Defining Pathways towards African Ecological Futures

Peter Scheren, Peter Tyrrell, Peadar Brehony, James R. Allan, Jessica P. R. Thorn, Tendai Chinho, Yemi Katerere, Vanessa Ushie and Jeffrey S. Worden
Additional contact information
Peter Scheren: Regional Office for Africa, Worldwide Fund for Nature, P.O Box 62440-00200, Nairobi, Kenya
Peter Tyrrell: University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), Oxford OX13 5QL, UK
Peadar Brehony: Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EN, UK
James R. Allan: Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED), University of Amsterdam, 1090 GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Jessica P. R. Thorn: Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, York YO10 5NG, UK
Tendai Chinho: Regional Office for Africa, Worldwide Fund for Nature, P.O Box 62440-00200, Nairobi, Kenya
Yemi Katerere: Right and Resources Institute, Washington, DC 20007, USA
Vanessa Ushie: African Natural Resources Centre, African Development Bank, Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
Jeffrey S. Worden: Regional Office for Africa, Worldwide Fund for Nature, P.O Box 62440-00200, Nairobi, Kenya

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-21

Abstract: Africa has experienced unprecedented growth across a range of development indices for decades. However, this growth is often at the expense of Africa’s biodiversity and ecosystems, jeopardizing the livelihoods of millions of people depending on the goods and services provided by nature, with broader consequences for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Encouragingly, Africa can still take a more sustainable path. Here, we synthesize the key learnings from the African Ecological Futures project. We report results from a participatory scenario planning process around four collectively-owned scenarios and narratives for the evolution of Africa’s ecological resource base over the next 50 years. These scenarios provided a lens to review pressures on the natural environment, through the drivers, pressures, state, impacts, and responses (DPSIR) framework. Based on the outcomes from each of these steps, we discuss opportunities to reorient Africa’s development trajectories towards a sustainable path. These opportunities fall under the broad categories of “effective natural resource governance”, “strategic planning capabilities”, “investment safeguards and frameworks”, and “new partnership models”. Underpinning all these opportunities are “data, management information, and decision support frameworks”. This work can help inform collaborative action by a broad set of actors with an interest in ensuring a sustainable ecological future for Africa.

Keywords: sustainable development; social–ecological systems; biodiversity; participatory scenario planning; governance; strategic planning; investment; decision support frameworks; green infrastructure; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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