AfDB, Green Growth Knowledge Platform in natural capital funding

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes @SunZambian THE African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) have been awarded a two-year US$273,439 to mainstream natural capital in development finance in Africa. The grant has been available from the MAVA Foundation, a philanthropic foundation, which promotes the conservation of biodiversity and advocates for sustainable economies in […]

AfDB, Green Growth Knowledge Platform in natural capital funding
BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes @SunZambian THE African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) have been awarded a two-year US$273,439 to mainstream natural capital in development finance in Africa. The grant has been available from the MAVA Foundation, a philanthropic foundation, which promotes the conservation of biodiversity and advocates for sustainable economies in the Mediterranean, West Africa and Switzerland. The grant will support activities to develop a business case for natural capital among multilateral development banks and scale up the application of natural capital in infrastructure finance. According to a statement from the AfDB, the grant would also integrate green growth and natural capital in African sovereign credit ratings, and build the capacity for adoption of natural capital approaches in decision-making through a Natural Capital Academy. “Natural capital is the stock of renewable and non-renewable natural resources, such as plants, animals, air, water, soils and minerals that combine to provide benefits to people and support life,” the statement said. Nature-based solutions are emerging as essential climate-change mitigation and adaptation strategies in Africa, with a growing recognition that protecting ecosystems could provide at least a third of the climate mitigation needed by 2030 under the Paris Climate Agreement. Vanessa Ushie, Manager of the Policy Analysis Division in the African Natural Resources Centre of the African Development Bank, said for Africa to build back better after Covid-19, new investment models and practices that promoted a better use of the values provided by natural capital would be critical to engendering a green recovery,” Ushie said Ms Ushie said: “the natural capital mainstreaming initiative offers a strategic opportunity for the AfDB to embed nature and natural capital at the heart of decision-making on development planning, investments, and infrastructure finance in Africa.” The Bank’s engagement in the initiative cuts across various departments and complexes working on infrastructure development, energy, climate and green growth, sovereign risk and investment, capacity development, and is being led by the Bank’s African Natural Resources Centre.  The initiative is particularly relevant as Africa looks ahead to the post-Covid-19 era.