While Africans per capita consume very little of the world’s biological resources, Africa’s growing population is bringing the region close to reaching it’s ecological limits, according to a groundbreaking report that Global Footprint Network, in conjunction with WWF, presented on June 9, 2008 at the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in Johannesburg.
Offering the first in-depth look at the Ecological Footprint of Africa and its constituent countries, Africa: Ecological Footprint and Human Wellbeing examines the role natural resources can play in advancing the region’s goals to end poverty and disease – or conversely, if mismanaged, in thwarting these goals. The report is the result of a multi-year effort by Global Footprint Network and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation to explore how ecological limits apply and relate to human development in the region.
