BACKGROUND In the African digital sphere, trading and business platforms devoted specifically to green or social economy is thus far in an earlier stage. The playing ground is still largely steered by private or public MIS, verification and certification standards from overseas. Increasing number of African NGOs and public stakeholders are emerging in the scene since the last two decade at regional, national or local levels, nevertheless, most of them still yet in the traditional BAU approach.
Some Marketing Information System (MIS) in Africa: Agricultural Marketing Information Services (Cameroon) Agricultural Input Market information and Transparency system – AMITSA (East Africa) soko (many countries in Africa) Infotrade Market Information services (Uganda) Lima Links (Zambia) Livestock Market Information system – LMIS (Ethiopia) MFarm (Kenya) Nokia Life Tools (Nigeria) Regional Agriculture Trade Intelligence Network – RATIN (East Africa) Zambia National Farmers Union – ZNFU (Zambia) [partial information collected]
Eco2Africa platform is a bottom-up initiative aiming to increase opportunities and incentives for further grassroots participation to environmental friendly commodities supply chain, sustainable production and consumption, climate change best practices for achievement concrete sustainable development goal in the African landscapes and communities.
The platform also seek to attract more worldwide ethical stakeholders into emerging B to B and B to C matching approach to green trading and investment, value chain, enterprises and project development in Africa. To achieve these objectives, the platform offer easy to use functionalities and method to participants, allowing them to showcase theirs products and services in the online marketplace, provide trading and venture instruments, field facilitation for MRV socio-ecosystem, environmental and economic services, as well as certification of green products and services in African landscapes.
It’s established that International trade is an engine for development and sustained economic growth (…). But the key challenge is to inter-connect producers in developing countries and to link them to regional and global markets (…).Given the current small proportion of sustainable trade in relation to the overall volume, there is a need to significantly scale-up and expand capacity building efforts to both harness existing opportunities and create new ones. UNEP, (2013). Green Economy and Trade – Trends, Challenges and Opportunities, http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy/GreenEconomyandTrade
Thus, Eco2Africa platform appear as a practical endeavor aiming to facilitate and uphold appropriation and concretization of international declarations and instruments applicable to the green economy at the grassroots and local levels in Africa such as:
- The Rio+20 UN Declaration (“The Future we want”) to achieve a real low carbon and sustainable economic development in African; The global Sustainable Development Goals transformational Challenges; _ The 10YFP Programs Areas adopted at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20); - The Mapping, assessment, protection and restoration of biodiversity, ecosystem condition and ecosystem services according to the CICES v4.3 (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) linked with the Framework of the UN System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA); --- - The United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD+) ; - The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) ; The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) ; The African post-2020 climate actions under a new international agreement of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP21) : - Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) (Paris Contributions Map to track the latest proposed commitments) ; Sub-regional agricultural, water, energy, industrial, forest and environmental convergence programs; - The United Nations Environment Programme, Economics and Trade Programme Branch. (to name just few)
Sectors and domains Transaction and trading within the network cover business and projects value chain, commodities and services supply and demand in sectors and domains such as:
Sustainable agriculture The future of agriculture is threatened by a series of adverse environmental outcomes, including the continuing loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, depletion and erosion of top soil nutrients, increasing scarcity of freshwater, aggravated water pollution caused by poor nutrient management, hazardous chemical release, disposal, emissions and waste, and rising GHG emissions. Whereas trade conducted on a business-as-usual scenario largely exacerbates these trends, sustainable trade has the potential to maintain or increase agricultural output in the medium- and long-term while reducing resource use, preserving the natural environment and promoting food safety. Sustainable farming methods can increase productivity, facilitate access to international supply chains, and respond to the rising global demand for more sustainable and organic produce. Many large multinational companies have also made sustainability commitments, which will have an impact on the business choices of upstream supply chain partners. (UNEP, 2013)
Forest and NTFP (Non Timber Forest Products), The world’s forested area is declining and pressures on forests are expected to continue. Underlying this deforestation trend is weak governance, including lack of forest law enforcement, corruption and bribery. Sustainable forest management, including through certification, has the potential to expand the relative share of trade in sustainable wood products and non-timber forest products. Depending on the operation, price premiums for certified wood, particularly from the tropics, can range from 15 to 25 per cent. In addition, non-timber forest products fit niche trading strategies, particularly those that have a long shelf life, a high per-unit value, and are simple to process, store and handle without major investments. Developing countries are also selling forest carbon offsets in international markets, including through international mechanisms such as the Clean Development Mechanism and REDD+. (UNEP, 2013)
Livestock
Fishery & Aquaculture While a reduction of fishing effort remains a necessity, increased trade in fish and fish products certified for sustainability can improve the overall fisheries management systems, while increasing productivity of the resource and adding value to final products. Increased export revenues can arise from the sustainable management of wild-capture fisheries, including through certification. The sale of certified fish products in markets in developed countries and, increasingly, in some developing countries has changed from a niche market to a mainstream one. In aquaculture, global demand for seafood that has been farmed in line with organic and/or broader sustainability standards has grown steadily in the last 15 years. Currently, aquaculture production that has been certified against various types of sustainability standards is estimated to cover five per cent of total production. (UNEP, 2013)
Ecotourism Tourism, as a major export sector, has a large potential to harness new opportunities by proactively addressing environmental and social impacts. In 2012, for the first time, the number of international tourists reached over one billion. Yet the tourism sector largely contributes to CO2 emissions, water and air pollution, increased pressure on waste management, biodiversity loss, and potential conflicts with the social, economic and cultural interests of local communities.
The economic potential of sustainable tourism activities, particularly for developing countries, depends directly on the ability of countries to preserve their natural environments, as environmental degradation erodes the attractiveness of tourism destinations. As a consequence, sustainable and certified tourism activities can be a driver in reducing potentially negative environmental and social impacts of tourism, while increasing the attractiveness and the economic value of existing or potential destinations.
The fastest growing sub-sector in sustainable tourism is ecotourism, which focuses on nature-based activities. Many developing countries appear to have a comparative advantage in ecotourism, due to their natural environments, cultural heritage and opportunities for adventure holidays. In addition, certification in the tourism sector is also experiencing increasing trends, as many tourism structures and sites recognise the attractiveness and potential price premiums that may follow the achievement of sustainability certification. (UNEP, 2013)
Renewable Energy Renewable energy resources can address many of the challenges faced by conventional energy today. While 20 per cent of the world population lacks access to electricity, energy from fossil fuel combustion caused global CO2 emissions to increase to a record high of 31.6 gigatonnes in 2011, estimated to further increase to 37 gigatonnes by 2035. The promotion of renewable energy can decisively limit carbon emissions from energy use, bearing the potential to save an equivalent of 220-560 gigatonnes of CO2 between 2010 and 2050. In addition, the production of and trade in energy from renewable sources can increase access to clean and cheap electricity and fuel, but need to account for potential environmental and social adverse effects.
The global market in low-carbon and energy efficient technologies, which include renewable energy supply products, is projected to nearly triple to US$ 2.2 trillion by 2020. Even though their industrial policies have sometimes raised controversies, developing countries have significantly increased their exports of renewable energy equipment such as solar panels, wind turbines and solar water heaters. (UNEP, 2013)
Water & Mining
Infrastructure & Manufacturing Manufacturing is energy- and resource-intensive. The sector is responsible for around 35 per cent of global electricity use, over 20 per cent of global CO2 emissions, and over a quarter of primary resource extraction. Furthermore, poisonings from industrial and agricultural chemicals are among the top five leading causes of death worldwide. Without decoupling natural resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth, as well as mainstreaming sustainability in global supply chains, growing international demand, trade and investment flows exacerbate the negative impacts connected to the growth of the sector… Products with environmentally friendly designs and companies that comply with sustainability standards for products and processes have an advantage in international markets. Many suppliers are rendering their practices more sustainable in order to secure their positions within international supply chains. This is illustrated for example by the 1,500 per cent increase in global ISO 14001 certifications on environmental management awarded between 1999 and 2009. In addition, some developing countries are taking the lead in investing in sustainable manufacturing practices (e.g. remanufacturing) and products with an environmentally friendly design (e.g. ecolabelled textiles and energy efficient electronics).
Healthcare & Education
Traditional local heritages
Community development.
Services and Functionalities The Platform showcase and promote socio-environmental and ecosystem friendly trading, investments, businesses, value chain, products, services, projects, niche and Fair-trade markets to incentive sustainable production and consumption as well as climate smart practices in the African Landscapes.
Eco2africa Main functions
Interactive B to B and B to C data base and platform for showcasing and trading of traceable green social and environmental friendly products, business value chain and services supply at local, national and regional levels;
E-commerce, social media and mobile application functionalities
Tools to simplify remote access to trading, transactions and investments opportunities of socio-environmental friendly products, business, enterprises, projects, value chains in African landscapes ;
Tools for to facilitate south-south and north-south exchanges, interconnections, access to funding, investment, joint-venture, value chain development, micro-finances, insurances, responsible corporate, and markets by community and landscapes actors, NGOs, cooperatives organizations and consumer in the African landscapes;
Tools to co-design, implement, promote and monitor social and environmental friendly businesses and projects, impact assessment, cost benefit, comparative advantages and risk analyses, socio-ecosystem and carbon foot print measurement;
Shops, products and services Data Base toinformed decision making and access to green marketplace facilities :
Information on Local facilities : transport, warehouse, storage infrastructures, human, financial and natural resources, legal and fiscal incentives for investors and project proponents at local, country and sub-regional level;
Activities are performed in compliance with international, regional and national laws and regulations related to economic, social and environmental responsibility, quality standards, norms and certification requirements ;
Ground partnership at local, national, regional and international level to facilitate the best services devilry to suppliers, investors, entrepreneurs, business partners, project developers, NGOs, small producers and community organizations.
Governance Infrastructure
Field facilitation, tracking and follow-up - Certification standard compliance verification - Socio-economic, environmental and ecosystem services - Laws and regulations - National and International Norms of the green business endeavor.
Regional and Country coordination Regional Coordinators Country Focal Points Landscape and Field partners organizations and specialists