Opinion & Analysis
Africa finally on the road to recovery
A notice is seen on a supermarket shelf at the height of the global recession last year. Progress in reducing poverty was set back and as a result nutrition suffered. In other parts of the world, you might lose your job, or maybe your house due to recession. In Africa, you could very well lose your life, or the life of your child. Photo/HEZRON NJOROGE
Posted Wednesday, March 10 2010 at 00:00
Africa has contributed little to the carbon emissions that endanger our planet, but Africa is already paying the price.
Without action, Africa will suffer more from drought, flooding, food shortages, and disease—possibly provoking further instability and conflict. We must take urgent action.
New ideas
Now is the time to put new ideas on the table, as the United Nations High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing—co-chaired by Gordon Brown and Meles Zenawi—is about to begin its work.
Much of this financing should come as grants or highly-concessional loans. For this, we need subsidies.
Ultimately, these will have to come as budgetary transfers from developed countries, drawing on scaled-up carbon taxes and expanded carbon trading mechanisms.
But these new revenue sources will take time to put in place.
So we need an interim solution. A “Green Fund” could provide a mechanism that could act as a bridge to large-scale carbon-based financing in the medium term.
Transforming Africa’s economy to boost living standards and increase resilience to shocks is a hefty agenda. Africa must take a leadership role.
Strauss-Kahn, is the Managing Director of the IMF.
RSS