Category: Conservation

Ghanaian and Senegalese entrepreneurs to benefit from African Development Bank Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund (YEI MDTF) grant for green jobs in natural resources

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, April 8, 2024/ — The African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org), through its Youth Entrepreneurship and Innovation Multi-Donor Trust Fund (YEI MDTF) (https://apo-opa.co/3J81Cnx), has approved a $999,000 grant to support an initiative to foster green jobs for women, youth and people with disabilities. The Strengthening Women, Youth and People with Disabilities’ Micro-Entrepreneurship for Green Jobs (https://apo-opa.co/3U9MFqb) in Natural Resources (MicroGREEN) project aims to foster inclusive economic growth by providing up to 500 green job opportunities and business development services to marginalized groups in Ghana and Senegal. The target reach group…

Overfishing off West Africa hits livelihoods, fuelling emigration

This article was originally published on China Dialogue under the Creative Commons BY NC ND licence. By:Kebba Jeffang November 9, 2023 Factors such as an influx of foreign trawlers in West Africa’s waters, lopsided fisheries agreements with foreign governments, weak laws and poor law enforcement have all fuelled emigration in the region (Image: Aliu Embalo / China Dialogue Ocean) Fish are crucial to nutrition and livelihoods in West Africa, with an estimated 5.5 million tonnes caught in the region’s waters in 2019. Nearly 7 million people in West Africa directly depend on fish activities…

Conference of the Parties (COP28): Multilateral development banks publish first common principles for nature-positive finance

LUXEMBOURG CITY, Luxembourg, December 9, 2023/ — New principles will guide multilateral development banks’ support for countries and the private sector in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework; For the first time, multilateral development banks define common principles and the criteria for identifying and tracking nature-positive finance; Announcement follows COP26 Joint MDB Statement on Nature, People and Planet. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and fellow multilateral development banks (MDBs) have today published (https://apo-opa.co/3RdNOeQ) common principles for identifying and tracking nature-positive finance. The announcement comes on nature day of the United Nations COP28 climate…

Youth-led African enterprises awarded $800,000 at Conference of the Parties (COP28) for climate solutions

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, December 5, 2023/ — Eight dynamic African young women-led businesses emerged as winners of the 2023 YouthAdapt challenge. Each business will receive grant funding of up to $100,000. They will also receive a comprehensive mentorship and coaching as part of a 12-month accelerator program. Since its launch in 2021, the YouthADAPT initiative (https://apo-opa.co/49ZU0zH) has provided more than $5 million to 33 young entrepreneurs from 19 African nations. Jointly organised by the African Development Bank Group and the Global Center on Adaptation (https://GCA.org), supported by the Africa Climate Change Fund (https://ACCF.AfDB.org),…

Conference of Parties (COP28): Global and African partners pledge $175m to the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, December 3, 2023/ — In a powerful signal of support during COP28, African and global institutions together with governments of Germany, France and Japan and philanthropies have pledged over $175 million to the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA). The landmark initial pledge will help to rapidly scale up financing for transformative climate-aligned infrastructure projects across the continent. The new pledges will also advance AGIA towards its first close of $500 million of early-stage project preparation and development blended capital. The Alliance is a partnership of the African…

COP28 UAE kicks off, as global climate action takes centre stage

BY GULF BUSINESS NOVEMBER 30, 2023 Leaders must deliver in Dubai – the message is clear, said UN Climate Change executive secretary Simon Stiell on the eve of COP28 The United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28 opens today, with a strong call to speed up collective climate action. The conference takes place in the hottest year ever recorded in human history COP28 will run from November 30 to December 12 at Expo City Dubai, offers a global platform to agree on climate commitments and curb the worst impacts of climate change,…

About Promoting a Just Circular and Blue Economy Transition in Africa

Mohammed A. Abu The Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of South Africa based Sustainable Seas Trust(SST), Janine Osborne has declared that, her organization’s work will focus on strengthening existing multi-lateral partnerships (specifically with the Abidjan and Nairobi conventions, and WIOMSA) to promote a just transition for Africa to a circular and blue economy through supporting its African partners’ response to the incipient global plastics treaty. “While securing multiple funding sources beyond this generous grant remains a priority, SST is truly grateful to the Norwegian government for their continued partnership and support of…

Zanzibar to Scale Up MPA Conservation Management

Mohammed A. Abu Makame O. Makame, a Director of Marine Conservation Department of the Zanzibar Ministry of Blue Economy & Fisheries, has lauded the Self-Assessment Tool(SAT) a component of Marine Mammals Management Toolkit, for having made the country to understand their current capabilities and limitations in Marine Protected Area(MPA) management. Supported by the factsheets, the Self-Assessment Tool (SAT) enables MPA managers to assess the extent to which marine mammals are included in their respective management plans. To this end, Mr. Makame disclosed that, the Ministry has planned various activities that…

Unlocking the full Potential of the African Baobab

By: Mohammed A. Abu Professor Kenneth Fafa Egbadzor,the Lead Researcher of the Domestication of the African Baobab Project at the Ho Technical University(HTU) in Ghana’s Volta Region,who is also, a plant breeding expert, has noted that even though, research has established that there are over 300 different uses of Baobab but yet, the plant is undomesticated and underutilized. The African baobab he said, also referred to as, “the wooden elephant” is also included among those crops referred to as orphan, meaning that they do not receive research attention. Ghana, Africa…