SHAPING AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT

In 2014, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) partnered to undertake the Africa Ecological Futures (AEF) initiative. African Ecological Futures Phase One (AEF I) took an in-depth look at six major sectors – Energy, Water, Agriculture, Extractives, Trade and Investment, and Infrastructure Corridors – that are likely to shape Africa’s development. Analytical papers on each of these areas helped to define the development pathways that Africa could follow over the next half century. Each of these papers adopted a 50-year, scenario-based exploration of Africa’s potential development choices within each sector and highlighted the implications for the continent’s ecological future. In keeping with the broader goals of the project, every paper highlighted potential points of intervention, and ways in which the sector could support a more sustainable, ecologically secure pathway of growth in Africa. Phase One concluded with a synthesis of the AEF report which was launched in 2015. The report investigated the forces shaping Africa’s present and future and explained how these forces come together across plausible scenarios to influence the continent’s ecological future.

With support from the Luc Hoffmann Institute, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) the second phase of the African Ecological Futures project (AEF II) was launched on 1 November 2018.