APA – Dakar (Senegal) In the future, Africa should play “an important role” in the energy transition.
Faced with continuing environmental degradation, Africa is still struggling to adapt to the challenges of climate change. But the continent could catch up if it manages to “rethink the management of its natural resources” with a view to avoiding negative socio-economic consequences, according to experts recently brought together by the African Development Bank (ADB) at a virtual meeting.
With just over a month to go before the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), scheduled to take place from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, these experts launched this appeal to draw the attention of all stakeholders. They believe that COP28 will be an important moment when “the world will assess the progress made under the Paris Agreement,” which was signed in 2015 but has had little impact in the fight against global warming.
“There are overlaps between the management of natural resources and what that means for the climate and the sustainable development agenda,” said Merlyn Van Voore, head of the secretariat of the International Panel on Resources in Geneva, Switzerland, pointing out that the world is struggling with the lack of appropriate tools and frameworks to ensure the sustainable management of natural resources.
It notes that the manufacture of electronic products requires “particular attention.” Managing the recycling of end-of-life mobile phones, for example, “requires” the involvement of several players, including manufacturers, workers and companies in the extractive sector, end-users and network providers, she added.
“Nature provides essential goods and vital services, and these are not just economic values, but also ecological, biophysical and environmental values. Without fully appreciating these services, we tend to underestimate the value of natural capital,” lamented Vanessa Ushie, Acting Director of the AfDB’s African Natural Resource Management and Investment Centre, indicating that Africa and the world “are facing a crisis of nature.”
Citing the African Development Bank’s African Economic Outlook 2023, Ms. Ushie notes that natural resources, including renewable energy and ecosystem services, generate around 62 percent of Africa’s GDP.
On the other hand, Hans Bruyninckx, former Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, said that sustainable resource management should be strengthened on the continent and in economies around the world. “This is important for everyone on the planet, given the profoundly unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of the way we do things today, particularly in the African context,” he said, pointing out that Africa has historically been an exporter of resources, but in a profoundly unsustainable way.
According to Mr. Bruyninckx, the black continent should play “an important role” in the future in the energy transition and information technologies on which the world is relying to find intelligent solutions, but even more so “for its social development and the well-being of its people.”
ODL/te/fss/abj/APA