Join leading restoration and climate resilience experts to learn more about how entrepreneurs in Africa are leading the restoration movement, creating jobs, and making their communities more resilient to climate change.

Join the conversation: #GreeningGovernance, #LandAccelerator, #AFR100

Presentation Slides

About The Event

Experts examined the state of entrepreneurship in land restoration: what are entrepreneurs doing to accelerate their growth, how do these land-centric businesses adapt to climate change, and how can multi-stakeholder platforms like AFR100 support the visionaries of tomorrow.

Africa is the continent hit hardest by climate change. This has a major human impact since 70 percent of Africans are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. Climate risks like droughts and floods, which are increasing and intensifying, directly hurt African farmers. Restoring land — for example, by planting trees — helps farmers to adapt to climate change since trees provide ecosystem services that can modify local rainfall patterns, increase shade, and regulate water flows. Entrepreneurs see a business opportunity here. Hundreds of businesses centered on land restoration have sprouted across Africa in recent years. This event will discuss this rising trend.

WRI hosted the Land Accelerator, the first startup accelerator in the world to focus on land restoration, in partnership with Fledge in December 2018. It brought together 12 entrepreneurs from seven countries across Africa. These include a company that supplies drought-tolerant seeds for farmers and another that captures soil carbon through decentralized fertilizer production. Most of the companies are focused on planting trees for food and timber.

This event also explored the challenges and possible solutions that businesses can implement to prosper in the face of climate change, as well as the role of AFR100 — a country-led movement to restore 100 million hectares across Africa by 2030 — in mobilizing the private sector.

Speakers

  • Sofia Faruqi, Manager, New Restoration Economy, WRI
  • Moushumi Chaudhury, Associate, Climate Resilience, WRI
  • Emily Averna, Associate, AFR100, WRI
  • Kuki Njeru, Co-Founder, Green Pot Enterprises

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About the Series

WRI’s Greening Governance Seminar Series explores how good governance – inclusive, transparent decision-making processes, equal access to justice, strong institutions and a vibrant civil society – not only help policymakers advance more effective, equitable policies, but also implement ambitious commitments like the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.

Greening Governance seminars bring diverse panels of experts together to grapple with tough questions and identify successful strategies at the intersection of governance, environmental sustainability and human well-being. Interested in attending or watching remotely? Subscribe to our Greening Governance newsletter and follow us on Twitter to stay updated on upcoming events.