Never before have African countries felt such a sense of urgency to act, adapt, and build resilience. Every year, people are experiencing more floods, soaring temperatures, coastal erosion, land degradation, and other climatic shocks. In Western and Central Africa, recent floods across the region have affected millions of people, claiming lives, and displacing tens of thousands from their homes and livelihoods. It is one thing to talk about climate change, but as the African proverb says, “seeing is different from being told”.
Locals living in once-heavily forested regions across Africa are starting to find their land in high demand as governments and companies seek to improve their climate credentials through carbon credit schemes, where tree-planting offsets carbon dioxide emissions. African governments are now hoping to garner a larger share of the global carbon market. Experts say a lower price for carbon in African countries and weaker financial markets on the continent are barriers nations will have to overcome if they want to expand their carbon credit industries. The continent is already facing the effects of climate change, with many governments looking for ways to finance efforts to adapt to a warming world.
In villages dotted across the African continent, locals living in once-heavily forested regions are starting to find their land in high demand. In Kenya's Gazi Bay, arguably the continent's most famous mangrove restoration project, thousands of trees have been planted thanks to nearly a decade of concerted efforts to offset…