Why does Gabon want to diversify?

A rare high-income country in Africa, with a nominal per capita income of $8,600, Gabon wants to diversify as oil reserves dwindle. It also wants recognition for preserving its tropical forests, part of the great Congo Basin rainforest — the “lungs of Africa” that are the planet’s most important forest ecosystem after the Amazon.

Is Gabon a natural capital superpower?

Alan Bernstein, chairman and co-founder of ACDG, says Gabon must strike a balance between preserving natural assets and developing its economy. It cannot be asked to stand still just because developed countries have brought the world to the brink of climate catastrophe, he says. “Gabon is positioning itself as a natural capital superpower.

Can Gabon reposition itself as a 'green superpower'?

And the client he is meeting, who goes by the name of Kamaya, is a lowland silverback gorilla. After years in which its economy depended on oil, Gabon is seeking to reposition itself as a “green superpower”. A rare high-income country in Africa, with a nominal per capita income of $8,600, Gabon wants to diversify as oil reserves dwindle.

Is Gabon a carbon sequester?

Gabon in central Africa is one of the world’s few net sequesters of carbon along with a handful of other countries such as Guyana and Bhutan. Some 85 per cent of Gabon’s land is covered in carbon-absorbing rainforest, an area about the size of the UK. It has a population of just 2m, 90 per cent of whom are urban, and no major highways.

What if Gabon was able to issue a bond?

ACDG would package the income stream into a bond priced at a slight premium to Gabonese sovereign debt. “If that offtake agreement were to take place, it would be one of the biggest ever,” he says. “If we are able to issue a bond, it would set an important precedent for Gabon, which would then be able to issue similar bonds itself.”

Should Gabon be paid for the carbon they trap?

The idea that Gabon and other countries should be paid for the carbon they trap is not as far-fetched as it sounds. Last month, the Central African Forest Initiative (Cafi), a Norwegian-backed fund, paid Gabon an initial $17m instalment of a projected $150m for doing precisely that.