Environmental Issues in Africa The environmental problems seem to be key challenges of the XXIst century.

In the previous years the world politics and every person in general was occupied with politics and wars. But with the development of new technologies, with the increasing number of plants and factories all kind of manufacturing in general, a huge shift was made towards the environmental issues. The terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments have declined in virtually all aspects. New developments in industry and manufacturing were root causes of environmental degradation over the past three decades. The rapid growth of population, urbanization and globalization are the driving force of the environmental problems. However, the challenge is extremely high not only for the well-developed regions, but in poor parts of the world as well. Such environmental problems as land degradation, deforestation, declining of marine resources and water scarcity of deteriorating of water and air quality are on the priority list in Africa. Despite, Africa possesses wealthy natural resources many Africans live in poverty unable to benefit from the African wealth because of uneven distribution across the continent and partly because of African complicated history over the past 50 years after the decolonization. Africa has a vast majority of poor states and regions, and poverty is a major reason and consequence of the environmental degradation. The present paper ascertains the small research on the environmental issues in Africa. In the work I will analyze one Africa region, demonstrating its problems in the environment. At the end I will point out the root cause of these problems and suggest possible ways out, if there are any. In general a vast majority of countries in Africa depend more on their natural resource base for economic and social needs than any other region in the world. Thus, two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africa's people live in rural areas and rely on agriculture and other natural resources for income. Sub-Saharan states of Africa are right the countries, where environmental problems are first on the agenda. The environmental problems have already waited a long time for their turn. Among them there are air and water pollution, inefficient use of natural resources, oil spills and so on. Environmental problems of subSaharan Africa also include air and water pollution, deforestation, loss of soil and soil fertility, and a dramatic decline in biodiversity throughout the region. nest paragraphs will face the problems in more details.

It is quite understandable that the environmental problems in Sub-Sahar region are crucial and severe. The most compelling problem in Sub-Saharan Africa is that it has one of the world's fastest growing populations (approximately 2.2% a year). With the fast grow of the population the environmental challenge increase. By the year 2025 according to some estimation, the population of the African people will be over a billion. This means that the environmental challenges will definitely double or triple. Some literature indicate that Sub-African countries managed to perform more effective economic policies, which influenced the development in the region in general, but GDP growth has stagnated recently and it is obvious that with the stagnation of the economics will cause decrease in the solution of the ecological challenges. Poverty also is the main factor that influences the development of the environmental issues. And it also exists in Sub-Sahar region, despite the region is not that poor in the comparison with other regions in Africa and in spite of the wealth natural resources. In general the problems in sub-Sahar and in Africa in common was addressed during the World Summit on sustainable Development (WSSD) which was help in South Africa in August 2002. Basically, the material of the summit points out main environmental problems and challenges. The key issues which dominate African environmental problems were addressed during the summit. They include: 1. Water pollution and sanitation. First of all water pollution is caused by oil transmission n ship ports, water resources poor management, lack of financial resources required for sustainable development and efficient utilization of resources, absence of effective regional and basin development plans and shared management, and under-estimation of the groundwater potential to supplement irrigation and drinking water supplies. Thus, Africa's freshwater problems are acute and worsening. Freshwater shortage is the two greatest limits to development in Africa; 2. Energy. Energy consumption in sub-Saharan Africa varies dramatically and dominates fuel consumption. According to reports the use of wood for fuel is predominant in both rural and urban locations and accounts for approximately 70% of total energy use. This cause another problem deforestation. In Sub-Sahara region Nigeria consistently leads to commercial energy consumption. Thus, according to data in 2001, Nigeria consumed 0.92 quadrillion Btu (quads), 32% of all energy consumed in the region. Although

domestic demand for energy consumption in sub-Saharan Africa is growing rapidly, consumption levels remain well below world averages. I would like to mention but few words about deforestation. Africa is home to one of the world's largest rain forests. It is obvious that rain forests are lungs of the Earth and their reduction cause air pollution. They protect and stabilize soils, recycle nutrients and regulate the quality and flow of water. Deforestation is one of the most pressing environmental problems not only in Africa but in other parts of the world and has negative implications for the local and global environment. Forests cover about 22 per cent of the region, but they are disappearing faster than anywhere else in the developing world. During the 1980s Africa lost 10.5 per cent of its forests. Thus, African forests are shrinking as a result of deforestation; 3. Deforestation causes another problem - biodiversity. The richness of African biodiversity requires greater protection and a sustainable use that will ensure the income of those who depend on it. There is a need to maximize biodiversity landscape protection, to give priority to biodiversity areas close to areas of high population density, and to give balanced attention to such regions as the arid and semi-arid areas. 4. Oil pollution. Oil pollution is one of the issues that must be specified being a controversial subject of heated discussion among the representatives of the academia. In a number of countries such as Nigeria and Angola, fore example, oil is the principle source of benefits. However it is pretty clear that new technologies used in oil exploration are extremely harmful for the environment. Environmental problems are common and rise heated debates. On the one hand, it expands relations among states, diversify trade relations, bring benefits. But, on the other hand, the benefits from oil are not fairly distributed among the population. The revenues from oil mainly belong to some local government communities or certain groups of interest. But the commons of Sub-Sahara have to face the oil-related problems. 5Agriculture. Increased food insecurity resulting from rapid population growth, degradation of agriculture and arable lands, and mismanagement of available water resources combined with poor economic policies to support food production. Land degradation is also a serious environmental problem.