The COVID-19 pandemic has had severe impact on African economies and livelihoods, sparking the first recession in sub-Saharan Africa after 25 years. Due to already high debt burdens, many African countries have limited fiscal space for stimulus and recovery packages. However, Africa still has a wealth of natural resources (or natural capital) that can provide a launch pad for a green economic recovery from the pandemic.
To better understand the role of natural capital in green recovery in Africa, the Natural Capital for African Development Finance (NC4-ADF) programme in collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC) and the UNFCCC Regional Collaboration Centre, Kampala, organized a webinar series entitled “Mainstreaming Natural Capital in Africa’s post-COVID19 Development Agenda”.
This briefing note summarizes the main take-aways from this webinar series and provides an overview of natural capital concepts and how they link to green economic recovery. It highlights Africa’s regional action plan for a post-COVID green recovery, and the role natural capital can play in delivering the African Union Green Recovery Action Plan. It also identifies ways development finance institutions can directly and indirectly support financing natural capital approaches for green recovery in Africa.