DEFORESTATION CRISIS IN AFRICA

Of the 10 countries in the world with the largest annual net loss of forested area, six are in Africa which loses an average of 40,000 square kilometers of its forests annually. While deforestation in other parts of the world is mainly caused by commercial logging or cattle ranching the leading causes in Africa are associated with human activity. In Africa, the statistics are striking: an estimated 90 percent of the entire continent's population uses fuel wood for cooking.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), indigenous (also known as “old-growth”) forests in Africa are being cut down at a rate of nearly 10 million acres per year about twice the world’s deforestation average. These losses totaled more than 10 per cent of the continent’s total forest cover between 1980 and 1995 alone.

There are millions of acres of deforested lands in Africa that could be developed as Paulownia farms for producing valuable commercial timber while also curbing climate change by sequestering CO2.  

600 MILLION AFRICANS DON’T HAVE ELECTRICITY

Africa is currently home to approximately 1.2 billion people and 600 million lack access to electricity. The continent’s population is forecasted to double reaching 2.5 billion by 2050 and it boasts a wealth of mineral resources and precious metals and hydrocarbons which will serve as critical components for solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries for the transition to renewable energy. With its teeming population, untapped natural resources, and exploding demand for electric power, Africa will become a major market and play a pivotal role in the energy transition for generations to come.

The Great Green Wall Initiative proposes an 8,000-kilometer wall of trees across the entire width of Africa. Fortunately, some of the largest aquifers in the world lie beneath the Sahel region that could be tapped for irrigating trees. The Sahel population of 135 million today is projected to reach 330 million by 2050. Like the rest of Africa, most of the Sahel population lacks access to electricity creating a major market opportunity for developing clean and consistent geothermal electricity. The groundwater from the massive aquifers beneath the Sahel could be used for ORC technology to generate electricity, irrigate trees, and give local communities access to water resources for drinking, agriculture, and livestock.