June 27, 2021
This past week, Gabon made history as the first African country to be paid to preserve its rainforest. With 90% forest cover, Gabon’s tropical rainforest plays a vital role in the region and beyond. To contextualize it, the annual carbon emissions absorbed by Africa’s tropical rainforests—12% of which are in Gabon—are more than three times the carbon emissions of the UK.
The payment of $17 million is the first of $150 million from the Norwegian government scheduled to be paid under the UN-initiated Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) scheme. The initial payment is mostly symbolic, as it is only 0.1% of Gabon’s GDP.