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At the Belém Climate Summit in Brazil, ahead of COP30, African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr. Sidi Ould Tah delivered a clear message: “Africa will no longer be the continent of broken promises.”
The AfDB, he said, is committed to “turning promises into progress,” reaffirming its position as the first multilateral development bank to reach financing parity between climate adaptation and mitigation — a landmark for the Global South’s voice in climate governance.
Africa’s Climate Vision on the Global Stage
Speaking during the session on Forests and Oceans, Dr. Ould Tah framed Africa’s ecosystems as the world’s insurance policy against climate collapse.
“We are gathered here out of a collective duty to protect nature — our most precious ally in humanity’s survival,” he told the plenary.
African delegates echoed his urgency. The Republic of Congo highlighted the continent’s role as home to 17 percent of the world’s tropical forests, losing 3.7 million hectares annually, while Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima urged equitable access to carbon markets so African nations can restore and monetize their forest and ocean resources.
“Africa isn’t asking for aid,” Shettima said. “We are asking for access — to trade fairly in the carbon economy our ecosystems already sustain.”
From the Congo Basin to the Amazon: A Shared Climate Destiny
Ould Tah underscored that Africa’s forests and wetlands are not just natural wonders — they are critical climate regulators.
“The Congo Basin holds the world’s largest tropical peatlands — storing nearly 29 billion tons of carbon, the equivalent of three years of global emissions,” he noted.
Alongside Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Ould Tah launched the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a joint initiative linking the Amazon and Congo Basins to preserve the planet’s last great green lungs.
He called it “a milestone in global climate solidarity — aligning South-South cooperation with Africa’s biodiversity programs like the Congo Basin Forest Fund.”