The Kyoto protocol: a sub-Sahara African perspective

The African Recovery Journal once referred to it as, "an opportunity for African countries to attract new financing for their own sustainable development". It was indeed waited for with much anticipation. In fact today it is readily observable that the international CDM (clean development mechanism) market is becoming increasingly dynamic and projected to grow exponentially. However, judging from hard facts on the ground the reality in sub-Saharan Africa is grim. Moreover, analysts are forecasting a convergence in the market; towards a focus on a few project types in a limited number of host countries. On this scale both Kenya and Uganda are non-existent as are the rest of their sub-Sahara African compatriots. This paper briefly looks at the history of the CDM and what could have gone wrong for an instrument that had so much promise for sub-Saharan Africa