The Assessment of China’s Scramble for Natural Resources Extraction in Africa

Abstract

Recent narratives in various areas of Africa reveals the growing influence of China in many facets of the economy with a hold on the control of the continent’s natural resources based on invitation. Just as every nation has a right to trade with others, commerce remains the life blood of many African countries where natural resources commodity flow stands as the economic engine driving the generation of revenues. While African countries rely on the ensuing bilateral deals often tagged as resources for infrastructure swaps. The lust for foreign assisted programs in economic development in exchange for natural resources access among African countries over the years provided an opening for China’s presence in the spirit of global commerce in the continent. While China’s robust investments in physical development, renewable and non-renewable resources can no longer be dismissed as solely a pretense to aid African development in exchange for something given some of the upsides. The scale of these activities continues to have profound effects on the ecology of the countries in the continent in the form of degradation of natural areas, deforestation, and erosion of biodiversity. Yet very little exists in current studies to assess the ecological risks from the growing presence of China and the scramble for Africa’s natural resources. For that, this enquiry will fill that void by using mix-scale methods of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and descriptive statistics in assessing China’s presence and the quest for natural resources in the continent. Emphasis are on the issues, trends, factors, impacts and efforts. The results reveal vast exploitative activities directed at renewable and nonrenewable assets involving mineral ores, oil and gas, lumber, and fishery with notable impacts on the ecosystem. With the effects manifested in the form of environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and resource depletion and fiscal burdens on African nations. The problems come from a whole range of socio-economic, policy, and environmental factors located in the larger global system. As a remedy, the paper suggests the need for ethics and transparency, tight fiscal policy, ecological monitoring, enlightenment campaigns, public input in bilateral deals and the design of an interactive natural resource information system for Africa.