| In Africa, perhaps more than in any other region, the World Bank's mission of fighting poverty with lasting results is inescapably linked to environmental protection and improved management of renewable natural resources. African livelihoods and national economies rely mainly on agriculture and on extraction of mineral and biological resources, and there are few alternatives or options to compensate when these are lost.Â
In both rural and urban settings, it is the poor who are most affected by the loss of natural resources and the deterioration of environmental services and who are most at risk from natural disasters that can be aggravated by environmental degradation. Yet the natural resource base is steadily deteriorating, with some of the world's highest rates of soil degradation and with loss of forests, rangelands, wetlands, and fish and wildlife populations.
Millions of rural Africans are dependent on natural resources for food security and meager incomes. An important challenge is the building of capacity in Africa for environmental management. Much of the work done so far has been at the public level, but more effort is needed to involve the private sector and to alert Africans to ways in which successful management of the environment can enhance development progress.
|
RSS