COMMENT: Bioeconomy — using renewable biological resources — will allow Africa to transform its systems and create a viable economic future, global warming.
Covid-19 is as contagious economically as it is medically. Estimates by the Centre for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge put the worst-case scenario cost of the pandemic to the global economy at a nightmarish $82-trillion over five years, with an optimistic loss of $3.3-trillion in the case of speedy recovery.
Productivity in several African countries depends on natural resources; climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, fisheries, forestry and tourism; and climate-sensitive infrastructure, such as houses, buildings, municipal services and transport networks. Concomitant with the announcement of policy measures to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been growing calls to build back better by ensuring tackling climate change is at the top of the agenda.
A bioeconomy uses renewable natural capital to holistically transform and manage our land, food, health and industrial systems. It presents an opportunity to reduce dependence on fossil-derived resources and achieve the ambitious Paris climate target. It also holds significant promise for achieving sustainable development.
Bioeconomy, however, has not been adopted by many African countries: only South Africa has a defined bioeconomy strategy; Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda have some bioeconomy-related activities. uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development aggregation method to calculate the readiness of African countries to adopt bioeconomy.
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