Building Resilience and Greening Africa through Entrepreneurship

Image

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 will also explore 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
• Entrepreneur or investor from Land Accelerator