When: 06 November 2024 (virtual)
The African Development Bank Group will host a High-Level Ministerial Meeting on "Measuring the Green Wealth of Nations: Natural Capital and Economic Productivity in Africa," on 6th November 2024, from 10:00 - 14:00 GMT.
The virtual event will bring together African ministers of finance, economy, foreign affairs, climate change and environment, as well as heads of national statistics offices. Topics for discussion include the rationale for revaluing the economic size of countries by incorporating natural capital services in their Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This includes forests and other endowments such as natural carbon sinks and storage.
African Development Bank Group President Dr Akinwumi A. Adesina, and Chief Economist and Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management, Professor Kevin Chika Urama, will lead the proceedings.
Proper valuation of Africa's green wealth is critical to identifying more accurately the real wealth of countries, which is crucial for effective investment and beneficiation efforts. This evaluation can also increase access to financial flows, in part because credit ratings will be able to incorporate the true value of the overall asset class, which in turn could improve countries' risk profiles.
One of the expected outcomes of the meeting will be the adoption of a common position on issues related to the proper evaluation of Africa's natural capital and its incorporation in countries' GDP during the upcoming COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. The meeting will provide African policymakers and technocrats the opportunity to agree on a strategic outreach and advocacy plan aimed at continental and global support for the initiative on measuring the green wealth of countries and re-basing their GDP based on their natural capital assets and the public goods and services they provide.
Africa possesses significant natural capital crucial for sustainable development, including vast clean energy potential, arable land, marine resources, and the world's second largest and longest rivers (the Congo and the Nile). The continent is home to immense biodiversity and tropical rainforests including the Congo Basin, the 'second lung' of the world after the Amazon In 2018, Africa's measured natural capital was estimated at about US$ 6.2 trillion.
