Human-Centred Environmental Security in Africa

The people of Africa entered the 21 st century facing a security and development crisis of immense proportions. It is the continent hardest hit by growing poverty and inequity: average life expectancy has declined from 50 years to 46 since 1990, and in most of sub-Saharan Africa one in 10 children dies before it reaches age five. Africans are threatened by their lack of access to resources and the growing pressure on the natural resource base. The loss of arable land, water scarcity, over-fishing, deforestation and loss of biodiversity presents enormous challenges for sustainable development. The capacity of governments to cope with these changes is small and it will require significant changes in policies, institutions, governance and practices to mitigate these growing pressures. War and violent conflict have resulted in massive displacements of people, diverted financial resources away from vital sectors, and posed a significant barrier to development. This new period of violence (fundamentally internal but with internationalised elements, and highly destructive) is increasingly violent and protracted. It is particularly threatening, not only for the countries involved, but also more broadly for regional and international security. Currently, some half-dozen African countries are suffering directly or indirectly from serious armed conflicts, among them the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Sudan. The conflicts in these countries have affected many other countries and have often drawn in neighbouring states. More importantly, peace is often fragile, making it difficult to apply the term ‘post-conflict’ to many countries.