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Africa’s East Coast countries to fund ocean climate action, aid Biodiversity – UN

By Fatima Saka

Africa’s East Coast countries are massively engaged on climate funding initiatives to boost the livelihoods of oceanside communities, aid biodiversity and take climate action.

This was revealed on Wednesday, on the margins of the high-level political forum on sustainable development currently underway at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

The African coastal and island states and conservation groups outlined plans to boost ocean conservation and economic development through a system of “ blue bonds”, a method of financing projects that would also benefit ocean health.

Apparently, from Africa’s Great Green Wall, which spans across the continent’s Sahel region, east African nations are now seeking funds for the Great Blue Wall initiative, which aims to protect marine areas across the coastline. However, both the blue and green finance refers to funding aimed at preventing environmental damage and combating climate change while creating sustainable ecosystems.

Vice President of the World Bank, Jorge Familiar, illustrated that, “The blue bond is a powerful example of the critical role that the capital markets can play in supporting sustainable objectives,

The Great Blue Wall initiative, launched last year by ten western Indian Ocean states during the U.N.’s climate conference in Glasgow, aims to create a network of coastal and marine protected areas which supporters say would restore and conserve some 2 million hectares of ocean, capture 100 million tons of carbon dioxide and secure livelihoods for over 70 million people”.

Jean-Paul Adam, who heads the climate division at the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa, said the blue wall initiative would recognize “the true value the environment has in future wealth creation and empowerment of local communities”.

“We need to dramatically upscale private sector investment into green and blue sectors,” he said. Less than one percent of so-called blue and green bonds, which are used for marine and land projects respectively, are issued for African countries.

“The next steps are to make these markets more accessible to African countries,” he added.

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