African Development Bank Group (AfDB) Acting Director of Climate Change and Green Growth Dr Al-Hamndou Dorsouma said Africa held about one-quarter of global biodiversity and nine of the world’s 36 recognised biodiversity hotspots.
Grasslands and forests cover more than half of the continent’s land and support the livelihoods of over 70% of people in sub-Saharan Africa.
Africa is also home to the Congo Basin, the world’s second-largest rainforest and one of the planet’s most important carbon sinks.
AfDB estimates that Africa’s natural capital is worth about $7.6 trillion.
However, Dorsouma said limited biodiversity financing, weak institutions and the continued degradation of ecosystems prevented countries from translating natural wealth into inclusive economic development.
“This is Africa’s biodiversity paradox,” Dorsouma said. “Natural wealth that is underfinanced, undervalued and degrading becomes a drag on development rather than a source of prosperity.”
Africa loses almost 4 million hectares of forest each year, with significant losses continuing in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Monitored vertebrate wildlife populations across Africa declined by 76% between 1970 and 2020.
Dorsouma said biodiversity should be treated as a central development priority rather than solely as a conservation concern.
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework requires countries to conserve and manage at least 30% of global land and marine ecosystems by 2030.
African countries have begun developing national strategies to translate the Framework into action, but Dorsouma said those plans must become investment frameworks capable of influencing budgets and sectoral development.
Governments should strengthen institutions, mobilise domestic and international finance, redirect environmentally harmful subsidies and use innovative instruments to attract concessional and private capital.
AfDB has committed $6.5 billion to the Great Green Wall Initiative and supports programmes in the Congo Basin, Lake Chad Basin, Horn of Africa and Sahel.
The Bank will use the COP17 UN Biodiversity Conference in Yerevan, Armenia, from October 19 to October 30 to promote practical biodiversity financing and nature-positive growth. “Only by converting biodiversity commitments into investment at scale can Africa resolve its paradox and transform its extraordinary natural wealth into a foundation for resilient, nature-positive growth,” Dorsouma said.
–AfDB/ChannelAfrica–
