GEO-6 for Youth: Africa
Rami Elsayed
Key Messages
Africa has the largest concentration of young people in the world. There are approximately 420 million young men and women aged between 15 and 35 years in Africa today and the number is set to double to 830 million by 2050. This transition in demography, if properly utilized, can generate a ‘demographic dividend’ capable of stimulating economic growth.
Africa’s natural resources are responsible for 80 per cent of total employment on the continent. Youth engagement in the green economy can potentially maintain and enhance this natural capital that constitutes a vital source of livelihood for the vast majority of Africans.
Green jobs can be an antidote to youth unemployment in Africa. There is a strong correlation between a thriving green economy and decent jobs, and African youth offer significant promise in leading the green growth agenda.
Governments need to incentivize young people to join the green economy, and create platforms for innovation in sustainable development.
1.1 Introduction
Africa is a land of beauty and magnificence! It is a land endowed with a myriad of natural resources. From its deep, dense, and almost impenetrable forests; to the vast reserves of mineral deposits within its ground; the numerous ribbons of rivers and streams that cut across it; to the scores of wildlife that also call the continent their home: The continent is indeed a locus of significant natural wealth.
For one, Africa is home to the second largest contiguous tropical forest zone; the Congo Basin Rain Forest. It covers 251 million hectares and stretches across the nations of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. As a result of its sheer vastness, and because it stores a quarter of the total carbon in tropical forests globally, the Congo basin forest area is so important to the planet that it has been called the ‘world’s second lung’ (Baffoe 2018). The continent is also home to the world’s largest arable landmass, or 65 per cent of the total uncultivated arable land in the world (African Development Bank [AfDB] 2018a). In terms of mineral reserves, about 30 per cent of all global mineral reserves on the planet are found in Africa (AfDB 2016a). The world’s longest and second largest rivers; the Nile and the Congo, also snake through the continent with inspiring awe and pour into the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, respectively. In fact, Africa possesses 10 per cent of the world’s internal renewable freshwater sources (United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] n.d. a). The dense population of wildlife in their natural habitats also show that Africa is a hotbed of biodiversity.
With such an abundance of natural resources, Africa has within its hands an auspicious opportunity to foster economic development and realize the sustainable development goals (SDGs). By using its natural resources as the bedrock, Africa can launch and catalyse broader economic progress for its more than 1 billion people, most of whom are youth below the age of 35 years.
1.2 Africa’s greatest asset: Youth Rowing a boat along the White Nile River in Al-Douiem, Sudan
Although Africa has significant natural wealth, its greatest asset is its largely youthful population (AfDB 2018b). There are approximately 420 million young men and women aged between 15 and 35 years
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