Workers from China and Kenya inspected geothermal power generation facilities at the Sosian energy project site in Nakuru, Kenya, 2023. The Sosian project is one of the Chinese-funded geothermal power plants that are hastening Kenya’s clean energy switch. Photo: XINHUA

The Anthropocene denotes a geological time period during which human activities became the dominant influence on the Earth’s environment, surpassing natural geological forces. It is believed to have begun around 1950, following the Holocene. The Anthropocene has brought about significant environmental changes. In addition to the prominent problem of global warming driven by greenhouse gas emissions, the entire ecosystem, encompassing both land and oceans, has experienced irreversible damage. These environmental changes have had serious repercussions for humanity, creating a feedback loop of negative impacts.

Industrialized countries and emerging economies are generally expected to shoulder the responsibility for global environmental change, while Africa is often considered insignificant to global environmental governance due to its presumed minimal impact stemming from underdevelopment. Although Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions are far less than those of the world’s major emitters, this does not diminish its importance in the global environmental system and its governance. On the contrary, Africa is an integral part of the global environmental system and is one of the regions most vulnerable to environmental changes.

Challenges from natural environment

Africa’s natural environment has been increasingly susceptible to pressure since the onset of industrialization in Great Britain. Major colonial powers, including Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal and Germany, exploited Africa as a source of raw materials. They either directly plundered its natural resources, such as minerals, or established plantations to grow and export cash crops. At the same time, to occupy more land and create more cheap migrant labor, colonizers displaced Africans into either small reserves or shanty areas around cities. Resource exploitation resulted in vegetation damage in mining areas, water and air pollution, and reduced biodiversity and soil fertility in plantations, while population displacement led to soil erosion and pasture degradation in reserves, as well as environmental deterioration and increased disease prevalence in urban-rural fringes.

After World War I, Britain and France successively launched development plans of their colonies, further intensifying their plunder of Africa. Driven by the demands of the global market, the continent’s use and destruction of its natural environment increased. Colonial rule and development propelled Africa’s transformation into a commodity economy, while simultaneously inflicting severe environmental damage. During this period, Africa’s impact on global environmental change was complex, yet its colonizers and suzerains should still be held accountable. Africans were victims of colonialism, imperialism, and racism, exploited as tools for the colonizers and suzerains to plunder and destroy the African environment.

After World War II, African countries successively gained independence and experienced rapid industrialization, urbanization, and agricultural commercialization. This period saw a “great acceleration” in environmental impact. Industrialization, an indispensable component and driver of modernization, substantially contributed to poverty reduction and social progress in Africa. However, it has also had significant environmental consequences, exacerbating the density and intensity of natural resource and energy use, and generating pollution and waste. Holding approximately 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, 40% of the gold reserves, 90% of chromium and platinum, 12% of oil, and 8% of natural gas, Africa has seen its natural resources heavily exploited.

In comparison to industrialized nations, African countries have experienced a superposition of primitive and modern industrialization, with a blend of old environmental problems (such as deforestation and soil erosion) and new ones (such as increasing greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and chemical pollution). It is no exaggeration to say that the environmental pollution and destruction caused by industrialization and urbanization has not only resulted in the loss of life and property for Africans, but has also weakened the foundation and sustainability of Africa’s future development.

Africa remains a developing continent with an economy largely driven by agriculture. 70% of the African population relies on agriculture for their livelihoods, and agricultural output accounts for a quarter of the continent’s GDP, with some countries seeing agriculture responsible for more than half of their GDP. Environmental problems associated with agriculture and rural areas not only have an extensive impact, but are also closely linked to the national economy and people’s livelihoods. After gaining independence, Africa witnessed rapid population growth, yet its traditional land systems have not fundamentally changed. This has intensified the contradictions between the people and the land. 

Large farms controlled by foreign capital or domestic capital with close ties to the international market mainly focus on cash crops to meet the needs of the international market. For their own livelihoods, local farmers with little land are forced to shorten the fallow period or carry out intensive planting, resulting in the decline of soil fertility. Worse yet, because the fertility of the depleted land cannot readily be restored, agricultural production is very fragile and farmers’ living standards barely report significant improvement.

Although human activities in Africa have contributed little to global environmental change and few have condemned the continent in international climate negotiations and environmental governance, it is incorrect to assume that Africa has made no contribution or is unaffected. On the contrary, it is in urgent need of improving its adaptability and enhancing the resilience of its industrial structure and lifestyles. The overall policy objective proposed by the African Union (AU) is to promote Africa’s economic transformation in response to climate change. As far as agriculture and rural areas are concerned, the AU has proposed policy initiatives to develop climate-smart agriculture, enhance the resilience of ecosystems, and promote renewable energy resources. Climate-smart agriculture aims to continuously increase agricultural productivity and income, adapt to and build up resilience to climate change, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The specific approach is to plant new heat-resistant and drought-resistant crop varieties through technological innovation, adopt comprehensive disease prevention measures to improve soil and water quality, enhance agricultural production efficiency and reduce post-harvest sales costs through wide-scale adoption of digital technologies, and protect the income of smallholder farmers through the establishment of an agricultural insurance system.

Enhancing the resilience of Africa’s fragile ecosystems requires innovative natural resource management methods that are based on nature. Specifically, this involves combining government policies with folk wisdom and natural selection with technological progress to reduce damage to the ecosystem while improving water and soil conservation capacity and biodiversity. In short, these efforts aim to make the surface environment greener and the marine environment bluer. To make good use of renewable energy resources, it is necessary to avoid inefficient use that causes pollution before establishing a model of efficient and sustainable use through capital and technology investments.

Green development path

To cope with changes in the global environmental system, Africa’s industrialization and urbanization should follow a green development path. Africa’s industrialization is still in its infancy, which makes adopting green development easier since it lacks entrenched path dependence. Industry can enhance its adaptability and resilience to environmental changes by reducing the impacts of production processes, circulation chains, and supply chains on the global environmental system. Enterprises can reduce resource consumption and waste emissions, and recycle resources by inventing and adopting green technologies. Ultimately, they can achieve full green transformation that fulfills their social responsibilities while providing green products and services to the market.

It is urgent for Africa’s accelerating urbanization to follow a green path. Existing cities need to undergo green transformations in their infrastructure, production modes, and lifestyles. New urban areas should be designed and constructed in compliance with environmentally friendly principles, with a vision toward developing smart cities.

Despite being a developing continent, Africa deserves credit for its wildlife protection efforts. However, in the Anthropocene, no region on the Earth can escape the impact of climate change. Africa’s ecosystems have also been affected by such factors as the use of toxic chemicals, rising temperatures, habitat fragmentation, invasive alien species, and the spread of new diseases, all of which are driven by inappropriate human activities. It is therefore important to continue protecting the biodiversity, as well as health and stability of Africa’s ecosystems. Conservation areas and protection principles should be designed on the basis of identifying the small-scale ecosystems that remain unaffected by humans. While expanding conservation areas and species, the quality of protection should also be enhanced. Conservation areas need to improve their self-sustaining capacity to continue on the path of sustainable development.

Africa’s environmental problems are an integral part of global environmental problems in the Anthropocene. Its environmental governance requires not only the concerted efforts of African countries, but also coordination between Africa and other countries, regions, and organizations worldwide. The AU plays a primary role in uniting African countries to implement sustainable development strategies and coordinate their positions in international environmental governance. The AU has established the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) to participate in the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The AGN implements the guidelines set by the AU Assembly, the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change, and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment. Since the first UNFCCC Conference of the Parties in Berlin in 1995, African countries have consistently spoken with one voice in global climate negotiations and have subsequently played an important role in shaping the UN’s climate policies.

At the 15th Conference of the Parties in Copenhagen, under the advocacy of African countries, a consensus was reached to increase aid to developing countries for climate change mitigation by an additional $30 billion by 2020. In addition, due to the efforts of African countries, the UN has expanded the scope of the framework of “reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries,” requiring incentive funding for environmental protection, sustainable management of forests, and the conservation and enhancement of forest carbon stocks. Clearly, African countries, considering their own national and continental conditions, are focusing on the health of the Earth’s environmental system while also balancing their own short- and long-term interests.

In the Anthropocene, where human activities are substantially altering the Earth’s environmental system, human production and living standards have developed to unprecedented heights. However, we are not living in an equal world. Despite its rich resources and environment, Africa remains a developing continent. More than five centuries of colonial rule in Africa has undoubtedly left a lasting environmental impact. Coupled with post-independence catch-up development, the impact is growing. Nonetheless, it is far less profound than that of developed industrialized nations and emerging economies. Africa’s responsibilities and priorities therefore differ when it comes to addressing changes in the Earth’s environmental system in the Anthropocene: development remains Africa’s top priority. By leveraging its advantage as a late developer and the comprehensive and generous aid from the international community, Africa has the potential to achieve a leap from traditional development to sustainable development.

Bao Maohong is a professor from the Department of History at Peking University.

Edited by REN GUANHONG