Consequently, rising oil prices have contributed towards augmenting revenues of these oil-producing nations, while on the other hand threatening the revenues of the other nations that only use but do not produce oil. In spite of the energy obtained largely from hydro and some geothermal and solar sources in Africa, the population continues to lag behind the rest of the developing world in terms of access to electricity. Approximately 77.5% of the sub-Saharan population has no access to electricity, with the majority of the population relying on biomass (dung and firewood) for domestic energy needs (OECD/ ADB, 2003). To a large extent, economic growth in Africa is still largely driven by production of raw materials that are hardly subjected to meaningful industrial processing. This source of economic growth has a direct dependence on the use of natural resources mainly in agriculture and mining. The lack of valueadding processing largely underpins the historical low levels of economic growth. 3. Effects of environmental growth on African economic growth  3.1  Environmental issues in African economic growth  Environmental issues ought to be an important area of concern for leaders and policy makers, when making policy decisions about human development and economic welfare, especially those in the developing world. Many growth sectors are in effect directly or indirectly related to the environment.
A well-defined weighting system of the role of the environment on economic growth will ultimately result in more attention being conferred to environmental sustainability and development of appropriate policies necessary for effective environmental management to support sustainable economic growth. 7. Conclusion  While pollution largely affects developed countries, environmental degradation is a more pertinent feature for developing nations. Studies have shown that environmental sustainability is linked to factors of economic development. Therefore advancements in one cannot occur without advancements in the other. Environmental degradation in Africa is exacerbated by poverty due to the reliance of the majority of the poor on natural resources. In the world today, about 900 million people live in absolute poverty in rural areas and depend on the consumption of natural products for their livelihood (UNDP, 2003). Unfortunately, most of the activities and methods used in deriving economic value from natural resources are not environmentally sustainable. Moreover, the resultant economic benefits, in most instances, only accrue to current consumption and not sustainable development from which resources for addressing negative consequences on the environment could be drawn. In Africa, most activities include unplanned quarrying, spontaneous trench digging for small-scale mining, shifting cultivation, indiscriminate cutting of trees for energy, inappropriate small-scale mineral processing using water and poor waste management, including indiscriminate killing of wild animals (poaching) in game parks. The way forward in addressing these issues relates to the implementation of supportive government policies regarding environmental management and environmental sustainability.