The African Forum on Green Economy is a three-month online exchange on how African countries are leading the way to greener, fairer economies. The Forum will run from 1 April - 3 July 2020, and will feature a series of webinars on themes including water, agriculture, natural capital and development finance, infrastructure, and data for decision making in the African context. Register below for #AfricanGreenEconomy Forum webinars, where you can hear from the experts, share your experiences, and meet other practitioners online.
#AfricanGreenEconomy Forum Webinars
Session 1: Welcome and Introduction
Session 2: Diving into Water - 22 April 2020 at 10:00am BST / 12:00pm EAT
Session 3: Digging into Agriculture - 6 May 2020 at 10:00 BST / 12:00 EAT
Session 4: Natural Capital and Development Finance - 10 June 2020 at 10:00 BST / 12:00 EAT
Session 5: Drilling into Infrastructure - 3 June 2020 at 10:00 BST / 12:00 EAT
Session 6: Data for Decision Making - 17 June 2020 at 10:00 BST / 12:00 EAT
Session 7: Enabling Change - 1 July 2020 at 10:00 BST / 12:00 EAT
Background
Of all regions on the planet, Africa faces some of the most pressing natural capital risks, and yet some of the most clear and compelling opportunities for green, sustainable growth.
Fast growing sectors such as agriculture, forestry, infrastructure and others face significant risks from climate change, biodiversity loss and resource scarcity. Across the continent, businesses need better information to understand and respond to these risks in a sustainable way. Investors also need to better understand their opportunities and risk profiles in emerging African markets, and policymakers need to identify and enact smart legislation that provides natural, social and economic benefits for maximum sustainable growth. To provide the information necessary to inform this better decision making, we need:
- An honest and practical conversation about how businesses and countries can invest in their natural capital for sustainable yet profitable growth
- Robust and accessible data on how the state of natural capital affects the profitability and risk-exposure of operations and investments, using insights such as national natural capital accounts
- Collaboration and shared learnings on how to initiate and scale green, economic investments that are practical and effective, with benefits for multiple stakeholders.
- Strong, international agendas and networks that incentivize and embed greener economic decision-making.
The African Forum in Green Economy will help all stakeholders anticipate and prepare for new opportunities and risks, and propose collaborative ways forward. By combining green economy and natural capital principles and networks, the forum builds connections between people and concepts for a shared opportunity to redefine sustainable economic growth for greener, economic decision making.
About the organisers
The Africa Forum is part of the Economics for Nature programme, a six-year project being led by the Green Economy Coalition and its partners the Natural Capital Coalition, the Green Growth Knowledge Partnership, WWF France and Finance Watch. The aim of Economics for Nature is to support development, economic and spatial planning processes to internalise the many values of nature.
The Forum is funded by MAVA Foundation and is being supported by IUCN Uganda country office. Other partners who have committed to offering resources and assistance are ACODE Uganda, Balfour Beatty, Climate Smart Agriculture Youth Network, the Gaberone Declaration for Sustainability in Africa, GIZ Uganda, Green Growth Knowledge Partnership, Natural Eco Capital Nigeria, UNEP-WCMC, WWF-France and Vital Signs Uganda.
