TRI Sao Tome and Principe

One of the key barriers to expanded and scaled-up implementation of Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) is a lack of financing and credit for businesses, including smallholder farmers, to invest in FLR.  

Many businesses that have seen their farms, wood lots, landholdings and supply chains impacted by land degradation would like to invest in restoration measures that offer a potentially good return. However, access to capital for restoration can be hard for several reasons. These include unfamiliarity with FLR within the banking sector, uncertainty on how to price risk and compensate investors for the multiple benefits, including public benefits, that come from FLR, and lack of even basic lines of credit for many smallholders.

The TRI project in São Tomé e Príncipe (STP) is working to address these barriers. In collaboration with the Association of Banks (ASB), an umbrella institution representing the five largest private banks that operate in the country, and the public Central Bank of STP, the project is helping advance an ambitious program of work encompassing changes to national policy, along with capacity building and development of tailored financial instruments for the financial sector. The goal is to help spur new flows of public and private finance into restoration and sustainable land management in STP. 

In April 2023, two training courses on Green Finance were held under FAO’s TRI project in STP. The activities were foreseen under Cooperation Agreements signed between the FAO STP and the Central Bank of the country, which is also its banking and insurance regulator, as well as the Association of STP Banks, which brings together the four banks operating in the country: BISTP, Afriland, Ecobank and BGFI. … Read the rest