Managing Natural Resources in Africa SVN 3E: Environmental Science

1. Managing Natural Resources in AfricaSVN 3E: Environmental Science

2. What are Africa’s Ecosystems? • Mediterranean • Mountain Regions • Tropical Grassland • Dry Grassland • Hot Dessert • Tropical Rainforest

3. Relationship between the environment and people Everything is Connected: • Without adequate forest cover, soils become depleted. • Without fertile soil, food production declines, and the threat of hunger increases. • Without secure food supplies and clean water, good health is impossible!

4. Relationship between the environment and people Video: Climate Witness – Farmers in Tanzania Left High and Dry http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPlbbRUxh3c

5. Environmental Problems • Deforestation • Soil degradation • Water resource degradation • Unsustainable use of land and water resources • Desertification • Loss of biological diversity (ECA, 1999)

6. Environmental Problems

7. Environmental Problems • In Uganda and Ethiopia, 80% of all environmental degradation costs is from soil erosion • Every year Africa loses 50 hectares of tropical forest a year • Every year 230 million hectares affected by soil and land degradation

8. Environmental Problems One of the underlying causes of this situation is the inadequate management of natural resources

9. Any progress achieved in addressing the Millennium Development Goals of poverty and hunger eradication, improved health, and environmental protection is unlikely to be sustained if most of the ecosystem services on which humanity relies continue to be degraded.

10. What are the Millennium Development Goals? • A series of 8 goals to be achieved by 2015. • They were developed to bind the world to join forces to fight against poverty, illiteracy, gender inequality, child and maternal mortality, disease and environmental degradation.

11. How do the MDGs relate to the Environment and Natural Resources?

12. MDGs: The 8 Goals and their Targets

13. Goal # 1Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty Target: • Reduce the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 per day by half • Reduce the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by half

14. Goal # 2Achieve universal primary education Target: • Ensure that all boys and girls complete a full course of primary schooling

15. Goal # 3Promote gender equality and empowerment of women Target: • Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005 at all levels by 2015

16. Goal # 4Reduce child mortality Target: • Reduce the mortality rate among children under five by two thirds

17. Goal # 5Improve maternal health Target: • Reduce the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters

18. Goal # 6Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Target: • Halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS • Halt and begin to reverse the incidence of malaria and other diseases

19. Goal # 7Ensure environmental sustainability Target: • Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs • Reverse the loss of environmental resources • Reduce the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by half

20. Goal # 8Develop a global partnership for development Target: • Develop an open and fair trading system with commitments to good governance and poverty reduction • Deal with the debt problems of developing countries

21. To achieve the MDGs, improved management of resources is necessary

22. Examples of sustainable management of natural resources include:

23. Promoting Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture

24. Planting Trees

25. Together we can build healthy communities!