Economic Behaviour As If Others Too Had Interests

Chapter 10 - African Development and Environment Experiences

169 Chapter 10 African Development and Environment Experiences Strong Aspirations amidst Many Dilemmas When we talk of African development and environment experiences, we are aware that these are not homogeneous everywhere. We know of the yawning inter country and intra country differences. These differences are culturally, socially, economically, geographically, and environmentally informed. In Kenya, the way a Masai child is enculturated to relate to the environment is different from a Kikuyu child. Whereas a Masai highly esteems shepherding of animals and spends most of the time in the bush with the animals both domestic and wild, a Kikuyu prizes trade or commerce. Similarly, in Nigeria, whereas a Fulani nomad is content with a simple temporary tent for accommodation, some herds of cattle and trekking for long distances, an Igbo person is content when he owns a big spare parts shop, a fleet of transport companies, modern houses, and rides in the latest model of cars. From inter-country experiences, differences also abound. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, donkeys and horses are used alongside motor vehicles in the buzzing city as means of transport, while in many other African cities such as Johannesburg, Accra, Kampala, Nairobi, Lagos, and Harare, vehicles are strictly used for same purpose. Furthermore, environmental resources that constitute the major sources of foreign exchange of each country determine the country’s pattern of relationship with the environment. In countries like Ghana and Nigeria whose economies are anchored on mineral and hydrocarbon exploration and extraction, the physical environment, the flora and fauna suffer devastating human activities compared to countries like Kenya whose economies rely heavily on tourism. The latter countries tend to invest more energies and resources to conserve the flora, fauna, and ecosystems (rivers, lakes, etc.). Peoples’ perceptions of non-human aspects of the environment, their consumption patterns, and the weight of their ecological footprint differ from country to country, and sometimes from one part of a country to another. We therefore acknowledge these differences. Nevertheless, it is equally true that there are overwhelming similarities among Africans. Many African countries have similar historical, 170 environmental and development experiences. For instance, many African countries south of the Sahara have experienced colonialism, have low agricultural productivity, low level of technology, have been misgoverned, and are poor or developing3 by WB standards. Therefore, we can consider the continent as an entity as we rummage its development story vis-à-vis its environmental relationships. Like people of other continents, Africans aspire for development, good and fulfilling life. The dream of Africans is that they are developed economically, politically, and technologically. They aspire to demystify the centuries-old tagging of their continent as inferior, weak, dark, evil, and poor. They want to break the fetters of oppression (internal and external), stop the looting of their resources and be a strong voice in global development discourses and decisions. Unfortunately, these aspirations are bedeviled by numerous challenges such as poverty, lack of technological advancement, conflicts, diseases, corruption, nepotism, spirit of servility or inferiority complex, reactivity, ignorance, and global economic and political forces. The continent’s inability to adequately deal with these challenges has left it at crossroads or in dilemmas as far as its development aspirations are concerned. Poverty: the Persistent but Unwelcomed Guest Mass poverty seems a “norm” in Africa. As Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator cleverly insists, poverty remains an old but frustratingly volatile enemy to humanity, partly because it continues to evolve new characteristics, one of which is the phenomenon of mass or collective poverty in many parts of the world, especially Africa.262 It has had serious negative influence not only on Africa’s human development efforts but also on their aspirations, creativity, migration dynamics, values, and type of development and environment relationships. The most vexing feature of poverty is that it can be both the effect as well as the cause of the economic and technological woes, and conflicts that characterize the continent. It is in light of this that we think it is utterly important to carefully analyse the issue of poverty. This will enable honest understanding of where Africa is coming from, where it is, where it is going and where it should go in view of its development pursuits. 262 Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, From Crisis to Kairos: The Mission of the Church in the Time of HIV/AIDS, Refugees, and Poverty (Nairobi: Pauline Publications, 2005), 180. 171 Conceptualizing poverty: Definitions, Dimensions or Nature and Measurement Poverty is a multi...