The most recent and definitive expression of this vision is the Nairobi Declaration (2023) from the Africa Climate Summit (ACS), which builds upon foundational initiatives like the Great Green Wall Initiative and the African Union's Agenda 2063.

I. Actionable Commitments on Land and Ecosystem Restoration

The protection and restoration of Africa's vast landmass are the most prominent and quantifiable commitments made by leaders, as the continent's economy and livelihoods are overwhelmingly reliant on rain-fed agriculture. These commitments focus on reversing desertification, deforestation, and land degradation.

1. Scaling the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI)

The GGWI is Africa's flagship commitment, transforming from a simple tree-planting project into a holistic, rural development initiative that spans 11 Sahelian nations.

The GGWI's approach is highly actionable, centering on integrated ecosystem management, which links conservation directly to food security and poverty reduction.

2. The African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative (AFR100)

Complementary to the GGWI, AFR100 is a continent-wide commitment to bring 100 million hectares of degraded land into restoration by 2030. This commitment is supported by nearly 35 African nations and is integrated into their national climate pledges (NDCs).

• Decentralized Implementation: This is implemented through decentralized, nation-specific projects (like Ethiopia's massive Green Legacy Initiative), involving local communities, smallholder farmers, and indigenous peoples in planning and execution to ensure long-term sustainability.

• Integrating Restoration and Agriculture: A core action is the promotion of agroforestry—integrating trees and shrubs into farming systems—to improve crop yields, provide fodder, and protect soil from erosion, thereby making agriculture more climate-resilient.

II. Actionable Commitments on Water and Climate-Resilient Infrastructure

Protecting water resources, which are severely impacted by climate-induced droughts and floods, is a major focus, often framed under the need for adaptation finance and the development of climate-resilient infrastructure.

1. Water Resource Management and Regional Cooperation

• Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM): African leaders commit to adopting IWRM frameworks, particularly across transboundary river basins (e.g., the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambezi). This commitment involves establishing water-sharing agreements and joint commissions to sustainably manage water resources, balancing the needs of hydropower, agriculture, and ecosystem preservation.

• Infrastructure for Resilience: There is a commitment to invest in drought- and flood-resistant infrastructure, including:

  • Small-scale water harvesting systems (e.g., check dams, community reservoirs) to capture and store seasonal rainfall.

  • Flood early warning systems in disaster-prone urban and coastal areas.

  • Desalination and water recycling technologies in water-scarce regions, particularly through public-private partnerships.

2. The Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP)

This program, backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB), outlines a concrete investment commitment to make African systems resilient. AAAP 2.0 calls on partners to collaborate to climate-prepare:

• Food Systems: Investing in climate-smart agriculture to protect crop yields from extreme weather.

• Infrastructure: Future-proofing transport, energy, and water infrastructure against climate shocks. The actionable commitment here is the mobilization of $50 billion in investment by 2030 to unlock resilient finance at scale.

III. Actionable Commitments on Biodiversity and Blue Economy

While climate change discussions often center on energy, African leaders consistently highlight the need to protect biodiversity and marine resources, which provide essential ecosystem services.

1. Mainstreaming Biodiversity Conservation

The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) adopted the Durban Declaration, which committed to:

• Biodiversity Mainstreaming: Specifically integrating biodiversity conservation principles into productive sectors, particularly agriculture, to ensure food production does not negatively impact ecosystem health.

• Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: Leaders committed to providing political direction and momentum to implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (30x30 Target) on the continent, focusing on safeguarding biodiversity hotspots and protected areas.

• Pan-African Action Agenda on Ecosystem Restoration: This commitment reinforces the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, focusing on restoring all major ecosystems, including forests, wetlands, and grasslands.

2. The Blue Economy and Coastal Protection

For coastal and island states, the protection of marine and coastal resources is a critical commitment.

• Sustainable Blue Economy: African leaders are pushing for the development of a Blue Economy that sustainably utilizes marine resources while protecting coastal ecosystems. This involves concrete actions such as:

  • Protecting and restoring mangroves and coastal wetlands—natural barriers that provide storm protection and carbon sequestration.

  • Combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing to safeguard marine biodiversity and local livelihoods.

  • Promoting sustainable aquaculture to reduce pressure on wild fish stocks.

• Addressing Plastic Pollution: African ministers committed to supporting global action to address plastic pollution, including through a new global agreement, which directly protects marine and terrestrial ecosystems from waste.

IV. The Finance and Governance Mechanism Commitments

The Nairobi Declaration makes it clear that the most critical actionable commitment required to sustain Africa’s natural resource protection efforts is the reform of global climate finance. African leaders are committing to self-driven action, contingent upon fair global support.

1. Demanding and Operationalizing Climate Finance

• African Climate Change Fund (ACCF) Operationalization: African institutions, supported by the AfDB, committed to operationalize the ACCF to channel green bonds and innovative financing instruments built for African realities. This is a commitment to an African-led financial mechanism.

• Global Carbon Taxation Regime: The Nairobi Declaration contains an actionable demand for a global carbon taxation regime on fossil fuel trade, maritime transport, and aviation, with the proceeds dedicated to climate action in the Global South, including natural resource protection projects.

• Debt Restructuring for Climate Action: Leaders called for a comprehensive and systemic response to the debt crisis to create fiscal space for developing countries to finance climate action, effectively making debt relief a condition for accelerating resource protection commitments.

2. Green Industrialization and Natural Asset Leverage

A key paradigm shift is the commitment to leverage Africa's natural resources as assets for a green global transition.

• Green Minerals Strategy: Leaders pledged to develop a strategy to ensure that Africa's vast reserves of cobalt, lithium, copper, and rare earths—minerals crucial for the global clean energy supply chain—fuel local beneficiation and industrialization, rather than being exported as raw materials. This ensures that the extractive process is managed sustainably and benefits local communities who are stewards of these lands.

• Enhancing Carbon Market Value: African nations committed to a unified approach to ensure they receive a fair price for their carbon credits (e.g., for forest and peatland conservation), currently often less than $10 per tonne, which is significantly lower than in developed markets. This financial commitment is necessary to fund the long-term stewardship of the Congo Basin (a vital global carbon sink) and other crucial ecosystems.

In essence, the actionable commitments from African heads of state are comprehensive, moving beyond symbolic gestures to encompass massive, integrated, and locally-driven projects like the Great Green Wall, backed by a unified political demand for an equitable global financial system to secure the necessary long-term funding for the continent’s irreplaceable natural resources.