In this paper, I attempt to examine the interrelationships between environmental growth and sustainable economic growth from the African perspective. The paper is organised as follows; section 2 examines the current economic disposition of Africa, and attempts to determine its relationship with environmental developments. Prominence is given to the components that affect environmental sustainability, namely (i) pollution and (ii) degradation. The latter will prove to present a relatively high risk to environmental sustainability in Africa. Section 3 presents a further analysis on the effects of the environment on economic growth, and that of economic growth on the environment. Section 4 tackles issues of Africa in the world economy and its environmental prospects. Section 5 provides current solutions aimed at mitigating and/ or reducing the various negative externalities related to environmental pollution and degradation such as national, regional, and international environmental management policies. Recommendations that are considered necessary to foster environmental friendly economic development are also given as input for further improvements in environmental management in Africa. 2. Economic disposition of Africa  With an estimated total population of 835,479 thousand people representing 13% of the world’s estimated 6,395, 557 thousand people,1 and spanning the 53 countries of Africa, the continent faces numerous challenges predominantly on the economic, social, and political fronts. Despite these difficulties, Africa recorded a growth rate of 3.6% in 2003, an increase from 2.7% recorded in 2002. The increasing trend in economic growth is expected to continue into 2004 [African Development Bank (AfDB), 2003].
Challenges for Monetary Policy in the current IMFS Figure 1: The US dollar continues to be as important today as it was during the Bretton Woods era  Chart 1: Trade war is the top tail risk affecting global investors July 2019 June 2019 March 2019  Trade war Monetary policy impotence China slowdown Bond market bubble A credit event Iran Populist policies US politics Market structure Equity market bubble European elections Brexit 0  10  20 30 40 Percentage of respondents  50  60  Sources: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Fund Manager Survey. 17  All speeches are available online at www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/speeches  17  Chart 2: Global economic policy uncertainty has reached record highs Index 375 350 325 300 275 250 225 200 175 150 125 100 75 50 25 2019  US implements first China-specific tariffs Paris attacks  Iraq invasion 9/11 Madrid bombings  USS Cole bombings  1997  1999  London bombings  2001  2003  Ukraine / ISIS  Transatlantic aircraft plot  2005  2007  2009  2011  2013  2015  2017  Source: Baker, S, Bloom, N and Davis, S (2015), ‘Measuring economic policy uncertainty’, NBER Working Paper No. 21633. II.