Africa's natural capital valued at $7.6 trillion faces rapid degradation

Africa holds an estimated $7.6 trillion in natural capital, according to the African Development Bank’s Natural Resource Management and Investment Centre. Despite containing approximately one-quarter of the world’s biodiversity and nine of the world’s 36 biodiversity hotspots, this wealth remains significantly underfunded.

The continent’s ecosystems, including the Congo Basin—the world’s second-largest tropical rainforest—are facing rapid degradation. Africa loses nearly 4 million hectares of forest annually. Furthermore, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) reports that monitored wild vertebrate populations on the continent declined by 76% between 1970 and 2020. Countries such as Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are among those experiencing significant deforestation.

This ecological decline poses a direct economic risk by destabilizing the resources that support the livelihoods of over 70% of the sub-Saharan African population. While the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to protect 30% of terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030, African nations face the challenge of financing these strategies and integrating biodiversity into national budgetary policies.