Background
There is necessity for African countries to pursue green growth1 pathways and to increase opportunities for employment, and a great potential for the private sector to be a major driver in this course (Brahmbhatt et.al (2017), ECA (2015), ECA (2016a). The need for the shift to green growth pathways and to increase employment opportunities is underlined by trends witnessed in the region. Notable of these trends are that growth in Africa has been associated with a growing degradation and depletion of the continent’s natural capital as well as waste generation; and creation of few jobs.
The degradation of natural capital is driven largely by heavy reliance on natural resources, low productivity and unsustainable patterns of consumption and production across many sectors (ECA, 2016). For instance, widespread unsustainable methods of fishing have led to declining fish production and stocks. In Africa, 45 per cent of freshwater fish and 58 per cent of freshwater plant species are over-harvested, and 21 per cent of all freshwater species are threatened (UNEP-WMC, 2016). In Ghana, fish production has declined from an average of 289,000 tonnes a year to 203,000 tonnes over the last five years. This trend is projected to continue with marine fish catches in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Togo, Nigeria and Sierra Leone expected to decline significantly by 2050 (Rustomjee, 2018). On terrestrial resources, Africa experienced the biggest forest area loss from 1990 to 2015 compared to the rest of the world despite the substantial decrease of the rate of forest loss in Africa from 2010 to 2015. Also, during the period 2010 to 2015, average per capita forest area declined from 0.8 hectares to 0.6 hectares per person (FAO, 2016). Under business-as-usual scenarios, it is predicted that a further 11 per cent of biodiversity in Africa would be lost (UNEP-WMC, 2016). Thus, without sufficient and effective response, high rates of resource degradation will continue to drive resource scarcity and contribute to the high production costs that in turn undermine the global competitiveness of many sectors in the region. Readmore...