The Ecological Impact of Turkish Official Development Assistant in Africa

Global warming, climate change and the increase in environmental disasters have caused attention to be turned to these areas recently. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, the environment has gained great importance and new investments have started to be made in this field, especially in developed countries. However, in developing and undeveloped countries, these investments are secondary to growth targets. For this reason, foreign aid is needed to realize green transformation in developing and underdeveloped countries. In particular, directing development aid to this area can be a solution for green transformation. Accordingly, the current study examines the impact of Turkey’s official development assistance to Africa on the ecological footprint of these countries. The impact of Turkey’s aid to Africa in the period 2006-2022 is analyzed with the panel-ARDL PMG estimator. A two-stage analysis was used. First, general African countries were analyzed, and then the countries to which Turkey regularly provides aid every year, but the total amount of aid provided during the analysis period was over 10 million dollars, were analyzed. According to the results of the analysis, while aid to Africa in general increases the ecological footprint, it decreases it in the countries that receive the most aid. This result shows that concentrating aid in certain regions can positively affect the environment.