2 December 2011

Land carries a powerful emotive charge in Africa. So while some welcome opportunities presented by foreign direct investment in African land, others are alarmed by a new “scramble” for post-colonial, post-independence Africa.

Africa’s relatively scarce agricultural land is precious, forming only slightly more than a fifth of the continent’s 3,000 million hectares. With climate change already reducing the effective use of marginal land, land-based foreign direct investment is seen as a critical issue at this “African COP.”

Climate change affects agriculture in Africa more than in the rest of the world and that can cause hunger in various countries there. But it is possible for governments to fight the problem, delegates at the climate change conference, COP 17, in Durban heard.

The UN-based fund that helps compensate developing countries combat deforestation should start fighting the causes as well as the effects. That was one of the main recommendations from forestry experts who gathered at the climate change conference, COP 17, in Durban.

The discussion mainly focused on deforestation in Africa, particularly in the Congo Basin, which has the second largest rainforest after South America.

Forests take up a huge amount of the continent, but are one of Africa’s most misunderstood and undervalued natural resources.

At a discussion on deforestation at the climate change conference, or COP 17, in Durban, delegates learned that forests account for 23 percent of Africa’s land area.  The largest are the forest ecosystems of the Congo Basin and Upper Guinea.  

However, their latent power to aid development is largely ignored, said Abdoulaye Dagamaissa, from the African Development Bank (AfDB).