Objectif 7 : Assurer la durabilité de l’environnement

Most African Countries Failing to Honour Pledges on Environment

So far, most countries are failing to honour the commitments they made at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), including the environmental initiative of NEPAD.

On deforestation, Africa was losing its forests at 4.1% annually, a slight improvement on the 4.4% annual loss between 1990 and 2000.

On emissions, CO2 emissions fell in most African countries between 1990 and 2006.  The exceptions were Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia and the Seychelles.  Libya is the highest CO2 emitter per capita, mainly due to gas flaring in the oil fields.

Because Africa is a poor continent in general, the cost of dealing with the results of climate change is likely to hamper progress on the MDGs on the continent.  The World Bank, for instance, estimates that adaptation measures would cost over $18 million a year for Africa.

On ozone depletion, the majority of African signatories to the Montreal Protocol have achieved a 97% cut in the consumption of ozone-depleting substances.

On fish stocks, the record is negative.  The percentage of depleted, fully exploited, or over-exploited and recovering fish species rose to 80% in 2006 compared to 70% in 1995.

On water resources, about 70% of water withdrawn in Africa is for agriculture, and physical water scarcity is increasing.  Reversing this trend will require more efficient water use, through improved crop varieties and better agronomic practices.

On access to safe drinking water, in 2008, nine countries reached more than 90% coverage – Botswana, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, The Gambia, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa and Tunisia.

Countries with less than 50% coverage were Somalia, Ethiopia, Madagascar, the DRC, Mozambique, Niger, Mauritania and Sierra Leone.  These countries need to step up their efforts to meet the target.

On the proportion of the population using improved sanitation, the target is 63% of the region’s population.  By 2006, an estimated 242 million people had such access.  This requires an improvement in sanitation for yet another 370 million people.

On the target to achieve significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020, there has been some progress.  In Sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of the population deprived of shelter fell to 62% from 71% between 1990 and 2005.  However, it is the region with the highest prevalence of slums in the world.

Improvement in the lives of slum dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa will require large multi-sectoral investments.