Leapfrogging Possibilities For Sustainable Consumption and ...

equirements with a considerable life length have economic, social and ecological merits
in comparison with the current exercise in the countries in the North of using a complex
aggregate of synthetic building materials that contain over twenty thousand substances.
Once well developed, these kinds of local and renewable materials can be used to phasing
out materials that contain chemicals that threat human health and the environment.
In addition to material selection, land-use planning and appropriate building design are
important points of entry.
5.1.3 Transport and Communication
The approach of leapfrogging in the transport sector should cover an integrated
development of sustainable infrastructure, manufacturing and procurement of vehicles, as
well as production and use of renewable fuels. The planning and development of
infrastructure should facilitate a sustainable transport of people and goods within cities
and countries as well as between different parts of Africa. With regard to the
development of renewable vehicle fuels, Africa has the potential to leapfrog to be the
Middle East of biofuels. In doing so, it is critical to pay due attention to the social and
ecological implications of large scale venture on bio-ethanol and bio-diesel development.
A crucial aspect is to consider non-food diversified sources and use whenever possible
marginal land to develop the biofuels.
There should also be a development in the area of telecommuting in realizing telemeeting
and tele-work in reducing the need for people to travel to a meeting place or
work place. Such tele-presence can be attained using different IT solutions that enable
attending meetings and performing the required work.
5.2 Production and Manufacturing Cluster
5.2.1 Ecological farming
Any incremental and transformational improvement in the farming sector in Africa will
benefit a majority of the African population. It will mean a lot in terms of food security,
foreign exchange, development of agro-industry, and job creation. There is a need to
look at the whole system of irrigation and use of fertilizers and pesticides. This kind of
transformation leading to a green revolution is of urgent necessity in Africa considering
the challenge of feeding the rapidly increasing population of the continent.
5.2.2 Symbiosis of agriculture and industry
There is a natural reason for developing a robust linkage between the agriculture and
industry in the African context. There is a need to enhance the cross-fertilization of the
agricultural sector as a supplier of raw materials, and the industrial sectors as processor of
the input from the agriculture. This symbiosis can be done at the highest level of sectoral
units as well as at the local level where firms and farms exchange material and energy
and thereby closing the loop. The different sub-systems in the symbiosis can be
developed as socio-technical organisms that are related in a positive feedback within a
modular structure that leads to the sustainable integration of different sectors of the
economy.
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