A gutter that connect to the odona drainage is choked with plastic waste in Ghana

African environmental issues are caused by human impacts on the natural environment and affect humans and nearly all forms of life. Issues include deforestation, soil degradation, air pollution, water pollution, garbage pollution, climate change and water scarcity (resulting in problems with access to safe water supply and sanitation).[1] These issues result in environmental conflict and are connected to broader social struggles for democracy and sovereignty.[2]

Deforestation

Piles of chopped dry ecalyptus wood in near Butare town in Bushenyi district in Western Uganda
Piles of chopped dry ecalyptus wood in near Butare town in Bushenyi district in Western Uganda

The large scale felling of trees and the resulting decreases in forest areas are the main environmental issues of the African Continent. Rampant clearing of forests and land conversion goes on for agriculture, settlement and fuel needs. Ninety percent of Africa's population requires wood to use as fuel for heating and cooking. As a result, forested areas are decreasing daily, as for example, in the region of equatorial evergreen forests. According to the United Nations Environment Programme, Africa's desertification rate is twice that of the world's.[3]

Deforestation of Rainforest

The rate of illegal logging, which is another main cause of deforestation, varies from country to country, such as 50% in Cameroon and 80% in Liberia. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, deforestation is primarily caused by the needs of the poor citizens, along with unsupervised logging and mining. In Ethiopia, the main cause is the country's growing population, which induces an increase in agriculture, livestock production, and fuel wood. Low education and little government intervention also contributes to deforestation. Madagascar's forest loss is partially caused by citizens using slash-and-burn techniques after independence from the French. In 2005, Nigeria had the highest rate of deforestation in the world, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).[4] Deforestation in Nigeria is caused by logging, subsistence agriculture, and the collection of wood for fuel. According to the gfy, deforestation has wiped out nearly 90% of Africa's forest. West Africa only has 22.8% of its moist forests left, and 81% of Nigeria's old-growth forests disappeared within 15 years. Deforestation also lowers the chance of rainfall; Ethiopia has experienced famine and droughts because of this. 98% of Ethiopia's forests have disappeared over the last 50 years. Within 43 years, Kenya's forest coverage decreased from about 10% to 1.7%. Deforestation in Madagascar has also led to desertification, soil loss, and water source degradation, resulting in the country's inability to provide necessary resources for its growing population. In the last five years, Nigeria lost nearly half of its primary forests.

Ethiopia's government, along with organizations like Farm Africa, is starting to take steps to stop excessive deforestation.

Piles of chopped dry ecalyptus wood next to Igara Secondary school near Butare town in Bushenyi district in Western Uganda 05
Piles of chopped dry ecalyptus wood next to Igara Secondary school near Butare town in Bushenyi district in Western Uganda 05

Deforestation is an issue, and forests are important in Africa, as populations have relied heavily on them to provide basic needs. Woods are used for shelter, clothing, agricultural elements, and much more. Woodland supplies are also used to create medicines and a wide variety of food. Some of these foods include fruits, nuts, honey, and much more. Wood is crucial for economic gain in Africa, especially in developing countries. Forests also help the environment. It is estimated that the green belt of Africa contains over 1.5 million species. Without the forest habitat to protect the species, the populations are at risk. The livelihoods of millions of people and species are at risk with deforestation. The act is a domino effect that affects multiple aspects of a community, ecosystem, and economy.[5]

Many African nations have begun to implement restoration projects to reverse the effects of deforestation. These projects have been shown to improve the environment in many ways and the livelihood of the people living near them. For example "Reforestation and agroforestry schemes can help, for instance, to sequester carbon, prevent flooding, enhance biodiversity, rehabilitate degraded lands, provide a local energy supply for the rural poor and improve land use and watershed management."[6]

Soil degradation

Sand and water on the side of the road, causing erosion on the environment
Plastic bags dumped by the road side in Katete in mbarara district in western Uganda
Plastic bags dumped by the road side in Katete in mbarara district in western Uganda

The erosion caused by rains, rivers and winds as well as over-use of soils for agriculture and low use of manures have resulted in turning the soils infertile, as for example, in the plains of the Nile and the Orange River. A main cause of soil degradation is lack of manufactured fertilizers being used, since African soil lacks organic sources of nutrients and also dumping of plastic waste such as polythene bags, broken plates, basins, water drums, plastic water bottles and jerrycans on the soils. The increase in population has also contributed when people need to crop, as a source of income, but do not take measures to protect the soil,[7] due to low income.[8] The current methods create too much pressure on other environmental aspects, such as forests, and are not sustainable.[9] There are also ecological causes of the poor soil quality. Much of the soil has rocks or clay from volcanic activity. Other causes include erosion, desertification, and deforestation. Another source of soil degradation is the improper management of waste, lack of facilities and techniques to handle waste lead to the dumping of waste in soil, therefore causes soil degradation by process such as leaching.

Degradation of African soil causes decreased food production, damaging ecological effects, and an overall decrease in the quality of living in Africa.[8] This issue would lessen if fertilizers and other cropping supplies were more affordable and thus used more.[9] The United Nations has commissioned a Global Assessment of Human Induced Soil Degradation (GLASOD) to further investigate the causes and state of the soil. Access to information collected is freely available, and it is hoped that awareness will be raised among politicians in threatened areas.[10]

Air pollution

Burning of car tires and causing huge air pollution in Accra

The air in Africa is greatly polluted due to multiple reasons stated below. The primitive method of farming that takes place in most areas in Africa is certainly a causal factor. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 11.3 million hectares of land are being lost annually to agriculture, grazing, uncontrolled burning and fuelwood consumption.[11] Combustion of wood and charcoal are used for cooking[12] and this results to a release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is a toxic pollutant in the atmosphere.[13] Also, due to the poor supply of power, most homes have to rely on fuel and diesel in generators to keep their electricity running.[14] Air pollution in Africa is coming to the forefront and must not be ignored. For example, in South Africa the mercury levels are severe due to coal combustion and gold mining. Mercury is absorbed from the air into the soil and water. The soil allows the crops to absorb the mercury, which humans ingest. Animals eat the grass which has absorbed the mercury and again humans may ingest these animals. Fish absorb the mercury from the water, humans also ingest the fish and drink the water that have absorbed the mercury. This increases the mercury levels in humans. This can cause serious health risks.[15][16]

It is expected that Africa could represent the half of the world's pollution emissions by 2030, warns Cathy Liousse director of research of atmospheric sounding of the CNRS, along with many other researchers. According to the report, sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a fast increasing pollution, derived from many causes, such as burning wood for cooking, open burning of waste, traffic, agri-food and chemical industries, the dust from the Sahara carried by the winds through the Sahel area, all this reinforced by a greater population growth and urbanisation.[17]

The World Health Organization reports of the need to intervene when more than one third of the total Disability Adjusted Life Years[18] was lost as a result of exposure to indoor air pollution in Africa.[14] Fuel is needed to power lights at night. The fuel being burned causes great emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Because of the increased Urbanization in Africa, people are burning more and more fuel and using more vehicles for transportation. The rise in vehicle emissions and the trend towards greater industrialization means the urban air quality in the continent is worsening. This is also the case in many megacities in Nigeria where the key contributors to poor air quality include vehicle emissions, industrial emissions and solid waste burning. Seasonal variations in pollution also exist with the highest levels of air pollution occurring during the dry season (November to March in the north, May to September in the south).[19]

In many countries, the use of leaded gasoline is still widespread, and vehicle emission controls are nonexistent. Indoor air pollution is widespread, mostly from the burning of coal in the kitchen for cooking.[20] Compounds released from fuel stations and nitrogen and hydrocarbon released from airports cause air pollution. Carbon dioxide other greenhouse gases in the air causes an increase of people with respiratory issues.[21]

There is a common relationship between air pollution and population. Africa widely diverse between areas that are overpopulated versus areas that are scarcely populated. In regions where there is little industrial development and few people, air quality is high. Vice versa, in densely populated and industrialized regions the air quality is low. Addressing the air pollution in big cities is often a big priority, even though the continent as a whole produces little air pollutants by international standards. Even so, air pollutants are causing a variety of health and environmental problems. These pollutants are a threat to the population of Africa and the environment they try so hard to sustain.[22]

In 2019, air pollution killed 1.1 million people across Africa, according to a study published in The Lancet Planetary Health in October 2021.[23] More than 350 million African children live in households that use solid fuels, mostly wood and coal, for cooking and heating. The emissions from these solid fuels are the main causes of indoor air pollution.[24]

Climate change

Graph showing temperature change in Africa between 1901 and 2021, with red colour being warmer and blue being colder than average (the average temperature in 1971–2000 is set as the boundary between blue and red colors).

Climate change in Africa is an increasingly serious threat as Africa is among the most vulnerable continents to the effects of climate change.[25][26][27] Some sources even classify Africa as "the most vulnerable continent on Earth".[28][29] This vulnerability is driven by a range of factors that include weak adaptive capacity, high dependence on ecosystem goods for livelihoods, and less developed agricultural production systems.[30] The risks of climate change on agricultural production, food security, water resources and ecosystem services will likely have increasingly severe consequences on lives and sustainable development prospects in Africa.[26] With high confidence, it was projected by the IPCC in 2007 that in many African countries and regions, agricultural production and food security would probably be severely compromised by climate change and climate variability.[31] Managing this risk requires an integration of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the management of ecosystem goods and services, and the agriculture production systems in Africa.[32]

Over the coming decades, warming from climate change is expected across almost all the Earth's surface, and global mean rainfall will increase.[33] Currently, Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world on average. Large portions of the continent may become uninhabitable as a result of the rapid effects of climate change, which would have disastrous effects on human health, food security, and poverty.[34][35][36] Regional effects on rainfall in the tropics are expected to be much more spatially variable and the sign of change at any one location is often less certain, although changes are expected. Consistent with this, observed surface temperatures have generally increased over Africa since the late 19th century to the early 21st century by about 1 °C, but locally as much as 3 °C for minimum temperature in the Sahel at the end of the dry season.[37] Observed precipitation trends indicate spatial and temporal discrepancies as expected.[38][26] The observed changes in temperature and precipitation vary regionally.[39][38]

For instance, Kenya experiences high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. The main climate hazards include droughts and floods with current projects forecasting more intense and less predictable rainfall. In addition, other projections anticipate temperatures rising by 0.5 to 2 °C.[40] In crowded, urban settlements in Nairobi, Kenya, the conditions of informal settlements or "slums" may exacerbate the impacts of climate change and disaster-related risk.[41] In particular, the living conditions of large informal settlements often create a warmer "micro-climate" due to home construction materials, lack of ventilation, sparse green space, and poor access to electrical power and other services.[42] To mitigate climate change-related risks in these informal neighborhood settlements, it will be important to upgrade these settlements through urban development interventions that are built for climate resilience.

In terms of adaptation efforts, regional-level actors are making some progress. This includes the development and adoption of several regional climate change adaptation strategies[43] e.g. SADC Policy Paper Climate Change,[44] and the adaptation strategy for the water sector.[45] In addition, there have been other efforts to enhance climate change adaptation, such as the Programme on Climate Change Adaptation, Mitigation in Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA-EAC-SADC).[46]

As a supranational organisation of 55 member states, the African Union has put forward 47 goals and corresponding actions in a 2014 draft report[47] to combat and mitigate climate change on the continent. The Secretary General of the United Nations has also declared a need for close cooperation with the African Union to tackle climate change, in accordance with the UN's sustainable development goals. The United Nations estimates that, considering the continent's population growth, yearly funding of $1.3 trillion would be needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. The International Monetary Fund also estimates that $50 billion may be needed only to cover the expenses of climate adaptation.[48][49][50]

Water scarcity

Water scarcity in Africa is predicted to reach dangerously high levels by 2025 when it is estimated that about two-thirds of the world's population may suffer from fresh water shortage. The main causes of water scarcity in Africa are physical and economic scarcity, rapid population growth, and climate change. Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand.[51] Although Sub-Saharan Africa has a plentiful supply of rainwater, it is seasonal and unevenly distributed, leading to frequent floods and droughts.[52] Additionally, prevalent economic development and poverty issues, compounded with rapid population growth and rural-urban migration have rendered Sub-Saharan Africa as the world's poorest and least developed region.[52][53]

The 2012 Report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations indicates that growing water scarcity is now one of the leading challenges for sustainable development.[54] This is because an increasing number of the river basins have reached conditions of water scarcity through the combined demands of agriculture and other sectors. Impacts of water scarcity in Africa range from health (women and children are particularly affected) to education, agricultural productivity, sustainable development as well as the potential for more water conflicts.

Plastic pollution

Share of plastic waste that is inadequately managed
Garbage and plastic waste in drainage channel in Butare town in Bushenyi District in Western Uganda
Garbage and plastic waste in drainage channel in Butare town in Bushenyi District in Western Uganda

Like in other parts of the developing world, plastic pollution is causing widespread problems such as contamination of waterways, disruption of stormwater management, and increases of disease due to mosquitos and pests living in plastics.[55] Plastic mismanagement is both a combination of cheap supply by all kinds of manufacturers, for example by providing much needed access to water through bottled water and water sachets, and poor management of the waste after use.[56]

Some locations in Africa have also been the sourcing of dumping plastic waste from the Global North.[55] Some governments are responding, and the continent leads the rest of the world in plastic bans which reduced allowed use and manufacture of single use plastics such as plastic bags and food serving tools.[55]

See also

Further reading

References

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  2. Obi, Cyril (2005). Environmental movements in sub-Saharan Africa : a political ecology of power and conflict. UN Research Institute for Social Development. OCLC 153316952.
  3. Banda, Jr, Sam (11 June 2008). "Deforestation reaches worrying level – UN". africanews.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008.
  4. "Deforestation statistics for Nigeria". Mongabay. Retrieved 25 October 2021.
  5. Hillstrom & Hillstrom The Worlds environments. a continental overview of environmental issues 2003 pg. 85–86
  6. Favretto, Nicola; Dougill, Andrew; Stringer, Lindsay; Afionis, Stavros; Quinn, Claire (12 March 2018). "Links between Climate Change Mitigation, Adaptation and Development in Land Policy and Ecosystem Restoration Projects: Lessons from South Africa". Sustainability. 10 (3): 779. doi:10.3390/su10030779. ISSN 2071-1050.
  7. "IFA : International Fertilizer Industry Association – Soil Degradation in Africa IFA". fertilizer.org. IFA. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Land and Environmental Degradation and Desertification in Africa". FAO. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  9. 1 2 "IFA : International Fertilizer Industry Association – Soil Degradation in Africa / SUSTAINABILITY / HomePage / IFA". fertilizer.org. IFA. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
  10. "Soil Degradation". Goodplanet.info. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2013.
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  12. Wood, T S; Baldwin, S (1985). "Fuelwood and Charcoal Use in Developing Countries". Annual Review of Energy. 10: 407–29. doi:10.1146/annurev.eg.10.110185.002203.
  13. Jacobson, Mark Z (2008). "On the causal link between carbon dioxide and air pollution mortality". Geophysical Research Letters. 35 (3): L03809. Bibcode:2008GeoRL..35.3809J. doi:10.1029/2007GL031101. S2CID 16440166.
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  • Hillstrom, Kevin, and Laurie Collier Hillstrom. The Worlds environments. a continental overview of environmental issues. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2003.
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