Africa Forestry Fund II

Press release

November 12, 2019

FinDev Canada supports sustainable forestry practices with a USD 7.5 million investment in the Africa Forestry Fund II

Press Release

The fund is focused on acquiring and developing environmentally-friendly forestry value chain in Sub-Saharan Africa

Contributing to local employment and economic value addition: Over the next 10 years, the Fund is expected to support up to 3,500 permanent jobs and directly contribute US$ 100M of economic value in taxes, salaries, and profits in its markets of operation. It is estimated that sustainable wood products sales could reach 500,000 m3 annually, responding to increasing African market demand for domestic wood products, rather that imports.;

Over the next 10 years, the Fund is expected to support up to 3,500 permanent jobs

Building capacity on women’s economic empowerment and incorporating gender considerations into the investment process: The Fund Manager has completed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Self-Assessment and is committed to build its internal capacity to support women’s economic empowerment and to support its portfolio companies. To better address gender equality throughout its portfolio, AFF II plans to engage a human resource professional with expertise in diversity and inclusion in the forestry sector.

Encouraging sustainable forestry practices: AFFII focuses on rehabilitation, conservation and prevention of illegal deforestation of degradation of forest land as well as increasing productivity through better management practices. It achieves this by upgrading operations to meet Forest Stewardship Council certification practices, the highest standard for sustainability in the forestry sector. The Fund’s portfolio companies are expected to contribute to maintaining or transitioning to sustainable land management approaches for up 50,000 ha of forest land, about 20% of which could be land under direct conservation.
Contributing to carbon sequestration and avoidance: Sustainable land management practices will lead to carbon capture from standing biomass of the plantations, estimated at up to 3.5 tons of CO2, with additional carbon captured from wood products sold. In addition, the Fund will invest in biomass energy generation of process steam for use in industrial settings, which could replace as much as 100,000 tons per year of coal and heavy fuels with biomass, thus contributing to a reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 200,000 tons per year.