Introduction to the Session
The Sahel has undergone dramatic change over the past two decades. In a number of regions, the downward cycle of rural poverty and environmental degradation has been transformed into a virtuous cycle of forest and landscape restoration and building back local economies. Millions of hectares of agricultural land that had lost its tree cover and associated ecosystems have been brought back to greater productivity and resilience, and the livelihoods dependent on them have been strengthened. Yet, this “Sahel renaissance” has still to reach the majority of the population and, in light of ongoing climate, demographic, and economic change, is fragile and needs consolidation and reinforcement. In this session, we focus on opportunities for private and public stakeholders to play their part in restoration. This process of recovering damaged land and ecosystems is vital not just for people but also business and can represent a business opportunity in itself. Involvement can be through new investments and associated interventions as well as through more circularity, natural resource awareness and sustainability in existing ones. We will provide illustrations of how multiple actors, institutions and processes are interacting at different levels and scales discuss the current and future role of private and public investments particularly in major annual crops like cotton and sesame and the globally, regionally and locally traded tree-sourced products that are so central to these drylands. We will also hear from representatives of diverse stakeholder groups about their perspective and the way forward. The aim of the session is to demonstrate a new way to invest, creating opportunities to unlock the possibility of a greener and a more stable and prosperous Sahel.
Introducing the Sahel Renaissance
Seven centuries ago, the wealth of the kingdom of Mali was so immense that it durably devalued the value of gold in Egypt when King Mansa Moussa passed through on his way to the Hadj. In those days, the Sahel was amongst the world’s richest regions, if not the very richest.
The Sahel Renaissance is the development journey the region can take to resume its place at the table of prosperity. It is predicated on the insight that that through its people and landscapes, the Sahel has the elements it needs to succeed, provided it focuses on the essential first step of restoring its landscapes and, most importantly, the livelihoods that depend on them. Success across millions of hectares of the restoration of landscapes and livelihoods through the application of holistic approaches has led to hopes that a Renaissance in the Sahel is within grasp. These successful efforts harness social capital, such as community governance and clear tree tenure rules featured here today, with targeted technical assistance to rapidly boost the productivity of farmland and pastures, the natural capital that is so essential to the renaissance. This in turn raises the availability of savings that can be deployed to grow local SMEs. It is on that fertile ground that larger investments flowing in from outside can most fully support the regions development. Harnessing these pioneering efforts at scale is the promise of the Sahel Renaissance.
Objectives of the Session
- To showcase specific landscapes for investments that are profitable while at the same time steward and strengthen the natural capital that business and society in the Sahel depend upon.
- To highlight bankable and pre-bankable projects that can contribute to transforming livelihoods, boosted through restoring soils, surface and ground water trees, other biomass, and biodiversity, and improving energy, food and nutrition security.
- To showcase the relevance of agri-food value chains, many of them non-timber tree products, as well as investments that prioritize healthy soils, animal and plant diversity, and gender equity in their approach.
- To demonstrate leverage points for successful scaling through private and public investments in support of socio-economic and environmental restoration processes
- To bring in key messages to the UN Food Systems Summit, including an upcoming Independent Summit Dialogue
Key messages for the session:
- The Sahel Renaissance offers business opportunities across multiple value chains for SMEs and large companies engaging with them and that
- Agri-food investments can raise their returns by a strong focus on landscape restoration.
- These, in turn, create opportunities for responsible investors linked to restoration, processing, and capacity development investments
- Engagement landscapes are key for prioritizing and building multiple value chains
- Investments need to have a holistic approach