Environmental policy and performance in Africa: implications of structural economic transformation for sustainable development

Abstract

This paper examines the ability of environmental policy in facilitating projected structural transformative changes to achieve sustainable development in African countries. Simple non-parametric trend analyses are employed on proxies to assess the performance of environmental policy. The implications of this performance for prospects of a sustainable structural transformation are then examined. The analysis is based on nascent evidence of structural transformation in African countries whose effect, among others, includes strains on the capacity of policy and institutions to address the resulting environmental externalities. The analyses illustrate that structural changes within the current state of environmental policy will invariably lead to poor environmental outcomes, and hence impair the ability to achieve sustainable development. It is argued that a new approach to environmental regulation in African countries will require more than grandiose pronouncements of 'green' economy strategies; it will need specific investments in capacity development on environmental matters and regulatory issues.