[Trusties] Fwd: New Report Looks at Africa's Ecological Footprint

[Sean Seefried]

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Special Announcement


	
New Africa Report: advancing human welfare in a resource-constrained  
world
While Africans per capita consume very little of the world’s  
biological resources, growing population is bringing the region close  
to reaching it’s ecological limits, according to a groundbreaking  
report Global Footprint Network, in conjunction with WWF, presented  
June 9 at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in  
Johannesburg.

Offering the first in-depth look at the Ecological Footprint of Africa  
and its constituent countries, Africa: Ecological Footprint and Human  
Wellbeing examines the role natural resources can play in advancing  
the region’s goals to end poverty and disease – or conversely, if  
mismanaged, in thwarting these goals. The report is the result of a  
multi-year effort by Global Footprint Network and the Swiss Agency for  
Development and Cooperation to explore how ecological limits apply and  
relate to human development in the region.
Understanding Africa’s ecological assets and pressures

As the ongoing world food crises makes clear, human welfare is  
critically linked to mankind’s use and stewardship of biological  
resources. Nowhere is this more true than in Africa – a region with  
tremendous natural wealth, yet which often suffers first and most  
tragically when humanity’s demand on nature exceeds what nature can  
provide.


	
“There is a strong international commitment to improving human well- 
being in Africa and advancing the Millennium Development Goals to  
reduce poverty, hunger and disease,” said Global Footprint Network  
Executive Director, Mathis Wackernagel. “Yet, to advance these  
critical goals and produce lasting success, we need to work with,  
rather than against, ecological budget constraints. If development  
ignores the limits of our natural resources, the gains that are made  
cannot persist, and the most vulnerable people such as the rural poor  
will be the first to suffer.”

The report finds the average African had an Ecological Footprint of  
1.1 global hectares in 2003, well below the global average of 2.2  
hectares per person. However, a growing number of African countries  
are now depleting their natural resources or will shortly be doing so  
– faster than they can be replaced. Clear dangers loom from a  
projected more than doubling of Africa’s population by 2050, taking it  
from about one eighth to nearly a quarter of the total world population.




Egypt, Libya and Algeria head the list of African countries living  
well beyond their ecological means, with the Ecological Footprints of  
Morocco, Tunisia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Nigeria, South  
Africa and Zimbabwe also exceeding national biocapacity.

However, several African nations are “ecological creditors:” they  
produce more biocapacity than they consume. This stands in contrast to  
U.S. and Europe which are ecological debtors. The U.S., for example,  
has a Footprint more than 100 percent larger than its biocapacity.  
According to the report, many opportunities exist in Africa to manage  
and use biocapacity more effectively.

The Africa Report helps chart a course for progress founded on a solid  
understanding of the region’s ecological assets and pressures.

“There are huge opportunities to improve well-being in lasting ways  
while staying within our ecological constraints,” Wackernagel said.  
Among these are giving women access to health choices, education and  
economic opportunities; designing infrastructure that will make cities  
more resilient to resource scarcities; and leapfrogging directly to  
the most resource-efficient technologies instead of using older, more  
resource dependent ones.

Click here to view a full copy of the report.




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