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Beacons of life and death

(Written for the June 2015 edition of The Intrepid Explorer)

Text by Stef Terblanche

Pictures by Karl Andre Terblanche

Adventure, the great outdoors, spectacular sea and land scenery, a taste of life and death dramas, the isolation and romance of a bygone era that somehow endures, fascinating history, and now also a unique form of hospitality…all rolled into one experience. Rare but true.

Visit any number of South Africa’s 45 fascinating lighthouses dotted along 2,954km of some of the most breathtakingly beautiful, rugged  and treacherous coastline in the world and you will get all this and more, while also getting to see how this indispensable service to the maritime industry operates.

Many of these were built in isolated, inhospitable terrain without the aid of modern technology and testify to man’s ingenuity and perseverance. In almost every case the sea had mercilessly claimed many lives, cargo and vessels before it was decided to build a lighthouse. Some of these lighthouses have accumulated their ghosts and spellbinding tales over two centuries.

South Africa’s lighthouses are maintained and operated by Lighthouse and Navigational Systems (LNS), a business unit of the Transnet National Ports Authority. They cover the coast from the diamond and copper country of Port Nolloth on the far northern West Coast right around to Jesser Point at Sodwana Bay near the border with Mozambique. All are automated these days and only 17 are still manned.

As eight of these lighthouses are open to the public with a number of them offering lighthouse tours, self-catering accommodation or conference facilities, today’s lighthouse keepers, or lighthouse officers as they are now known, sometimes have to be as adept at seeing to tourist needs as making sure the powerful light beams keep on guiding ships safely to their destination.

But many more of these lighthouses can fairly easily be reached, making a tour of South Africa’s lighthouses a unique experience that will take you to unforgettable, out of-the-way places. We did just that, but because of time constraints limited our tour to the lighthouses of the Western Cape.

Our journey started with lighthouse number six down from Port Nolloth on the awesome West Coast, a few kilometers from the historic fishing village of Paternoster in the Columbine Nature Reserve. Here the Cape Columbine lighthouse was commissioned in 1936 and is probably the only South African lighthouse built in something of an art deco style aptly resembling a square, buttressed castle – instead of the usual round, tapered shape - as it is built on what is known locally as Castle Rock. 

This was the last manned lighthouse to be built and the last lighthouse designed by Harry Claude  Cooper, Lighthouse Engineer for the Cape Colonial Government and subsequently the first Lighthouse Engineer of the then South African Railways. Cape Columbine, painted white with a red lantern house, stands 15m high on a prominent, windswept headland from where every 15 seconds its 1.5Kw lamp flashes a beam of some 5,040,000 Candelas visible from 32 nautical miles away. It is usually the first lighthouse to be sighted by ships coming from South America and Europe.

Originally lighthouses were painted in different, unique colours and patterns to make them easily identifiable from the sea. For the same reason  the flashing light of each lighthouse has a different character or sequence.

The history of the area around Cape Columbine is steeped in maritime tragedy. Legend has it that the picturesque village of Paternoster, which means “Our Father”, derived its name from the prayers of shipwrecked Portuguese sailors. The lighthouse was named after the barque Columbine which ran aground here on 31 Mary 1829.  But the many submerged rocks and reefs along this coast first had to claim many more victims before the lighthouse was finally built more than a hundred years later.

For lighthouse buffs this lighthouse offers an interesting array of ‘firsts’, such as its particular lens system and being the first to receive all three navigational safety features, namely a light, a fog signal and a radio beacon. A steep climb up its spiral staircase into the lantern house will reward you with spectacular views of the surrounding nature reserve, Britannia reef and the Atlantic Ocean.  

From Paternoster the road takes us south to Saldanha Bay and Langebaan Lagoon, to two lighthouses guarding the sea entrance to the bay and lagoon, named North Head and South Head lighthouses. Both had humble beginnings in 1969 first as 23m high aluminium lattice towers with lanterns atop, and were only converted to concrete towers more recently. North Head can be reached through along a nature trail through the naval base property next to the harbour. South Head can be reached through the West Coast National park and Postberg Flower Reserve but is out of bounds to the public as it stands behind locked gates on military  property.

Giving the Dassen Island lighthouse at Yzerfontein a miss, our next stop was the Cape Peninsula which, as the infamous Cape of Storms, naturally abounds with lighthouses and has a history filled with spectacular maritime disasters. No fewer than six lighthouses are located around the peninsula in vastly differing settings.

The rugged isolation of Slangkoppunt lighthouse at Kommetjie, painted white from top to bottom, stands in stark contrast to the urban setting of the Green Point lighthouse at Mouille Point which is dwarfed by high-rise apartment blocks. Green Point lighthouse was built between 1821 and 1824 as the first operational and solid structure lighthouse in South Africa. The building with its red and white diagonal stripes is a Cape Town landmark. It is also the place where generations of lighthouse keepers received their training. Today it serves as head office for the lighthouse service but is still operational and its loud foghorn, installed in 1926, is still a frequent irritation to some nearby residents. Another old lighthouse at nearby Mouille Point has long been demolished.

Despite its role in safely guiding ships in and out of Table Bay, the Green Point lighthouse has borne  witness to many a tragedy on the waters in front of it. In one of the worst storms ever to hit Table Bay, some 30 ships were blown ashore and wrecked in 1858, with many lives lost. In another severe storm in May 1865 the RMS Athens, a mail steamer was driven onto the rocks by huge waves, with its entire crew of 29 perishing.  And in 1966 the SA Seafarer ran aground close to the lighthouse which used its strong light beam to assist three air force helicopters to airlift crew and passengers to safety without loss of life. This was the first such rescue operation in South Africa.

A short distance across the busy waters of Table Bay is the Robben Island lighthouse built in 1864, but which in a sense is the oldest in South Africa. The current lighthouse stands on Minto Hill, the same site where the first Dutch governor at the Cape, Jan van Riebeeck, in 1656 ordered a huge bonfire to be kept burning as a navigational aid for ships. Despite this many ships foundered on the rocks around the island over the years, among them a 17^th century Dutch ship laden with gold coins meant as payment for Dutch East India Company employees in Batavia. Over the years some gold coins have washed up, but the bulk of the treasure has yet to be found.

As a young child the later Archbishop of Durban, Denis Hurley, lived on the island as his father was lighthouse keeper until 1923.

Across the water from Robben Island is Milnerton lighthouse, also in an urban setting surrounded by restaurants and a golf course.

Next we go south to Simonstown and Roman Rock lighthouse, one of the most unique lighthouses in South Africa. The lighthouse, a circular cast iron structure on top of a concrete base with two metal landing areas jutting out, is perched precariously on two rocks in False Bay near the entrance to the naval harbour. At high tide the rocks are fully submerged, with strong Southeasters in summer and gale force Northwesters in winter sending an endless succession of waves crashing into it.

These conditions made the mere construction of this lighthouse between 1861 and 1865 quite a feat, allowing for only 96 working days over the four years. Because of its unique location its lighthouse keepers were the highest  paid in the service, but after 1919 automation replaced them.

The Cape Point lighthouse sits spectacularly atop a rocky headland of sheer cliffs surrounded by a restless sea at the southern tip of the Cape Peninsula. It is within the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve which is part of the larger Table Mountain National Park. The first lighthouse was built in 1857 in the “wrong place” at the highest point of the headland. After a Portuguese ocean liner, the Lusitania, ran aground directly below the lighthouse in 1911, a new lighthouse was built lower down, almost at the tip of the point, in 1914. Boasting the most powerful beam of all South Africa’s lighthouses, it can be seen from 34 nautical miles away.

The area is so littered with wrecked ships that there is a special shipwreck trail here. It is also a place of myths, such as “sightings” of the ‘Flying Dutchman” ghost ship. Or the incorrect story that the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet here, when in fact they meet all along the Southern Cape coast and not at any particular point. In the Simonstown Museum is a photograph of a quaint handwritten notice that was nailed to the lighthouse door in the early 1900s and which read: “Any Person caught rolling down the cliff will be prosecuted, by order Lighthouse Engineer”. Presumably only if the culprit survived the roll.

From Cape Point we follow the scenic road around the False Bay coast to Kleinmond and the Cape Hangklip lighthouse, located on a beautiful little peninsula covered in fynbos from where it overlooks a number of picturesque bays. This is also prime whale-watching territory.

Then it is on to Gansbaai and the Danger Point lighthouse which was commissioned in 1895. Danger Point is also the location of one of the most tragic cases of outstanding chivalry in maritime history. When the HMS Birkenhead struck a rock and sank here in February 1852 while carrying troops to Algoa Bay, there were not enough serviceable lifeboats for all on board. Allowing women and children to use the lifeboats, the soldiers famously stood to attention on the decks as the ship broke up and went down. Many of them were taken by Great White sharks that inhabit these waters, which led to locals to this day calling them ‘Tommy Sharks’. Of the 643 people on board only 193 survived. After this tragedy the “women and children first” protocol was adopted throughout the maritime world.

More than 140 shipwrecks litter the coast between Danger Point and the Breede River mouth some 150km further east. Between Danger Point and Cape Agulhas, on a small peninsula the Quoin Point lighthouse overlooks the graveyard of a number of these wrecks. This lighthouse can only be reached by 4WD vehicle.

Our next stop is Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of Africa which like Cape Point also dubiously claims to be the meeting point of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. But it is home to one of South Africa’s most iconic lighthouses, and was South Africa’s third lighthouse having been commissioned in 1849. Like the Cape Columbine lighthouse it is built in an unusual style based on the Pharos of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The structure was declared unsafe in 1966 and replaced with a steel lattice structure. However, the local community restored their beloved lighthouse themselves and it was put back into service in March 1988 and now also houses a lighthouse museum. The lighthouse is also said to be haunted with a non-existent man seen painting the stairs leading up to the lighthouse on a number of occasions.

After Cape Agulhas there are two more lighthouses at Cape Infanta and Ystervarkpunt at the mouth of the Gouritz River, before one arrives at our last stop, the Cape St Blaize lighthouse at Mossel Bay. In service since March 1864, the lighthouse gets its name from the Portuguese seafarer Bartolomeu Dias who in 1488, named the bay the Bahia (Aguada) de Sao Bras, or ‘the watering place of St Blaize’.

The lighthouse has been built on top of a cave which is an important archaeological site where Khoisan people lived from about 200,000 years ago to about 1400.

Cape St Blaize is the starting point of an awesome cliff-face hiking trail with breath-taking views. Most of the other lighthouses we visited also have stunning coastal and inland hiking trails nearby, while a number are located in or near nature reserves. Other activities on offer in the vicinity of a number of these lighthouses include kite-surfing, kayaking, shark cage diving, rock and boat angling, scuba diving and snorkelling, surfing, game and bird watching, and mountain-biking. Camping sites and a range of good accommodation is available close to all of them.

Of the 22 lighthouses between Port Nolloth and Cape St Blaize, 9 are manned. Cape Columbine, Green Point, Slangkoppunt, Danger Point, Cape Agulhas, and Cape St Blaize are open to the public while a number of them offer self-catering accommodation. For more details Transnet National Ports Authority’s Lighthouse and Navigational Systems unit can be contacted at telephone 021 449 2400 or by email at lighthouse.tourism@transnet.net.  

Agriculture in Africa:  Much food for thought…and action

(Published in Trade & Invest Africa, February 2015 )

By Stef Terblanche

Agriculture, nutrition and food security in Africa have become major talking points on the continent and around the world.

In fact, such a big issue has it become that last year was declared the African Union Year of Agriculture and Food Security. And heads of African states attending the 23rd African Union Summit adopted what is known as the ‘Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods’.

There to help turn this important political commitment into meaningful action was the 2014 African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) which brought together in Addis Ababa some 1,000 leaders of governments, agri-businesses, farmers’ organisations and more to generate the required strategies. And much more.

No wonder. Africa is after all a continent that has seen its fair share of famine, droughts, food shortages and malnutrition. But it also has immense potential to feed a hungry world, say the experts.

Needless to say, the sceptics will ponder the question: is this all just a lot of hot air, or can Africa really put the food on the table?

Here are some of the facts.

·         Africa’s population is set to increase from its present 1.1 billion to 2.4 billion by 2050.

·         214 million sub-Saharan Africans currently face some type of food crisis.

·         200 million Africans are chronically malnourished.

·         5 million Africans die each year as a result of hunger.

·         Africa has more unexploited arable land than any other continent.

·         500 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa depend on 3.46 billion acres of community held farmland.

·         Africa is making slower progress in achieving international hunger-reduction targets than other regions.

·         More than 65% of all Africans are employed in the agricultural sector.

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·         The majority of sub-Saharan Africa's food is produced by small-scale farmers.

·         Small-scale farmers are being pushed off their land as governments and companies from food-importing countries target Africa for their own needs.

It was with this grim picture in mind that the 23rd AU Summit adopted the Malabo Declaration last year. Like the African Green Revolution Forum it focused on how to deliver agriculture-led economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, establish food security and improve nutritional quality across the continent.

Through the Malabo Declaration the African heads of states adopted a remarkably ambitious set of concrete goals to be reached by 2025, among its aims  the doubling of food productivity and halving  poverty.

But was it all talk and no action at the AU Summit? Jeske van Seters, Deputy Head of Programme Food Security at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) on her blog lists what she calls “three key takeaways from the summit”.

First, she says, contrary to opinions that summit themes “are empty shells and hardly accompanied by an intensive agenda” the heads of states adopted a “remarkably ambitious set of concrete goals to be reached by 2025”.

“Perhaps most importantly a set of new goals showing a more targeted approach focusing on employment, post harvest losses, climate smart agriculture were agreed,” says Van Seters.

“The focus broadened beyond spending and production, with concrete targets for 2025 such as reducing post harvest losses by half, creating job opportunities for at least 30% of the youth in agricultural value chains and ensuring that at least 30% of farm, pastoral and fisher households will be resilient to climate and weather related risks. Much attention also goes out to improving the functioning of agricultural markets and intra-African trade, with an ambitious goal to triple intra-African trade in agricultural commodities.”

But, as Van Seters also points out, progress in achieving previous ambitious targets set by African leaders a decade ago in the context of the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) has been slow.

Back then they undertook to allocate at least 10% of public spending to agriculture and achieve 6% annual agricultural growth. But most AU member states have failed to put this into practice so far and since 2003 only 13 countries have met or surpassed the 10% public spending target in one or more years. While overall agricultural production has increased, it remained well below the annual 6% growth target.

What could make the difference this time around, is referred to in Van Seter’s second “takeaway”. That is the considerable emphasis that was placed at the Summit on “agriculture as a business, with calls for increasing private sector investments and value addition”.

“The leaders committed to creating a more enabling environment for private investment in agriculture, agri-business and agro-industries.”

A specification that priority will be given to local investors appears to be in response to the concerns  of civil society organisations that condemn a situation where the primary focus is on foreign direct investments as an engine for agricultural growth and transformation, says Van Seter.

Furthermore, the African leaders also propose to establish and strengthen public-private partnerships ‘with strong linkage to smallholder agriculture’.

"Africa's smallholder farmers produce the vast majority of food grown on the continent and they are the backbone of a sector that employs more than 65% of all Africans," says the chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Strive Masiyiwa. AGRA, founded in 2006 through a partnership between the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, works in partnership across the African continent to help small-scale farmers and their families lift themselves out of poverty and hunger.

“Importantly, rather than a choice between large scale farming and agri-businesses versus small-scale farmers and small and medium enterprises, they will co-exist,” comments Van Seters.

The third “takeaway” listed by Van Seters is that the Malabo Declaration asks the AU Commission and NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) to develop an implementation strategy and roadmap that facilitates translation of the 2025 vision and goals into reality, thus putting words into action.

But it is going to be a very difficult balancing act to find the right kind of equilibrium between small-scale farming, commercial farming for domestic consumption and large-scale farming driven by foreign agri-businesses with an export focus. Ethiopia may be a good case in point.

It is a country that in recent decades frequently made international headlines with periodic famine and acute malnutrition, especially among its children. It is also a country with vast tracts of potential agricultural land. Yet, instead of growing crops for home consumption, the government of Ethiopia is leasing millions of hectares to foreign companies that grow and export food to their home countries and other markets such as China, India, Saudi Arabia and countries in Europe.

In one example some two-thirds of western Ethiopia’s Gambela region is being leased by the Karuturi Global food company based in Bangalore, India, for the next 50 years. The other third of the region is covered by a national park. Whole villages are being moved away, forests are being cleared, livestock driven out, rivers diverted and swamps drained….all to make way for producing flowers, rice and palm oil for export. Ethiopia’s government claims it is in the interest of creating jobs, developing agricultural technology, and generating income from food exports.

It is a scenario that is increasingly playing itself out in many other African countries too, among them Mozambique, Liberia, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan. While soybeans, maize and other food crops are grown for export, often agricultural land is now being used for the production of biofuels or other such non-nutrition focused crops.

“Africa is seen as underperforming and in control of valuable resources that capital seeks for profitable purposes,” says the African Centre for Biosafety . “Africa is seen as a possible new frontier to make profits, with an eye on land, food and biofuels in particular.”

The centre says land grabbing in Africa is intensifying and spreading. It says NGOs estimate that in eastern Africa alone, 310 land deals have been completed since 2000. All of which underpins why the Malabo Declaration calls for a more balanced and sustainable approach.

But there are many other obstacles too. African small-scale farmers lack knowledge, experience or funds to improve their yields. Many governments have support and funding programmes on paper only. And many African farmers, farming in set ways for many generations, are often suspicious of new technology, farming methods and new partners.

Rob Bailey  Research Director, Energy, Environment and Resources at Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs) says increasing agricultural productivity and adapting farming to climate change are central to Africa’s development prospects.

“There are important opportunities to enhance yields and increase resilience through the adoption of improved crop varieties.”

He mentions the example of biotechnology, and in particular genetic modification (GM), that offer advantages over conventional plant-breeding approaches.

“Multiple barriers inhibit the development and adoption of pro-poor GM varieties in Africa. On the demand side, farmers may be reluctant to adopt GM varieties owing to a lack of export opportunities and distrust of the technology among local consumers. Farmers may also be concerned about exploitation by transnational seed companies, despite the fact that development of new GM technologies in Africa is dominated by the public sector,” says Bailey.

“On the supply side, donor funding struggles to match the long timescales of research and development, while incentives among research scientists may be poorly aligned with farmer outcomes. Non-existent, poorly functioning or overly punitive regulatory regimes discourage investment.”

In the longer term it will be a question of which outweighs the other: suspicion, barriers and exploitation, or opportunity, partnerships and a new spirit of commitment as presented in the Malabo Declaration. The point is, Africa cannot afford to postpone.

Investing in Africa’s green economy – opportunity beckons

(Published in Trade & Invest Africa, February 2015 )

By Stef Terblanche

In Africa – and indeed all around the world – the green economy has become the focal point for a new breed of investors and entrepreneurs. Rapidly rising out of its infancy, it promises an entirely new generation of businesses and opportunities, also widely predicted to be the much-needed major force for future job creation.

Or, as the South African-based Impact Trust puts it, the growing demand worldwide for renewable energy solutions as well as for technologies and products that address climate change, promote sustainability and improve environmental quality has given rise to an abundance of opportunities for environmental entrepreneurs or “ecopreneurs”.

“Equally essential to the success of efforts for sustainable, inclusive growth and development is exposure to and understanding of the opportunities that could and do exist in the green economy and how these could be accessed.” The Impact Trust is a non-profit public benefit advocacy organisation.

Like the term “climate change” a few years ago, the words “green economy” have more recently become rather fashionable buzz words, thrown about with almost reckless abandon. Yet many people are still in the dark as to its exact meaning, how it is applied in practice, and what its benefits may be, especially for business.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) says at its most basic level, a green economy is one that generates increasing prosperity while maintaining the natural systems that sustain us. The Green Economy Group (GEG) takes it a step further and says “a green economy rigorously applies the triple bottom line of people, planet and profits across all corporations at the microeconomic level and throughout the entire economy at the macroeconomic level”.

For traders, investors and other business people the bottom-line would be sustainable profits from business or investment that contributes to a low-carbon economy supporting  sustainable development without degrading the environment.

Much happening

Some question whether the green economy really differs all that much from previous business, growth and development models, saying it is much the same, only with more environmental and social conscience thrown into the mix. In essence, however, it requires an entirely new focus and approach, new technologies, new business models, new legislative frameworks and more.

A report published by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and the Green Economy Coalition (GEC), says governments, businesses, investors and others are embracing the ‘green economy’ idea, but differences in the way they interpret it still pose barriers to sustainable development.

Nonetheless, in almost every corner of the world, and certainly across Africa too, much has already been happening around this concept. And in-between and among the many definitions, concepts, studies, conferences and talk-shops an entire new world of business opportunities is unfolding.

It is also widely anticipated that the World Green Economy Summit to be held in Dubai in April next year will be be a further milestone in the transformation towards global green economies.

Meanwhile the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says already more than 65 countries are now actively pursuing green economy policies and 48 of them are taking steps to develop national green economy plans.

The new trade

UNEP’s Trade, Policy and Planning Unit says it is seeking to identify opportunities at the crossroads of green economy and trade.

“If we are to reverse the global decline of biodiversity, mitigate the release of greenhouse gases, halt the degradation of terrestrial ecosystems and protect our oceans, then international trade must become sustainable and responsible.”

Furthermore, it says, when accompanied by appropriate regulation, international trade and the green economy can interact in a bi-directional, mutually beneficial way.

“The green economy transition opens up rich new opportunities for regional and global trade. For example, the global market in low-carbon and energy efficient technologies is projected to nearly triple to US$-2.2 trillion by 2020. At the same time, the Rio+20 conference identified international trade as an engine for development, sustained economic growth and the transition to a greener economy.”

In May 2013 UNEP  launched the report Green Economy and Trade – Trends, Challenges and Opportunities (GE-TOP Report), which explores triple-win situations arising from the shift to a green economy in six key economic sectors. The report finds that many developing countries in Africa and elsewhere are well positioned to gain from mainstreaming sustainability considerations in their trade-driven growth strategies, including through the export of certified commodities in the fisheries, forests or agriculture sectors, increased investments in sustainable production and supply chains, or the expansion of eco-tourism. 

On the basis of the report’s empirical analysis, UNEP is undertaking national Green Economy and Trade projects in three pilot countries, one of which is Ghana in West Africa.

Impact investing

A variety of authoritative studies have shown that approaching business and economic development from a green, low-carbon perspective such as investing in low-carbon technologies, green buildings, and renewable energy, can create more jobs and stimulate economic growth while reducing environmental damage.

The Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in South Africa uses its Investing for Impact (IFI) Barometer to measure the allocation by investors of capital into investments that combine financial returns and positive impact on society and the environment.

In a statement the GSB said this year’s edition of the IFI Barometer, which included Nigeria, gave “a clear indication of how fast IFI is advancing in Africa’s two biggest economies”.

“We surveyed more than 1,200 funds managed by investors in South Africa and Nigeria,” says Dr Stephanie Giamporcaro, Research Director at the GSB and the brain behind the Barometer. “We found that almost half of them do speak about IFI. But the question remains, what do their conversations and terminology refer to in the real world?”

The 2014 Barometer, released in September, found that already 41% or R717-billion (approximately US$67-billion) of the money managed by South African asset managers and private equity players was described as being committed to IFI. In Nigeria, IFI constitutes approximately 34% or US$2.3-billion of invested funds.

The Barometer found that the private equity  sector is leading the way with  62% of IFI funds in South Africa being in private equity, almost double the 36% in asset management (AM), and 39% in Nigeria.

However Africa still requires much more investment in this regard, says the Barometer.

Climate Challenge

Meanwhile, two UNEP researchers Dr Richard Munang and Jesica Andrews say that despite serious climate change pressures, Africa can significantly expand its trade, but that countries  will have to use their ecosystems to protect the continent’s productive sectors from the negative impact of climate change.

 

They point to the devastating effect of the 2011 drought-induced famine linked to climate change in the Horn of Africa  which cost  257,000 lives and over US$1-billion in damage claims. UNEP’s recent Africa Adaptation Gap report warns that climate change could reduce total crop yields in Sub-Saharan Africa by as much as 20% by 2070 and an adverse effect on Africa’s trade potential. If the projected 70 cm sea-level rise in Tanzania by 2070 materialises, it could destroy the port city of Dar es Salaam. Not only will it remove a major component of trade and infrastructure along Africa’s east coast, it will also cost the port city upwards of US$10-billion in damages and losses.

While food production offers a vast growth opportunity for Africa according to the World Bank, the agricultural sector will have to come up with climate-proof strategies, say Munang and Andrews. That is apart from the need to remove trade barriers, a move the World Bank says could easily add an extra US$20-billion per year to its current annual food production of US$50-billion.

One ecosystem approach already gaining popularity, for example, is the use of “native pollinators” which can increase crop yields by as much as 5%. And in Zambia farmers have already successfully  increased their crop yields by as much as 60% by switching from monoculture practices to intercropping and other sustainable methods.

Green Funding

New concepts are all very well, but funding is always a critical issue. However, new funds and funding initiatives are also emerging and keeping pace with developments, with billions of dollars becoming available for funding green projects and businesses in Africa.

The government of South Africa, through its Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), in 2012 allocated R800-million to establish its Green Fund with the objective of providing catalytic finance to facilitate investment in green initiatives that will support South Africa’s transition towards a green economy. The fund is to assist with the South African economy making the transition to a low carbon, resource efficient and climate resilient development path delivering high impact economic, environmental and social benefits.

The DEA has appointed the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) as the implementing agent of the Green Fund. The fund was designed to respond to market weaknesses currently hampering South Africa’s transition to a green economy. In its first round of receiving funding proposals the fund received a total of 590 applications  totalling R10.9-billion (US$970-million).

Successful proposals submitted to the fund are aligned with three funding windows, namely Green Cities and Towns; Low Carbon Economy (LCE) initiatives which address cleaner production and energy efficiency; and Natural Resource Management (NRM) projects including biodiversity and ecosystem services management. The fund supports innovative initiatives that are catalytic and can be implemented on a wider scale.

The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) ten year strategy (2013 – 2022) has two aims, namely to support inclusive growth and the  gradual transition to green growth. Last year it launched the Africa Fund with an initial US$3-billion that will finance projects of up to US$100-billion.

South Africa’s state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) recently reported that despite difficult operating conditions locally and internationally it had grown its funding approvals by 6% to a record R13.8-billion for 22 projects in the 2013/14 financial year. The biggest part of this,  R5.7-billion, went to  South Africa’s burgeoning green industry, reflecting expansion of approval levels for green projects of 50% year-on-year.

Announcing the  annual results in Johannesburg in September,  IDC Executive Officer Mvuleni Geoffrey Qhena said the IDC had played a leading role in establishing the country’s renewable energy sector, both through early stage development funding and through loan and equity funding for implementation.

The IDC also approved R2.3-billion in funding for projects in 16 other African countries and says over the next five years it would be looking to invest up to R100-billion in the local and regional economy.

Energy

With African countries having made considerable progress in recent years towards becoming low-carbon economies, this has entailed big investments in renewable energy projects. Heavily dependent on coal-fired power stations that contribute to South Africa being Africa’s biggest emitter of CO2 emissions, and among the worst offenders globally, the energy sector in South Africa has become a prime focal area.

Legislative frameworks, research and development, funding, state assistance, multinational partnerships, investment and business strategies in the sector are all geared to promote renewable energy schemes in the country, driven both by the state and independent power producers. These have opened up substantial new investment opportunities that include solar, hydro and wind.

In South Africa’s Cinderella province, the Northern Cape, which has the smallest population and smallest economy of all South African  provinces, the IDC has invested heavily in renewable energy. This is helping to turn the province into South Africa’s future renewable energy hub.  The IDC has already approved funds for 12 solar and hydro power projects in the province, while the renewable energies sector already makes up R5.5-billion of the IDC’s estimated R14-billion exposure in this province, second only to mining, which stands at R7-billion.

The aim of the IDC’s Strategic Business Unit is to develop, grow and invest in green industries, focusing on projects intended to enhance the environment and support the reduction, avoidance and adaptation of carbon emissions, it says.

Meanwhile substantial new clean or renewable energy projects are underway or planned in countries across Africa, from Mozambique to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Morocco, The Gambia, Kenya and more.

A meeting attended by specialists from the UN, World Bank and business leaders in Dakar, Senegal last year, exchanged strategies for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects on the continent. These are greenhouse gas-reducing initiatives that industrialised countries can support in a trade-off for their excess emissions. But while a recent World Bank report details the enormous potential of the continent – for instance more than 170 gigawatts of additional power-generation capacity – the infrastructure necessary for large-scale renewable energy power plants is still lacking.

Trends and projects

Since the 2012 Rio+20 Summit many countries in Africa have been energetically exploring  the various options and paths available to them for establishing green, low carbon economies.

Zambia, for instance, has been laying extensive groundwork to develop a Zambian Inclusive Green Growth Strategy as part of its Sixth National Development Plan and defined as ‘inclusive development that makes sustainable and equitable use of Zambia’s natural resources within ecological limits’.

In South Africa growing the green economy has been prioritised in all of the strategic frameworks, plans and programmes of the South African government, including its National Development Plan. The key sectors identified by the South African government as likely to drive the green economy are  agriculture,  green building, transport including electric vehicles and bus rapid transit systems, green cities, forests, energy supply, water, fisheries, industry and manufacturing, tourism, waste management, retail, natural resources, consultancy, policy, research and governance.

Meanwhile a discussion paper presented at a conference in February by researchers Emily Benson, Steve Bass, and Oliver Greenfield of the Green Economy Coalition  identifies a number of trends. One, it says, is that the World Bank has increased its research and lending  portfolio on green growth and that this year it issued its first Inclusive Green Growth Development Policy Loan (DPL) to Morocco for US$300-million.

Another trend  is that national green economy plans are attracting substantial investment from regional development banks. As mentioned already, the AfDB last year launched the Africa Fund with an initial US$3-billion that will finance projects of up to US$100-billion.

And the Green Growth Action Alliance, a collaboration of 50 financial institutions, corporations, governments and NGOs has come together to work with governments “to help them adopt a systematic approach that rewards green sectors through sound policies and improves their access to finance”. The African Centre for a Green Economy (AFRICEGE) based in Cape Town, South Africa has established national multi-stakeholder alliances that are mapping grassroots, local and national initiatives and business models of the ‘new economy’.

All across Africa, opportunity certainly beckons for investors with vision and a solid understanding of what the green economy is all about.