Search Climate Insights Directory

The Covane Community Lodge project in Mozambique transitioned from a struggling CPPP involving Transfrontier Park Destinations (TPD) to a more viable partnership with Barra Resorts. TPD failed due to a lack of familiarity with local Mozambican laws, taxation, and community relations, as well as a reliance on donor funding. In contrast, Barra Resorts succeeded by leveraging its existing operational experience in Mozambique, independent capital, and integration of the lodge into a broader product suite. The project was facilitated by transaction advisors and funded in part by the World Bank and Ford Foundation.

The Swaziland Sugar Association (SSA) manages the marketing and sale of sugarcane for Swazi growers and millers, distributing 50% of its product within SACU and the remainder to Europe. The association faces significant hurdles including limited local access to finance due to regulatory constraints and government debt crowding, poorly developed transport infrastructure in the SADC region, and trade barriers such as import limitations and scanning charges in Mozambique. These factors increase operational costs and limit market expansion. Future challenges include the need to pivot toward regional markets as European sugar markets open to more competitors and the requirement to meet evolving food safety and fortification standards.

The document details the obstacles Shenimed encounters in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including systemic corruption in customs and certification processes, high tax burdens, and poor transport infrastructure. It highlights how a lack of reliable electricity forced the company to cease local production in Bukavu and shift to imports from Tanzania. Financial challenges are noted, specifically currency instability of the Congolese franc and a shortage of loans leading to cash flow difficulties. The company advocates for reduced customs procedures, the removal of non-tariff barriers, and better state-private sector consultation to improve the business environment.

Palfridge Limited, a manufacturer of domestic, commercial, and solar refrigerators, faces significant operational hurdles including customs inefficiencies between Swaziland and South Africa, high electricity costs and disruptions, and trade policy barriers. The company suffers from high import duties on European components due to Swaziland's failure to ratify an Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU and is currently barred from the Zimbabwean market. Additionally, the firm struggles with the retention of skilled local labor and has been forced to retrench workers due to rising business costs.

Lobatse Clay Works faces significant operational and financial hurdles when exporting bricks in Southern Africa, primarily due to inconsistent weighbridge readings, varying vehicle permit and insurance costs—including a newly introduced carbon tax—and divergent regional policies such as VAT calculations. The firm reports that the Southern African Customs Union (SAUC) tariff structure favors South Africa over Botswana's interests. Despite participating in SADC forums, the company perceives a lack of progress on these long-standing trade barriers, noting that engagement with policymakers has yielded no outcomes.

Nakara, a Namibian leather manufacturer employing 150 people, faces significant business constraints due to a lack of local technical skills and bureaucratic delays in obtaining work and export permits. The company's primary export market is South Africa, where it encounters severe cash flow issues because it must prepay VAT on behalf of medium-sized customers who cannot afford 'Deferred VAT Accounts'. Despite engaging with the Namibian Ministries of Environment and Tourism, Finance, and Trade and Industry, the company reports that no positive resolutions have been achieved to reduce these trade barriers.

The document details the challenges faced by ALBARTOS, a Kinshasa-based trading company, highlighting systemic corruption, inefficient administration, and poor infrastructure in the Democratic Republic of Congo. To navigate these obstacles, the company relies on consultants and informal networks with public officials to expedite permits and avoid over-taxation.

The Lesotho New Referral Hospital is a US$100 million Build-Operate-Transfer PPP established in 2009 between the Lesotho government and the Tsepong Consortium. The project provides a 425-bed referral hospital and three satellite clinics, funded by the Development Bank of Southern Africa, government contributions, and private equity, with technical assistance from Sweden, the Netherlands, and the Global Partnership for Output Based Aid. Implementation faced significant barriers, including a lack of national PPP policy in Lesotho, limited government capacity to manage such deals, and public skepticism regarding profit motives in healthcare. To mitigate financial risks and ensure profitability, the agreement utilizes a unitary payment system and includes a 35-bed private facility where profits are retained exclusively by the private partner.

The Walvis Bay Corridor Group (WBCG) is a public-private partnership established in 2000 to increase cargo for the Port of Walvis Bay and improve linked transport corridors. It integrates public regulators and private operators to provide logistics services for landlocked SADC countries via the Trans-Kalahari, Trans-Caprivi, Trans-Cunene, and Trans-Oranje corridors. Key barriers identified include stakeholder fragmentation, high administrative costs, border corruption, and safety risks from roaming animals. To address these, the WBCG promotes 'Accredited Economic Operators' status to reduce border delays and is implementing a 'single window IT infra-structure' to lower trade costs.

Vodacom operates in Southern Africa facing a dichotomy between heavily regulated communication services and capital infrastructure challenges, including customs delays, high taxation, and corruption. The company leverages its size to engage with international, regional, and national bodies—such as the ITU, CRASA, and SADC—to influence policy and facilitate market penetration. While Vodacom finds regional interaction through CRASA positive, it critiques SADC for grouping communications with transport in a single protocol. The document also notes a trend of increasing government ownership and intervention in the sector, which creates tensions between the state's role as regulator and operator.

This report examines the drivers and flows of tropical timber exports from the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) through Uganda to regional markets, highlighting the prevalence of unregulated trade and the disparity in benefits among actors within the supply chain.

The document analyzes the complex relationship between South Africa and Nigeria, noting that while trade grew significantly between 1999 and 2008, diplomatic tensions persist over regional issues and AU leadership. It argues that the two nations share similar domestic challenges and regional influence, suggesting that institutionalizing their cooperation through the Bilateral National Commission (BNC) is essential for strengthening Africa's global voice.

The African Union (AU) has shifted the continental focus from decolonisation to development and economic integration. While it has established institutional infrastructure, implemented peacekeeping missions, and promoted democratic norms—such as refusing to recognise coup-led governments—it faces a structural impasse in achieving developmental goals. The author argues that the AU must move beyond ambitious declarations toward pragmatic outcomes, specifically by translating governance into developmental deliverables, strengthening regional economic communities like ECOWAS, and clarifying leadership principles for the AU Commission.

China is employing a 'soft power' strategy in Africa, utilizing state-owned media like CCTV Africa and China Daily to promote its culture and policies following its emergence as Africa's largest trading partner in 2010. This effort is part of a wider trend among emerging economies to manage their global imagery. However, the document argues that China faces significant hurdles in establishing international credibility due to a conflict between the watchdog nature of mainstream global media and traditional Chinese cultural values regarding criticism and 'losing face'.

The document examines the flow of tropical timber from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into Uganda and the wider East African region. It highlights the challenges of regulating this trade due to its informal nature and the influence of powerful middlemen. The authors argue that regional cooperation, improved infrastructure, and the promotion of plantation forestry in Uganda are essential to reduce illegal trade and pressure on natural forests. Key recommendations include utilizing the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) for coordination and aligning timber certification standards across the DRC and East African Community (EAC) members.

The document assesses the transition from the GATT's 'gentleman's club' model to the WTO's formal rules-based system, highlighting how the principles of consensus and the Single Undertaking have become obstacles to progress. It argues that the rise of emerging economies and the increased complexity of trade issues—including domestic regulation and climate change—have rendered the current system obsolete. The author evaluates several reform options, including weighted voting, an executive committee, and plurilateral agreements, ultimately suggesting that a 'critical mass' or plurilateral approach may be the most practical way to maintain the WTO's relevance.

The report examines the trade of tropical timber from the eastern DRC through Uganda to regional and international markets. It finds that approximately 80% of timber leaving the eastern DRC enters Uganda, where it is either consumed locally or transited to Kenya and South Sudan. The trade is characterized by high levels of informality, significant revenue loss for the DRC, and a profit structure that heavily favors middlemen and politically connected traders over primary producers and transporters. While international markets are increasingly regulated by frameworks like EU FLEGT and the US Lacey Act, regional trade remains largely unregulated due to timber shortages in East Africa. The report highlights the role of the Northern Transit Corridor in facilitating these flows and suggests that bottom-up regional cooperation, similar to the Albertine Rift Strategic Planning Process, could improve sustainability and governance.

The author argues that while China's economic decline (the 'Chindown') creates concern, the BRICS grouping remains vital due to its collective weight—representing 25% of global GDP and 45% of the world's population. The group is evolving from a set of economic growth projections into a political economy force, asserting itself in multilateral engagements such as the WTO and G20. Key actions include efforts to trade in national currencies to reduce reliance on the US dollar and pledging funds to the IMF to push for governance and quota reforms. Despite challenges like a lack of cohesive identity and fragile trade linkages, the BRICS are expanding cooperation into food security, sustainable development, and energy.

The author critiques South Africa's reliance on politically driven preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with developing nations, noting that agreements like the SACU-Mercosur PTA lack efficacy. The text advocates for a strategic re-evaluation of trade in services, the simplification of SADC rules of origin via the Tripartite FTA, and a compromise in Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations with the EU to protect market access for SADC partners. Additionally, it highlights the importance of the US AGOA dispensation and the Automotive Production and Development Programme (APDP) in establishing South Africa as a regional motor manufacturing hub.

Since resuming official ties in 2006, China has become a significant economic partner for Chad, primarily through the $1 billion Rônier oil project. While this partnership has provided President Idriss Déby with political and economic leverage, it has also faced tensions over petroleum pricing and relies on a security framework led by France.