Page 6 - AfrElec Week 02 2021

AfrElec INVESTMENT AfrElec

AfDB to mobilise $6.5bn to fight climate

change and boost sustainability

AFRICA THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has A lack of finance has been the project’s major
pledged to mobilise up to $6.5bn in funding for constraint to realising its goal of creating 10mn
the Sahel region’s Great Green Wall Initiative. jobs, sequestering 250mn tonnes of carbon and
The resources will be made available over five restoring 100mn hectares of degraded land in the
years through a range of programmes in support 11 countries of the Sahel-Sahara region.
of the Great Green Wall by drawing on internal The AfDB has made the Sahel region a top
as well as external sources of funding, such as the priority for investment and mobilising new
Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and sources of finance to advance Africa’s climate
the Green Climate Fund (GCF), among others. opportunities.
The pledge was made during a forum on One example is the AfDB’s Desert-to-Power
Africa hosted by French President Emmanuel programme to build the largest solar power zone
Macron and the Prince of Wales. in the world.
Multilateral development partners joined the The programme will provide electricity to
Bank in pledging funding for the African-led ini- 250mn people in 11 Sahel countries and help
tiative that aims to rejuvenate life in Africa’s cur- protect the Great Green Wall. Over the next five
rent desert landscapes, providing food security, years, Desert-to-Power aims to make available
jobs and a reason for millions of Africans from $2bn for identified project opportunities for the
Senegal to Djibouti to stay in the Sahel region. Great Green Wall Initiative.
The forum took place in the margins of the A lack of resources to adapt economies to
One Planet Summit. the consequences of climate change is also one
“As we rebuild from the coronavirus of the main constraints on the Sahel region’s
[COVID-19] and its impacts on our world, we development. The Global Centre on Adaptation
must recalibrate growth. We must prioritise (GCA), hosted by the AfDB, aims to address this
growth that protects the environment and bio- by mobilising resources and brokering solu-
diversity, and we must de-prioritise growth that tions that boost progress in adapting to climate
compromises our common goals,” said AfDB change.
President Akinwumi Adesina. Another of the bank’s initiative key to trans-
“The Great Green Wall is part of Africa’s envi- forming the Sahel into a land of opportunities
ronmental defence system – a shield against the and inclusive green growth is Technologies for
onslaughts of desertification and degradation. African Transformation (TAAT).
The future of the Sahel region depends on the The initiative aims to raise food output in
Great Green Wall. Without the Great Green Africa by 100mn tonnes and lift 40mn people
Wall, the Sahel region as we know it may disap- out of poverty by 2025 by harnessing high-im-
pear,” he added. pact, proven technologies to raise productivity,
Climate change has led to extreme temper- mitigate risks and promote diversification and
atures, fluctuating rainfall and drought in the processing. TAAT, for example, has provided
Sahel, a region that is home to 250mn people liv- Sudanese farmers access to heat-tolerant maize.
ing in ten countries. Millions of livelihoods and Pledges from others during the meeting
hard-won development progress are threatened. included €1bn ($1.2bn) of new financial and
The Great Green Wall’s plan is to plant an technical support to back sustainable agriculture,
8,000-km long and 15-km wide mosaic of trees, clean energy, water, infrastructure and private
grasslands, vegetation and plants across the sector financing in 11 Sahel countries from the
Sahara and Sahel that can restore the degraded European Investment Bank (EIB) and €60mn
lands and help the region’s inhabitants produce ($72mn) from the Agence française de dévelop-
adequate food, create jobs and promote peace in ment (AFD).™
the region.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 02 14•January•2021