Leapfrogging Possibilities For Sustainable Consumption and ...

Most African countries have yet to adopt policies for waste prevention such as the
prevention of the generation of plastic waste. The specific challenge with plastic waste in
the African context is their non-biodegradable nature and their penetration even to the
remote rural parts of Africa in the form of cheap and in some cases free-of-charge thin
and flimsy plastic bags. These bags end-up in farms hindering the deep rooting of planted
crops and hindering natural conditioning and aeration as well as moisture balance.
Besides, they may be eaten up by domestic animals chocking and killing them. These
domestic animals in millions of rural households of Africa form the pillars of livelihood.
In 2003, the year South Africa introduced a ban on thin plastic bags, it used 8 billion bags
a year. Kenya uses 4000 tonnes of these plastic bags each month. In the urban areas it is
common plastics litter everywhere and creating a situation for breeding of vectors and
parasites aggravating an already worse health situation including worsening malaria, the
number one killer of the continent.
A significant increase in old electronic products imported to Africa has been observed
during recent times. 500 tonnes used electronics 75% of which can be considered as e-
waste are shipped to Nigeria on daily basis. There is no proper way of managing this
waste in the continent and it is increasing rapidly due to stricter controls of such shipment
to Asia. A large number of chemicals used during the manufacturing of tiny to large
electronic aggregates are already part of the water, soil and air compartment of the natural
environment in Africa.
2.3.1.5 Water and sanitation
Although improved drinking water coverage in sub-Saharan Africa increased by 7%
between 1990 and 2004 (from 47% to 55%), the actual number of people without access
to improved drinking water sources increased by 60 million. This is a result of increased
population growth. Current trends suggest that by 2015 the number of people with no
access to proper water and sanitation service in sub-Saharan Africa will grow by a further
47 million. Current coverage of water supply and sanitation service in Africa is depicted
in Figure 6.
The water problem in Africa can be expressed both in the form of scarcity and pollution.
Scarcity of water varies not only from country to country but also from place to place
within countries. Women fetch water from long distances at least once a day in addition
to shouldering the responsibility of raising kids, fetching firewood from even longer
distances and cooking as well as housekeeping. Many surface waters passing through or
in the vicinity of urban centres are polluted from industrial effluents or wastewater and
municipal solid wastes. The tragedy is most of these waters are used as a source of
drinking water downstream incurring innumerable health problems.
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