Human Impact on Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa

Michael B.K. Darkoh, Apollo Rwomire

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138723528
• eBook ISBN: 9781351756655
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Business Development
• Index: Biological Sciences

This title was first published in 2003. Based on a blend of knowledge and perspectives from a variety of disciplines this volume examines the human-environment interaction in Africa, with a focus on the economic, social and political processes that generate environmental change and problems in this region. Currently there are controversies over and challenges to such concepts and issues as environment-human relationships, ecological resilience, decertification, sustainable development, globalization and North-South dialogue. This book draws upon past and present research findings to discuss these issues. It features: an examination of the characteristics, processes and patterns of environmental crises; an analysis of the principal issues and challenges facing policy makers and implementers; and the promotion of awareness of theoretical, empirical and comparative research. The volume not only seeks to answer some of the old questions, but also open up new ones for further discussion.

Chapter 1
Introduction: Ideas on Human Impact on Environment and Prospects for a Sustainable Future in Africa

M. B. K. Darkoh and A. Rwomire

Development of Ideas on Human-Environmental Relationships

The quality of the environment continues to decline in many parts of the world. The last great forests in Africa and the Amazon are rapidly disappearing. Rangelands in the tropics are rapidly being desertified. There seems to be few, if any, parts of the developing world that are immune to this general trend of decline or environmental despoliation. The problem is not restricted to the developing countries either. European lakes and forests continue to be destroyed by the phenomenon of acid rain and nitrate contamination of water is a major problem in the USA. Oil spills and chemical and toxic production and disposal are posing intractable environmental problems in developed economies. Important activities of humans such as industrialisation, mining, urbanisation and agriculture are increasingly posing a threat not only to the quality of the physical environment but also human health and socio-economic well-being. Human diseases related to pollution resulting from mining, industrialisation and transport are emerging in different parts of the world, including the developing world. This state of affairs leads to some critical reflections:

• Why is this universally apparent decline in the quality of the environment occurring?
• In what manner have humans in their long tenure of the earth related to their environment?
• What have been the detrimental changes and consequences of human activities on environment?
• What sustainable solutions can be offered to mitigate these impacts?

The issue of human relationship with and impact on the environment is an old one, spanning centuries of human civilisation and knowledge. Though this issue is old, each generation has contended and continues to contend with it in terms of diagnosis and trying to find answers to problems emerging from human-environment interaction. The cultural geographer Clarence J. Glacken in his monumental and path-breaking treatise on Traces on the Rhodian Shore (1967) has comprehensively examined the history of Western thought on the habitable earth (ecumene) and human relationships from the Greek era to modern times. Clarence J. Glacken has addressed three important questions related to: a) whether the earth, which is obviously a fit environment for humans and other organic life, is a purposefully made creation, b) whether the earth's climates, relief, and configuration of its continents have influenced the moral and social nature of individuals and moulded the character and nature of human culture, and c) in what way humans in their long tenure of the earth have changed it from its hypothetical pristine condition.

Earlier work by the social anthropologist George Perkins Marsh in the mid-nineteenth century had eloquently considered the third issue raised by Glacken by surveying the extent of human influence on the environment in Man and Nature published in 1864. This book dealt with the impact of human activities and their consequences on the woods, soils and water of Marsh's own native Vermont in the USA. The works of both Glacken and Marsh were more concerned with Western civilisation and did not touch upon human influence in the non-Western societies. Although the theme of human impact on the environment was central in subsequent studies by Western scholars, the emphasis continued to be on the Western world, as epitomised by the works of Western historical geographers such as Darby (1956) and McKnight (1959) who respectively studied the clearing of woodlands in Europe and introduction of alien plants and animals in Anglo-America. Other scholars explored the impacts that European settlement and development had had on the landscape of North America.

On the lower latitudes or the tropical regions, however, much of Western scholarship on human-land relationship before the twentieth century has been speculative and largely based on the doctrine of environmental determinism, which viewed human behaviour and activity as conditioned by the environment. European mindset tried to explain the poverty and backwardness of the tropical lands in terms of the constraining and debilitating effects of the environment. Protagonists of this doctrine of environmental determinism, typified by the works of Ellsworth Huntington (1914) and Ellen Semple (1911), propounded theories of 'natural explanation' of the broad persistent backwardness of this region of the world. From such pseudo-theories of human-environment relationship were spin-offs of other concepts such as the 'vicious circle' of poverty which were said to explain the origin and persistence of primitive forms of land use and low level of social and economic development. Perhaps, the work that best reflects this negative mindset and how environment influenced humans rather than vice versa is Pierre Gourou's The Tropical World (1953), which went into about eight editions and which only recently went out of print. Although environmental determinism was replaced by possibilism and other later orthodoxies that emphasised the significance of human choices of activity rather than terrestrial limitations to it and saw humans as geomorphological agents, the prejudice and myth surrounding environmentalism continued to have a powerful influence in shaping the way Westerners perceived other alien societies and their relationship to the land.

Before the 1960s, one of the most outstanding scholars whose works on the human impact on the environment transcended the orthodox Western stereotypes was Carl Ortwin Sauer (1938, 1952). Sauer was an American cultural and historical geographer whose studies examined such central themes as domestication, the effects of resource exploitation, conservation and the evolution of cultural landscapes. He was one of the few scholars eager for an alternative to naive environmental determinism who recognised the ecological virtues of some so-called primitive peoples. Nevertheless, much of Sauer's work was limited to Latin America. But perhaps, the publication which overshadowed existing orthodoxies or stereotypes and made considerable impact on Western thought in the late 1950s (and probably heralded the ecological movement of the 1960s) was a major symposium volume, entitled Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth (Thomas, 1956). This book, drawing upon a much broader store of knowledge than its predecessors, identified the human forces that had changed the state of the biosphere. Several components of the biosphere as well as aspects of society responsible for changes in the environment were discussed directly or indirectly with emphasis on technology, urbanisation, industry and trade.

It was from about the 1970s that the human impact on the natural environment became a central concern for many disciplines and many scientists (Goudie, 1997). It became increasingly clear in this period, as Goudie (1997) puts it, that humans not only caused change at the local level (e.g. by accelerating rates of erosion in an area that had been stripped of forest) but also promoted change at the global level. Themes like biological magnification of pesticides became of common concern following Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (1963). More recent works by geographers such as Goudie (1981, 1997), Barrow (1991, 1995), Mannion (1997, 1995), Mannion and Bowlby (1992) and Ahmed and Doeleman (1995) have tended to focus on global environmental change and to advocate better approaches to development, especially sustainable resource management. Economists have also contributed to the analysis of the environmental issues. This is evident in the edited work by Swanson The Economics of Environmental Degradation: Tragedy for the Commons? (1996). This book utilizes an institutional economics approach to analyse the underlying causes of continuing environmental degradation: poverty, population, poor policies and trade. The overall position reached in this book is that environmental degradation will persist because it is the static result of the ongoing dynamic contest between opportunistic individuals and institutional adaptation.

Other recent works taking interdisciplinary approaches have focused specifically on the tropics. They have examined the complex relationships between humans and environment, trying to understand the causes of their environmental problems. For example, Randall Baker in his Environmental Management in the Tropics (1993) provides an elucidating historical expose of the exploitation of natural resources which has brought destruction and degradation to peoples and societies in the tropics. Similarly, Michael J. Eden and John T. Parry have insightfully addressed the issue of environmental change in their reader on Land Degradation in the Tropics (1996), The environments, which are analysed in the latter two studies range from rain forests through tropical, dry forests and wetlands to cities, and examples are drawn from all the principal cultural regions, which make up the developing world, including Africa. Friday and Laskey (1989) have also examined the impact of such factors as deforestation, acid rain and pollution, desertification, over-exploitation of natural resources, and the greenhouse effect on the environment in their multidisciplinary reader on The Fragile Environment.

In the case of Africa, for the first time, a number of significant publications on environment, range ecology, politics, development and policy have begun to emerge. These include: Ecology and Politics (Hjort-af-Ornäs and Salih, 1989) which demonstrates the complexity of the interrelationships between ecology and politics, Security in African Drylands (Hjort-af-Ornäs, 1992) which deals with diverse issues related to environment and secure livelihoods including research, development and policy issues, Social Aspects of Sustainable Dryland Management (Stiles, 1995) which addresses the socioeconomic aspects of land degradation and dryland management, African River Basins and Dryland Crises (Darkoh, 1992) which is a collection of case studies highlighting the social, economic, political and environmental dimensions of African river basins and drylands, Approaching Nature from Local Communities (Hjort-af-Ornäs, 1996) which, like the preceding one, presents case studies of security perceived and achieved by local communities and land users and their relationships to nature, and Environmental Politics and Liberation in Contemporary Africa (Salih, 1999) which explores the intricate relationship between liberation movements and struggles on the one hand, and environmental degradation on the other. Another publication with contributions from scholars who are all of African origin is Environmental Planning, Policies and Politics in Eastern and Southern Africa (edited by Salih and Tedla, 1999). This book provides nine case studies illustrating the politics, policies and planning in environment and natural resources in Eastern and Southern Africa.

The period since the 1970s has also seen studies challenging mainstream views of range science. The best example of this is Range Ecology at Disequilibrium (Behnke et al., 1993). This book reviews recent biological research on African rangeland and highlights its management implications for donor and national government policy. The contributors to this book argue that the mainstream view of range science is fundamentally flawed in its application to certain rangeland ecologies and forms of pastoral production. The relationship between livestock numbers and range degradation is debated and more appropriate techniques for the assessment of rangeland carrying capacity and degradation have been proposed. Kgabung in Chapter 14 has outlined these new concepts in range ecology. Most recently, however, the new and so-called 'disequilibrium theories of range ecology' (DTRE) have been challenged by Lykke (2000) as Darkoh has pointed out in Chapter 12 in this book.

A central theme that has received much concern in the literature since the 1970s is desertification and land degradation, as attested by some of the papers in this volume and the innumerable publications by multilateral agencies and international organisations such as UNEP, EGA, FAO, IFAD, IUCN, UNDP, UNESCO, UNSO, SADC/ELMS and the World Bank on the subject. Desertification and land degradation have become recognized as key issues for world conservation in the twenty-first century, thanks largely to the efforts of UNEP (Darkoh, 1999, 2000) and the United Nations Conference on Environment (UNCED). Other themes that have become increasingly important in environmental research and programmes are green development (Adams, 1990), indigenous knowledge (Brokensha, et al., 1986; Richards, 1985; Warren, 1991; Darkoh, 1996), gender (Chingono, 2001; Fairhurst, et al., 1999), governance (Maathai, 1995; Weaver, Rock and Kusterer, 1997) and refugees (El-Hinnawi, 1985).

From much of the interdisciplinary studies emerging since the 1970s on human-environment relationships in the developing world, it would appear that the root cause of the environmental problems today lies in the way resources are used or managed under an expanding global economy and especially the issue of power, control and access to resources and institutional failures. As the global economy is expanding, local ecosystems are collapsing at an accelerated pace (Brown, 2000: 4), The challenge of human survival and development is leading to the emergence of dominant groups and an ever increasing struggle over control of and access to resources. The dilemma of tackling environmental problems is that the very process of development that is dependent on the environment creates situations that are destroying the basis of human survival. Thus, the unequal access to resources and unsustainable utilisation of natural resources is not only a threat to the ecological balance but also the very existence of human livelihood. It goes without saying that humankind is greatly dependent on resources in the environment.

In the case of Africa, because of globalisation, pressures are mounting on people and environment with each passing year. Not only are local ecosystems collapsing but the continent as a whole has been experiencing a breakdown in the relationship between people and their natural support systems (Brown and Wolf, 1985). As a result, living standards are deteriorating and many Africans are no longer able to feed themselves (Darkoh, 1989). The typical list of the ever growing environmental problems includes deforestation, soil erosion, drought, desertification, loss of biodiversity, water and air pollution, improper disposal of commercial and domestic wastes, poor sanitation and spread of diseases. Famines and the threat of famines are among the manifestations of these ever growing problems. Many of these problems may appear physical in nature but they are underlain by a number of significant socio-economic processes such as growing human population, stagnant and declining economic growth, poverty, migration, foreign debt and political instability.

Environmental problems facing Africa have to be placed in the historical and developmental experience of the continent, Walter Rodney (1972), in his book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, has provided insights into how Africa has been separated from the indigenous momentum of its own history and thrown into Europe's backyard and how its incorporation into the global economy has worked to hold the continent back in technological and socio-economic development. The grafting or imposition of Western technology and socio-economic systems on African indigenous systems was not well thought out. Africa now has to cope with the unreconciled clash of European and indigenous systems, as well as the legacy of its grossly unequal incorporation into an economic system created by and for the Western world (Baker, 1993: 204). Whereas the Western world itself is slowly coming to grips with reconciling technology, development and environment in its realm, this is far from the case in Africa. Unfortunately for the African continent, the driving force for rapid development is powered by policies of exploitation of its forests, soils, minerals and other natural resources for quick gain, and, in all too many instances, the culprits are the capitalists of the Western world (Eden and Parry, 1996). African countries are now having to deal with the legaci...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• List of Contributors
• Preface
• Chapter 1 Introduction: Ideas on Human Impact on Environment and Prospects for a Sustainable Future in Africa
• Chapter 2 A Socio-Economic Analysis of Environmental Degradation in Africa
• Chapter 3 Political and Social Dimensions of Environmental Crisis in Nigeria
• Chapter 4 Environmental Security in the Drylands of Africa: The Role of Science and Technology
• Chapter 5 Environmental Security in South Africa: A Prognosis for Regional Security
• Chapter 6 Population-Environment Interface in Botswana: Issues, Challenges and Prospects
• Chapter 7 Environment and Forced Migration: A Review
• Chapter 8 International Migration in Southern Africa: A Retrospective Benefit-Cost Analysis
• Chapter 9 Desertification: Myths and Realities
• Chapter 10 The Nature, Causes and Consequences of Desertification in the Drylands of Africa
• Chapter 11 The Sahel Dust Bowl: Processes and Control Strategies
• Chapter 12 Agriculture and Biodiversity in the Drylands of Africa
• Chapter 13 Indigenous Systems of Land Evaluation: Some Examples from Eastern and Southern Africa
• Chapter 14 The Livestock Industry and the Subsistence Economy of Rangelands in Africa with Special Reference to Botswana
• Chapter 15 Globalisation and Wildlife Resource Sustainability in Botswana
• Chapter 16 Community-Based Tourism in Ngamiland District, Botswana: Development, Impacts and Challenges
• Chapter 17 Urban Poverty and Environmental Health: The Case of Kampala City, Uganda
• Chapter 18 Government Policy and Environmental Waste Management in Maiduguri Urban Area, Nigeria
• Chapter 19 Adaptive Strategies of Small Fishermen to Environmental Degradation Induced by Oil Pollution in the Niger Delta: Implications for Rural Planning
• Chapter 20 Context, Principles and Practices of Conservation Strategies and Environmental Action Plans
• Chapter 21 Sustainable Human Development and the North-South Dialogue
• Index