The World Sustainability Organization and Foundation (WSO&F) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Zambian Government, to make Zambia the African Sustainability Hub
From 23 June to 7 July, the director of the World Sustainability Organization/Friend of the Sea & Friend of the Earth Paolo Bray will visit South Africa, Zambia, and Nigeria. The visit will highlight outstanding stories of sustainable transformation while unveiling new initiatives in favour of sustainable development, contributing to local, national, and regional efforts.
With this visit, Bray will make official the agreement between WSO and the government of Zambia to establish the ‘Africa Sustainability Hub’, dedicated to providing knowledge transfer on sustainability technical solutions, coordinating networking among African sustainability experts, and promoting a market for Biodiversity Offsets.
The African continent has a vital role in the global movement towards achieving a more sustainable development. Indeed, Africa hosts a quarter of the world’s biodiversity, with more than 4,700 mammal species and unique landscapes. However, on the path towards sustainability, improvements have been slow.
According to the latest 'Africa Sustainable Development Report' elaborated by the United Nations, in the global ranking that measures the improvement in the implementation of the SDG, the average score across all African member States was 53.82 in 2020. That means the region is halfway towards achieving the sustainable goals.
In specific, the hub will:
Provide knowledge transfer on sustainability technical solutions to African companies, including affordable consultancies to small scale producers and cooperatives.
Coordinate networking among African sustainability experts (Universities, Institutions, NGOs, technical consultants) and producers/operators in all fields, to become catalyst and synergic for the sustainability change in the continent.
Promote third party certifications such as Friend of the Sea and Friend of the Earth to make Zambian and African companies more competitive in the international market.
Promote the market for Biodiversity Offsets: Zambia and Africa in general, with the support of WSO will generate Biodiversity Offsets to be traded on a market/exchange based in Zambia and open to the rest of the world. This would finally give value to reserves, national parks and industry initiatives to reduce and offset their environmental impact.
Bray added that sustainability certifications represent a very strong added value when entering new markets or applying tenders launched by retail chains and the public administration.
The World Sustainability Organization will be present at the Zambia International Trade Fair in Ndola. This year’s theme is ‘Promoting Value Addition for Sustainable Growth’.
