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Trade and natural resources

Carbon market opportunities for the forestry sector of Africa

How can Africa benefit from the emerging carbon market?

Authors: S., M. Walker; T., H. Pearson; P. Munishi
Publisher: Winrock International , 2008

Full text of document

African countries have not benefited greatly from the carbon market. This publication analyses how the implementation of the forestry carbon projects could be a major strategy to combat climate change in Africa. The authors examine how current land management and land cover in Africa provides many countries with large opportunities to enter into this market while at the same time furthering development goals. However, the publication emphasises that it is essential that governments understand:

  • how the market works
  • what needs to take place for these opportunities to be seized upon
  • what support the government and other agencies can give to assist in the development of this sector
The authors discuss that the most direct benefit of implementing carbon sequestration or carbon emission avoidance projects is financial, which will feed through to many destinations from the development of new jobs, new livelihoods and new income sources. Improved forest and land management in carbon projects could also lead to additional benefits to the local communities, people in or downstream of watershed areas, and ecosystem health.

The barriers and challenges facing the successful creation and implementation of carbon projects within Africa are also highlighted, which include:
  • uncertain land tenure and carbon rights
  • governance issues
  • legislative and regulatory environment
  • capacity to develop, support and implement carbon projects
Additionally, the document examines the lessons learnt from previous development activities carried out in Africa and how they could be applicable to carbon project developments.

In this report, recommendations are presented that are mainly aimed at reducing the barriers facing project creation, which include:
  • create a positive legislative and regulatory environment
  • develop incentives for project implementation
  • conduct analyses to identify opportunities
  • conduct carbon project training sessions