Mini-grids Can Accelerate Access to Modern Electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa
Mini-grids are electrical generation and distribution systems of less than 10 megawatts (MW) that serve customers through local distribution networks.
africa
Tanzania Energy Access Maps
Tanzania Energy Access Maps is an interactive tool that allows users to explore economic indicators and energy sector data in Tanzania’s regions and districts. Energy entrepreneurs and electricity planners in Tanzania can use the maps to identify areas most viable for investments in clean energy.
More than 180,000 rural residents get electricity through Tanzania's mini-grids. A new WRI report details how this promising technology has expanded, and examines its potential for other sub-Saharan nations.
Thanks to high-resolution satellite images, researchers discovered the equivalent of another Amazon rainforest in the world's deserts and drylands.
WRI energy experts Lily Odarno and Sanjoy Sanyal discuss how advances in data, technology and finance can bring power to the 600 million sub-Saharan Africans lacking access.
Kenyan entrepreneurs in businesses ranging from honey production to bamboo farming show that restoring degraded landscapes can bring financial returns along with environmental and social benefits.
New research explores a vicious cycle: as greenhouse gas emissions warm the planet, soils heat up and the micro-organisms that live in them start to expel heat-trapping carbon dioxide, reinforcing the problem of climate change. Landscape restoration is one way to respond.
Farmers and officials at a tree nursery in Nyandarua County, Kenya. Photo: Aaron Minnick/WRI, Flickr
African Countries Commit to Restore More Than 63 Million Hectares of Degraded Land
WRI worked with partners to establish AFR100, an African-led initiative that helps advance the African Union goal of restoring 100 million hectares of degraded land. To date, AFR100 partner countries have committed to bring 63.3 million hectares of land into restoration by 2030 and nearly $1.5 billion has been earmarked to support the 100 million hectare target.
The Challenge
Nearly two-thirds of Africa’s land is degraded, which hinders sustainable economic development and resilience to climate change. As a result, Africa has the largest restoration opportunity of any continent: more than 700 million hectares (1.7 billion acres) of degraded forest landscapes that can be restored. The potential benefits include improved food and water security, biodiversity protection, climate change resilience, and economic growth. Recognizing this opportunity, the African Union set an ambitious target to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.
WRI’s Role
Partners including The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), the World Bank, and WRI supported the establishment of AFR100 and attracted additional financial and technical partners. The partnership includes investors, in-country partners like the Green Belt Movement and Kijani (Forests for Change) in Kenya, and longstanding global partners such as the Global Environment Facility, IUCN, FAO, and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). This extensive partner network reinforces critical links between AFR100 and the Bonn Challenge, the African Resilient Landscapes Initiative, and other restoration initiatives.
To secure political commitments to AFR100, partners worked with national stakeholders to underscore the close alignment between restoration and numerous sustainable development goals. Partners also provided analyses to decision-makers showing where restoration is already happening, the size and location of restoration opportunities, and pathways for scaling up restoration. AFR100 was influenced by Initiative 20x20, an effort to restore 20 million hectares (nearly 50 million acres) in Latin America and the Caribbean by 2020, for which WRI is the secretariat.
The Outcome
AFR100 connects political partners – participating African nations – with technical and financial support to assess restoration opportunities, develop strategies, and implement restoration on the ground at scale. To date, 21 AFR100 partner countries have committed to bring 63.3 million hectares (156 million acres) – an area nearly the size of France – into the process of restoration by 2030. Financial partners have earmarked $481 million in private finance and $1 billion in development finance to support the 100 million hectare target. Many AFR100 partner countries are beginning to scale up proven restoration approaches and monitor their progress.
To date, 21 African nations have signed onto the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100) and committed to restore 63.3 million hectares (156 million acres) of degraded land.
Africa can brace for climate change and leapfrog its sustainable development with these macroeconomic transformations to agriculture, urbanization and energy.