 hours to drive to Addis!” he continues.
Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa
This training, organized by IFED in partnership with Queen's University (Ontario, Canada), will be facilitated by trainers and high-level professionals with proven (many years) experience in the field of training and management of protected areas. Registation deadline: October 26, 2020.
The Summit focused on the theme “Urgent Action on Biodiversity for Sustainable Development,” to highlight the urgency of action at the highest levels in support of a post-2020 GBF that contributes to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) and places the global community on a path towards realizing the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, “Living in harmony with nature.”
In many parts of the world, autumn is the time to gather the harvest and count our blessings. This year’s trials and tribulations have taught us that while we can count on blessings bestowed by other humans to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, we are wholly dependent on blessings bestowed by nature to survive and flourish.
Illegal trafficking and unsustainable trade in wildlife are causing unprecedented declines in some species. They can also potentially lead to the spread of zoonoses, such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19. While the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora has been in force since 1975, there are growing calls to build a stand-alone international instrument to address illegal wildlife trade and crime.
The session will interactively present the different tools available for policymakers, researchers, NGOs, donors, private sector and students working in the region to obtain information related to biodiversity and forest management.
This struggle is essential and has always been part of ATIBT's missions. Even if this trade affects only a small share of imports, it needs to be eradicated. How do we combat illegal timber players in Europe?
When climate risk insurance (CRI) schemes first started gaining popularity ten years ago, many believed they would be a solid solution to help vulnerable communities financially manage natural hazards and adapt to climate change. However, over the past decade implementers have learned that changes to existing approaches are required to better meet the needs of the target populations.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented countries with unprecedented challenges this year, requiring them to respond quickly to major disruptions in health care, economic activity, and livelihoods.
Unaddressed, climate change will entail a potentially catastrophic human and economic toll, but it’s not too late to change course. Global temperatures have increased by about 1°C since the pre-industrial era because of heat-trapping green-house gases accumulating in the atmosphere.
“Spend what you need to, but you need to keep the receipts.” Speaker after speaker elaborated on this theme and its objectives during a discussion organized by the Open Government Partnership on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly’s 75th session. Principles such as transparency, accountability, participation, trust, communication, and inclusion were highlighted as critical components for the effective governance of stimulus packages and efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A policy brief from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) emphasizes that reversing the alarming rate of biodiversity loss requires a significant policy shift away from business as usual. The coming decade is of utmost importance for global governance of biodiversity, the authors stress.
The UNCCD Executive Secretary Mr. Ibrahim Thiaw held a virtual meeting with the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Nicaragua Ms. Sumaya Castillo, the Executive Secretary of the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD) Mr. Salvador Nieto, and the special envoy for LAC, Mr. Edgar Gutierrez, to discuss a future cooperation cooperation agreement and review land restoration activities in the region.
Bonn, Germany/Laxenburg Austria – UNCCD and the International institute of applied systems analysis (IIASA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 30 September 2020 to promote the application of integrated system analyses in support of science, technology and UNCCD implementation. This MoU builds on shared priorities and strategic vision of both institutions to advance transformational changes that help achieve sustainable development goals, in particularly SDG15.3 on Land degradation Neutrality.
We planted about 8,000 trees within a 20ha area in an effort to restore degraded forest within the agricultural zone in DSPA. Funding for this restoration project was provided by the Peter and Luise Hager Foundation (Peter und Luise Hager- Stiftung) through WWF Germany. We also maintained previously planted trees.
This workshop was organized by the Federation of Timber Manufacturers (FIB) in collaboration with ATIBT through the FLEGT REDD, FLEGT IP and FLEGT certification projects, namely "Improving the integration of third party verified certification into FLEGT-REDD processes", projects awarded to ATIBT aimed at improving the legal level of companies through professional associations, project partners, and through the promotion of third party verified certification, to prepare them for the implementation of FLEGT VPAs.
Within the framework of the realization of its projects, the ATIBT and its partners present you a directory guide to accompany the forest companies in the assembly of plantation project.
The Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) has established a regional office focused on adaptation issues and projects across Africa. The regional office is hosted by the African Development Bank (AfDB) at its headquarters in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
A High-level Roundtable on Climate Action, convened by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, showcased high-impact climate solutions and targets by governments, the finance sector, and civil society.
Around 40 kilometers south-west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, native and exotic trees stand side by side on 8 hectares of the Suba Forest. Surrounded by tall junipers and idyllic mountains, this group of seed orchards is just one of many that serve as incubators for the country’s impressive landscape restoration efforts.
From action on climate, biodiversity, health, gender equality and more, world leaders, academics, young activists and others turned their attention to the United Nations in September with the need to work together for a sustainable future a common refrain.
5 October 2020, Rome – FAO has launched a new publication highlighting the major achievements of the FAO Forestry Programme in helping improve lives and livelihoods while making forestry more productive and sustainable.
The first UN Biodiversity Summit highlighted the urgency of action at the highest levels in support of a post-2020 global biodiversity framework that contributes to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and places the global community on a path towards “living in harmony with nature” – the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity.
Although research demonstrates the benefits – for people and forests – of secure land and resource rights, these rights remain unrecognized for many of the world’s estimated 476 million Indigenous Peoples.
Women have dominated shea production and sales for centuries in West Africa, managing trees, gathering nuts, roasting and crushing kernels to create rich butter used in cooking, cosmetics and medicines.
At the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) scientists are learning to adapt to the new reality of COVID-19.
The choice is simple: accept devastating wildfires, extreme weather, species loss, and disease outbreaks or secure a sustainable future at a fraction of the cost.
The aim of new guidelines published by ITTO on 5 October 2020 is to help stakeholders—from policymakers to foresters and farmers—in restoring degraded landscapes, thereby providing vital goods and ecosystem services and creating sustainable rural livelihoods and employment.
5 October 2020, Rome - Transformational change is needed in the way we manage our forests and their biodiversity, produce and consume our foods and interact with nature, if we want to build back better after the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. This was the key message of a speech delivered today by FAO Director-General QU Dongyu at the 25th session of the Committee on Forestry (COFO).
Our forest elephant dung-based distance-sampling survey of the 5,260 km2 World Heritage Dja Faunal Reserve (DFR) in Cameroon systematically covered 298.2 km of line transects with a further 1,681.4 km covered as recces. The population estimates of 0.042 individuals/km2 (CV: 19.4%; 95% CI: 0.029–0.061) and 219 individuals (95% CI: 150–319) confirmed a significant decline over recent years.
The Congo Basin Climate Commission (CBCC) is launching a Call for Expression of Interest (CEI) for the selection of a Development Bank in charge of opening and managing a "Blue Fund for the Congo Basin" financing line.
...A possible pathway to overcome this barrier involves eliciting mental models behind policy decisions to allow better representation of human agency, changing perspectives to better understand divergent points of view, and refining strategies through explicit theories of change. Games can help decision makers in all of these tasks.
Read: FLEGT-IP and FLEGT-REDD Project Workshop SPIB - ATIBT "Traceability and Forest Certification of Wood"; ATIBT welcomes its new member Francisco Mourao; FSC Publishes The Revised National Forest Stewardship Standard of Cameroon*
On Tuesday, September 22, 2020 was held in Abidjan, from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm at the Palm Club Hotel, the workshop on Traceability and Certification, organized by ATIBT and SPIB, as part of the implementation of activities of the FLEGT-IP and FLEGT-REDD Project in Côte d'Ivoire.
The standard will be effective on 29 December 2020. The revised FSC National Forest Stewardship Standard (NFSS) of Cameroon applies to all forest types, small and low-intensity management units and community forests.
the Guidance enables users to identify a range of actions that can transform how food systems operate and, simultaneously, helps to create a practical roadmap for action on biodiversity loss. The Guidance was developed in partnership with the Institute for the Development of Environmental-Economic Accounting and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).