The World Bank will give Targeted Technical Assistance (TTA) to 20 countries worldwide including 8 in Africa under their Global Sustainability Program (GPS). The GPS promotes the use of high-quality data and analysis on natural capital, ecosystem services and sustainability to better inform decisions made by governments, the private sector and financial institutions.

The program expands the work initiated by the Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES global partnership) and is structured around three interconnected pillars of engagement (information, implementation, and incentives). Since 2013, WAVES has been supporting some 20 countries worldwide in the development and the use of natural capital accounts in decision processes and policy-making. The African countries set to receive a TTA program are Chad, Ghana, Morocco, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. 

Below is the main objective of the TTAs in each country. 

The work program for Chad will estimate the cost of environmental degradation focusing on losses of ecosystem services and future impacts of climate change on different sectors for example agriculture, water and health. This will help the Government of Chad set priorities for accelerating sustainable growth, with a focus on further developing the natural resource sectors and reducing the cost of environmental degradation.

In Ghana, the TTA support will analyze the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and associated livelihoods and incomes in the country. The analysis will demonstrate how early action on land management and sustainable production could help mitigate vulnerabilities to climate change and help identify appropriate types of policy and investment actions that would help address resilience.

In Kenya, the GPS supported work will produce natural capital analytics to unlock investment and drive an inclusive, resilient, and green recovery, reinforced with climate-informed macroeconomic analysis to inform policy dialogue and action. 

GPS supported work will develop a fish stock account for Morocco, which will provide information on the sustainability of stocks under current and future fishing effort, harvest and policies.

The TTA in Nigeria will help develop a roadmap for natural capital accounting targeting air pollution as a primary area of interest and demonstration of the potential of accounts to generate insights of relevance to decision making. Other priority areas for the natural capital agenda in the country are land degradation (including coastal areas).

In Rwanda, GSP supported work will produce policy and operational applications of Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of Ecosystem Services. The work will inform a nature-smart post-pandemic economic recovery, integration of wealth accounting into the macroeconomic framework and performance reports of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. 

GPS supported work in Uganda will develop a full set of ecosystem accounts and apply them in ongoing policy processes in the country. The results of the work will support a landscape approach to improve the management and economic productivity of forest ecosystems in the targeted landscapes.

In Zambia, the TTA support work will strengthen capacity within government ministries to enhance the integration of the natural capital results in the design and implementation of sector strategies and investment options at a landscape level.