By Mark-Anthony Johnson’s
Gabon: Africa’s most forested nation plans world’s BIGGEST ever issuance of carbon credits: #Gabon, Africa’s most forested nation, aims to create 187 million #carboncredits, almost half of which may be sold on the offsets market in what would be the single largest issuance in #history.
The government is working with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s REDD+ mechanism to create the credits, Lee White, Gabon’s environment minister, said last week on the sidelines of a Commonwealth group of nations meeting in #Rwanda. At the same time, Gabon wants to harvest its forests sustainably to generate income, he added.
The carbon credits “will probably come on to market just before #COP27,” White said in reference to the #UN climate change conference scheduled for November in #Egypt. Ninety million will be sold and “non-market” mechanisms will be used for the balance, he said.
Gabon, which is 88% covered by tropical rainforest, is trying to find a way to preserve its carbon-absorbing wilderness while diversifying its economy from oil, demand for which is expected to plunge in coming decades.
The country was the first in Africa to receive funds for protecting the ability of its forests to absorb carbon for reducing deforestation, getting its first $17 million payment from the Central African Forest Initiative, which is backed by a number of mostly European governments, last year. The program, launched in 2019, plans to disburse a total of $150 million over a decade.