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The document argues that Africa faces an annual financing gap of over $100 billion to preserve its natural capital, which is critical for global climate and biodiversity goals. It proposes a 'triple bottom line' approach—combining financial returns, environmental impact, and community benefits—applied through landscape financing, restorative agriculture, and sustainable supply chains. The paper identifies green bonds, carbon credits, and impact investing as key financial mechanisms and calls for stronger regulatory frameworks, such as the adoption of Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) guidelines, to attract private capital and prevent 'nature-washing'.

The report highlights the urgent need for food systems transformation in southern Africa due to climate change, population growth, and high rates of malnutrition. It reviews key 2021 global and regional events—including the UN Food Systems Summit, the AGRF Summit, and COP26—to identify national entry points for action across southern African states, emphasizing the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus and the role of youth and ecosystem restoration.

The document analyzes the AfCFTA's potential to industrialize Africa and create a market of 1.3 billion consumers. It highlights a decline in Korea-Africa trade since 2011 and suggests that Korea leverage its strengths in capital goods, specifically the automotive and shipping sectors, to integrate into emerging African regional value chains. The authors recommend that Korea pursue formal economic partnership agreements with African regional economic communities, focusing on asymmetric trade liberalization and supporting Africa's green energy transition.

The document analyzes the varied diplomatic positions of African nations regarding the Ukraine war, noting a split between those condemning Russia and those maintaining neutrality to preserve bilateral ties. It argues that African states should move from being passive bystanders to proactive actors by mediating peace, filling resource gaps created by sanctions, diversifying commodity imports, and strengthening pan-African unity.

The Project Preparation Facility (PPF) has disbursed and committed USD 32.8 million (82% of its USD 40 million allocation) to support the development of climate funding proposals. To date, PPF support has enabled 11 approved funding proposals totaling nearly USD 3.0 billion in investment. The Secretariat has reduced processing times by 84% through streamlined approvals and introduced simplified funding and service modalities to better support direct access entities (DAEs). To cover a pipeline of 28 active requests and anticipated new needs, the document requests an additional USD 18.0 million for the remainder of GCF-1.

The paper examines the rise of Eurobond issuance in Africa as governments seek alternatives to aid, noting that sovereign credit ratings from Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P are essential for market access. It finds that most African countries' ratings have deteriorated since their first assessment, leading to higher borrowing costs and prioritizing debt repayment over human rights and health during the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors criticize the 'big three' for their oligopolistic nature, unreliable methodologies, and limited physical presence in Africa, recommending increased regulation, accountability, and transparency in how Eurobond funds are utilized.

The document examines the rise of Eurobonds as a development financing tool in Africa and the corresponding increase in sovereign credit ratings assigned by Moody's, Fitch, and S&P. It finds that most African countries' ratings have deteriorated since their first assessment, increasing borrowing costs and sometimes forcing governments to prioritize debt repayment over public health and human rights during crises like COVID-19. The authors criticize the 'big three' for their oligopolistic nature, lack of local presence, and use of unsolicited ratings, recommending stricter regulation, better local knowledge, and transparent project-linked borrowing.

The report examines pension fund investment patterns across eight Southern African countries, highlighting a general preference for government bonds and listed equities over private equity and private debt. It identifies regulatory constraints, a lack of professional expertise, and reputational risks as primary barriers to the growth of private markets. The document recommends increasing asset allocation ceilings, disaggregating private equity from broader 'alternative' categories, and developing regional investment frameworks to achieve economies of scale.

The report argues that South Africa's policy of elevating trophy hunting as a conservation tool lacks empirical support and is economically insignificant compared to non-consumptive tourism. It highlights systemic governance failures, particularly in the Association of Private Nature Reserves (APNR), and suggests that the practice may actually harm biodiversity by targeting prime males and fragmenting landscapes. The author recommends a moratorium on trophy hunting for elephants, rhinos, leopards, lions, and giraffes, proposing a shift toward non-lethal alternatives like carbon and biodiversity credits.

The document outlines a 24-month, USD 599,908 project to advance fire management in Guatemala by transitioning from a reactive suppression model to a proactive, traditional fire management (TFM) approach. It aims to create a permanent national coordination mechanism, develop a GCF Project Concept Note for an ER TFM sector, and implement satellite-based Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) tools based on Australian models. The initiative focuses on leveraging indigenous knowledge, particularly from the Maya population, to implement early dry season burning to prevent high-intensity late-season wildfires, thereby reducing GHG emissions in the land-use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector.

The proposal argues that shifting fire patterns from the late to the early dry season through Traditional Fire Management (TFM) can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect biodiversity, and create employment for Indigenous and local communities in Belize. It identifies critical gaps in awareness, technology (specifically MRV systems), human capacity, and regulatory frameworks. The proposed 24-month project, budgeted at USD 399,313, aims to develop a Project Concept Note for the GCF and establish knowledge-sharing partnerships via the International Savanna Fire Management Initiative (ISFMI) network.

The document argues that SADC countries face a significant infrastructure deficit and institutional weaknesses that hinder regional integration and economic recovery. It proposes the adoption of 'anticipatory governance' and a shift toward green, inclusive, and digitally enabled infrastructure to move away from national protectionism and fossil-fuel dependency. Using a STEEPV framework, the authors outline various future scenarios—ranging from 'SADC Solarpunk' (desirable) to 'Deep Collusion' (undesirable)—to stress-test current strategies and advocate for innovative blended financing and regional cooperation via the AfCFTA.

The report identifies a significant climate finance gap in the SADC region, estimating cumulative adaptation and mitigation needs at USD 200 billion for 2020-2030. While South Africa dominates the current market, the study finds that corporate issuers remain inactive compared to banks and sovereigns. Key barriers include a lack of bankable projects, limited institutional capacity, and shallow domestic capital markets in most member states. The report recommends strengthening the expertise of regulators and stock exchanges, establishing national champions, and incentivizing banks to develop eligible project portfolios.

The document details how Southern Africa is experiencing temperature increases above the global average, increased frequency of heatwaves and droughts, and significant economic losses. It projects severe future risks to food security, human health, and biodiversity, while emphasizing the need for transformative adaptation and increased climate finance to build resilience.

FSD Africa's 2022 Impact Report details the agency's efforts to deepen African capital markets and transition toward a green economy. Key achievements include mobilising £1.9 billion in long-term capital, supporting the issuance of pioneering gender bonds in Tanzania and Morocco, and expanding green finance initiatives. The report highlights the agency's 'green strategy' target to have 70% of its portfolio be green by 2025, alongside specific interventions in geothermal risk transfer, carbon markets, and COVID-19 emergency job protection in Ethiopia.

FSD Africa's 2022 Impact Report highlights the organization's shift toward green financing, with a goal of 70% of its portfolio being green. Key achievements include facilitating green bonds in 20 African countries, investing $0.25bn via the African Local Currency Bond Fund to support renewable energy, and launching the African Natural Capital Alliance to manage nature-related financial risks. The organization has increased its green financing commitment from £23 million in 2020 to approximately £52 million in 2022, with a target of over £122 million by 2025.

The NAP Global Network's 2021-2022 progress report highlights its efforts to accelerate climate adaptation in the Global South through three main pillars: peer learning, technical assistance, and knowledge generation. Key achievements include the expansion of in-country support programs from two to nine, the launch of the NAP Trends platform, and the delivery of gender-responsive and monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) focused summits. The Network reports steady progress toward its 2025 strategy targets, including support for least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS), while emphasizing the critical transition from adaptation planning to implementation.

The AfCFTA has the potential to generate USD 3.4 trillion in GDP and lift over 100 million people out of poverty by 2040, with primary gains expected in manufacturing and services. However, significant disparities in factor markets—including labour skills, technology adoption, and financial capacity—exist across the continent, with Eastern and Southern Africa generally possessing higher capacities than Central and Western Africa. The document highlights risks associated with heavy reliance on non-African financing, such as the EU-funded Africa Trade Observatory, and urges member states to leverage domestic capital markets and sovereign wealth funds. It further emphasizes that political stability and the empowerment of regional bodies are essential to protect private sector investment in cross-border infrastructure, which the World Bank estimates requires USD 47.6 billion annually.

The policy brief examines the severe fiscal constraints facing African countries during COVID-19 recovery, noting that while advanced economies mobilised about 6% of GDP, African countries mobilised barely 1%. It highlights the inadequacy of current debt relief mechanisms like the DSSI and the Common Framework, and the high cost of borrowing from international capital markets due to unfair credit ratings. The author proposes five policy priorities: establishing national donor coordination frameworks, reallocating public investment to de-risk private projects, extending the DSSI for two years with partial debt cancellation, creating a transparent multilateral framework for debt resolution involving commercial creditors, and exploring the establishment of independent, publicly owned credit rating agencies.

The document condemns the travel bans imposed by the US, EU, and Canada on Southern African countries after the detection of the Omicron variant, describing them as 'unjustified and lacking scientific basis'. It argues that these measures penalize South Africa for its scientific transparency and ignore the 'vaccine apartheid' that left Africa as the most under-vaccinated continent, with only 6.66% of its population fully vaccinated. The authors state that these restrictions cripple struggling economies, specifically impacting tourism which accounts for 3% of South Africa's GDP, 11% for Namibia, and 13% for Botswana. Furthermore, the text highlights the role of 'vaccine nationalism' and the refusal of the EU, Switzerland, and Japan to waive intellectual property rights for vaccines as structural failures in the global pandemic response.