KILLING TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE: CARBON MARKETS CREATE A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR AFRICANS

Currently, two issues dominate social and political agendas across Africa; food security and climate change. These two are intertwined, and not in a good way. The escalating effects of climate change have exacerbated the already present scourge of food insecurity across the continent.

According to the World Bank’s 2022 global report on food crises, more than 130 million Africans are faced with acute food insecurity each year; moreover, one in every five Africans goes to bed hungry. These figures are astounding when juxtaposed with the exponential growth of the global economy and the hedonistic excesses that have followed this economic development.

Climate change effects are beginning to manifest more sharply in the continent. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report shows that large areas of Africa will surpass 2 degrees of temperature increase above pre-industrialization levels in the next 20 years.

The problem is, increased agricultural activity in a bid to ameliorate food insecurity results in accelerating climate change primarily through clearing of forests and plant cover to create arable land. Thus, Africans have previously found themselves caught between the proverbial rock and hard place. This conundrum has been quite the headache for governments as they try to balance the call from citizens to provide food security and the push from Western benefactors to conserve the environment. Carbon markets provide a solution to both problems.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) defines carbon markets as trading systems with transactions involving carbon credits. Simply put, this means that businesses and organizations that produce greenhouse gases can balance this by purchasing carbon credits from counterparties who have measures in place to reduce emissions e.g. tree planting operations. This then, creates a unique opportunity for African governments to encourage citizens to embrace agroforestry and use the mature trees to become players in the carbon markets.

Increased tree planting will help to remove harmful gases from the atmosphere and thus will help to combat the climate change menace; on the other hand, a rise in agroforestry across the continent will go a long way in ensuring food security.

Carbon markets therefore provide a solution to two of the main problems facing Africa; it would be prudent for us to wholly embrace the concept.

Author: Oliver Kilonzo