Framework and Tools for Environmental Management in Africa

1 Introduction and Overview

Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview African governments have laid their hands on most international proposals made in response to the need to address environmental decay. But, unlike the sequential and harmonious progression witnessed from the developed countries, starting from the Stockholm Declaration on Human Environment in 1972, through the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit on Environment and Development in 1992, to the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, Africa has been forced into a discrete progression in addressing the requirements of such global landmarks. Evidently, a number of factors have forced the continent into such positions, and they can be listed, among which are the need to be part of the global village, the quest for rapid economic development and attached donor strings that firmly established , and are prolonging, the master-slave relationship between Africa and its former colonial masters. Clearly, we have for a long time been beggars of resources from our former colonial and other masters. Through such set-ups, some African governments have been held to ransom and arm-twisted for the love of development aid that has done little to eradicate extreme poverty and environment damage. The Concept of Environment The issues pertaining to the framework and tools for good environmental stewardship in Africa may not be fully understood without analysing the concept of environment . In this book, the term environment is conceptualised as being constituted by both the following dimensions: biophysical (natural) and human (socio-economic and political) dimensions. The biophysical dimension is made up of elements such as climate (temperature, rainfall, wind and evaporation), air, topography, geology, soils, vegetation (flora), fauna (animals), groundwater (hydrogeology), and surface water (hydrology). On the other hand, the human dimension constitutes element such as people, land tenure and use, archaeological, social, cultural, political and economic aspects. However, both the biophysical and human environments should be viewed as constantly interacting in a dynamic nature that supports all forms of life on earth. This kind of conceptualisation of the environment helps us understand issues surrounding the uncertainty of environmental stewardship in Africa. We are in a position to engage holistically with some of the discourses that ground and shape 2 Framework and Tools for Environmental Management in Africa narratives pertaining to environmental threats, particularly those of non-African origin, and the motives behind them. African Environments and Colonial Histories It may be wrong to assume that the current environmental problems stem from African origin, neglect or lack of civilisation. Much of the current environmental decay is a manifestation of Africa’s colonial histories. Such histories testify to the fact that the partitioning of the continent and its resources, including the brutal dissection of cultural arrangements and physical boundaries, have contributed immensely to the wounded terrain we see and experience today. Populations were re-grouped into squashed, infertile and fragile ecological zones across the face of the continent, resulting in the collapse of ecosystems and the emergence of the cycle of poverty – environment degradation. With the aid of forced, near-slave labour, mineral wealth was exploited and exported with much greed. Scores of huge open pits and scary underground mine shafts are still visible today. Africans had to make ends meet, and sacrifice their lives to regain dignity and land through many liberation wars. Fertile soils and healthy ecological zones were reserved for the privileged few colonial masters who, even today, have vast tracts of land (including under-utilised land) which they refuse to release for equitable redistribution . Hence, the fact remains that Africa’s environmental problems mirror its past. It is only when all stakeholders acknowledge these anomalies that a sustainable solution to the current continued environmental damage can be holistically understood and found. Yet, many of our former colonial masters wish to conceal this critical pillar of understanding that shapes our future. Instead, they portray a picture of failing African governments, ineffective governance structures, corruption, poverty , the HIV/AIDS scourge, and so on. Therefore, in this text, the environment is as much understood a political and social question as it is an environmental question . However, many donor agencies present different narratives. A Struggle for Environmental Management Space The manner in which various Northern donors and countries have placed the environment on African governments’ agenda is best seen as a struggle for environmental management space in Africa; and similarly, as a contest and battle for political, social and economic realisation by the foreign entities involved. The possible results (giving the benefit of the doubt) are the unintended consequences of...