Africa looks to private sector to fund ocean climate action

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Countries on Africa's west coast are increasingly turning to climate funding initiatives to boost livelihoods of oceanside communities, aid biodiversity and take climate action.

On the margins of the high-level political forum on sustainable development currently underway at the United Nations headquarters in New York, African coastal and island states and conservation groups outlined plans to boost ocean conservation and economic development through a system of “ blue bonds” — a method of financing projects that would also benefit ocean health.

Following on from Africa's Great Green Wall, which spans across the continent's Sahel region, east African nations are now seeking funds for the Great Blue Wall initiative, which aims to protect marine areas across the coastline. Both blue and green finance refers to funding aimed at preventing environmental damage and combating climate change while creating sustainable ecosystems.

"The blue bond is a powerful example of the critical role that the capital markets can play in supporting sustainable objectives,” said Jorge Familiar, Vice President of the World Bank.

The Great Blue Wall initiative, launched last year by ten western Indian Ocean states during the U.N.'s climate conference in Glasgow, aims to create a network of coastal and marine protected areas which supporters say would restore and conserve some 2 million hectares of ocean, capture 100 million tons of carbon dioxide and secure livelihoods for over 70 million people.

The project spans the continent's west coast — from Somalia to South Africa — and includes the island states of Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia and the French territories, Mayotte and Reunion.

Jean-Paul Adam, who heads the climate division at the U.N....