PROJECT OVERVIEW (2000-2005)

At the dawn of a new century and millennium, Africa remains an underdeveloped continent with tremendous potential for global sustainable human development and poverty eradication. It has abundant natural resources and minerals, and stores of public goods such as rain forests, wildlife and reserves that are critical for global ecosystem balance and biodiversity.  Africa’s economies today are largely based on the exploitation of this biodiversity, and her environmental capacity for biomass production through agriculture, and also on her mineral resources.  Yet, amidst this richness, over 50% of her inhabitants continue to live in a sea of lamentable poverty: in fact, way below the poverty line. 

Africa’s agricultural crop production systems and forestry resources generate huge quantities of crop residues in the form of waste wood, saw dust, and related residues, which are discarded as waste, but which could be put to new uses as raw materials for a wide range of other value-added products.  Africa’s various industrial activities similarly generate large quantities of waste products.  Some of these are usable as raw materials for other products, but many are discarded as waste.

In an effort to promote sustainable human development in Africa through knowledge based innovations that fully utilize the continent’s rich natural resources (including her huge tonnage of agricultural crop residues that have all along have been conceived as waste; and including her rich biomass of plants such as water hyacinth, which many communities conceive as a noxious weed, largely due to ignorance), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting a Regional Project titled “Sustainable Development from Africa’s Biodiversity” and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).

Based on the Zero Emissions Research Initiative (ZERI) concept, which looks at a wide spectrum of materials, which are conceived as waste and often discarded, thus polluting the environment, with a view to transforming them to become raw materials for many new, marketable, and value-added products, the Regional Project offers an opportunity to achieve sustainable human development by catalyzing full utilization of Africa’s biological and other natural resources. Within the broad framework of the UNDP/UNOPS Regional Project, new strategies have been initiated on how to develop Africa differently on the basis of Africa’s rich biodiversity.  These strategies show tremendous promise as catalysts for sustainable environmental management; as catalysts for poverty eradication, and also for the creation of many new job opportunities, especially in disadvantaged rural and peri-urban communities, particularly amongst women and the youth.

Within this vision of bringing Africa into the mainstream of world development, the Regional Project aims and objectives are thus:

• To provide support for facilitating the implementation of research and development (R&D) projects which demonstrate the application of the ZERI concept in selected African countries, with a major focus on Africa’s rich biodiversity;

• To promote human development through enabling communities in the participating countries to acquire appropriate skills for promoting the development of selected biota and other natural resources, which show signs of generating the greatest impact in society in those countries; and

• To assist the participating countries to design strategies for further expansion of the application of the ZERI concept, in response to their specific needs and priorities, within the broad framework of Africa’s rich biodiversity.

• The participating countries during Phase One of the UNDP funded Regional Project for Africa are: Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Zambia.  It is envisaged that more African countries will be included in a phased manner, as more funds for the project are secured.

KEY ACTIVITIES OF THE UNDP/UNOPS REGIONAL PROJECT

The key activities that will be promoted through the project include mushroom farming initiatives, which involve the use of organic biomass wastes for the production of mushrooms and mushroom products.  Mushrooms can be cultivated on a wide variety of organic wastes.  The spent substrates left after mushroom harvesting are also conceived to be of value.  They can, for example, be used as a livestock feed supplement, or as food for earthworms in vermiculture venture, or as an organic agrofertilizer, thus leading to increased benefits to society.  Africa’s marine waters also support a large variety of biota such as seaweeds, which command great commercial value when used as agro-fertilizers; and also as a source of industrially important hydrocolloids.  Additionally, they have great potential for use as livestock feed supplements, and also as a preventive medicine.  Africa’s marine resources will thus also receive attention.  Due to inappropriate landuse practices, Africa’s various ecosystems have, over the years, suffered from environmental degradation, including soil erosion, and the washing away of large amounts of inorganic mineral nutrients into Africa’s water bodies. As a result, excessive growth of water hyacinth has blocked filters of hydropower and affected hydroelectric power generation.  Through the Regional Project, community education and training on the many potential uses of water hyacinth will be promoted.

One of the serious concerns confronting Africa today is the problem of rural-urban sprawl. Virtually, without exception, inhabitants from rural village communities are flocking to the cities, looking for better opportunities. Through the UNDP/UNOPS Regional Project, and through regional networking, efforts will be made to promote sustainable low-cost house building materials to assist the rural and peri-urban poor communities in Africa. The activities on sustainable low-cost building materials will include bamboo housing technology development; compacted bricks made of clay and cement, etc.

Africa’s urban centers have also become focal points for industrial activities largely due to the availability of cheap labour as well as the infrastructural attractions obtaining there. Another factor attracting some foreign investors into Africa, is lack of stringent industrial policies. Many industrial firms operating in Africa commit serious ecological sins, which include dumping toxic wastes directly into river systems, which pose serious health hazards. Through the Regional project, attempts will be made to catalyze thinking on new models for Africa’s urban cities of the future, whereby the industries that cause urban pollution, join hands, to clean up their industrial wastes.  UNDP Namibia is facilitating the implementation of a joint venture (UJAMS Project) involving various industrial firms in the city of Windhoek.

ENVISAGED SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE PROJECT

• The UNDP/UNOPS Regional Project offers an opportunity to achieve sustainable human development by catalyzing full utilization of Africa’s rich biodiversity and other natural resources.

• The project provides catalysis for private sector development, and especially public private partnerships, e.g., through collaborative ventures with Universities.

• The Project serves to promote capacity building, through dissemination of new knowledge and new technologies, e.g., new technologies on the cultivation of mushrooms from water hyacinth biomass.

• The Project offers opportunities to enhance productivity, and to minimize waste and pollution.

• The Project enhances networking amongst Africa’s scientists in various African Universities and Research Centres, and between Africa and other continents, which breeds scientific and technological diffusion.

VISION OF THE FUTURE

The few examples of Africa’s promising natural resources that are outlined are just a small fraction of Africa’s innumerable biota whose potential for sustainable human development, for poverty reduction, for human health improvement, and for people’s economic empowerment, is yet to be discovered through research.  This project has demonstrated good potential for providing effective networking that will promote Africa-wide awareness on the need to mobilize financial resources from African Governments and other sources that will promote basic and applied research on Africa’s rich biodiversity.
 The way forward requires the development of new strategies such as entrepreneurial aggressiveness, more focused research, more networking with our peers, more pragmatic partnership with industry and closer working relationship with our various governments, with the private sector, and with rural village communities. And, in all these agenda for action, our efforts should be directed towards addressing Africa’s poverty challenge, towards the human health challenge, towards empowering the disadvantaged women in society, and towards catalyzing sustainable environmental regeneration, through the use of Africa’s biological resources heritage.  We have an obligation to share the treasure of knowledge and experience with Africa’s village communities, to help uplift them, on the basis of the many hidden natural endowments possessed by our continent’s bioresources. Our vision is that the project should generate maximum success in each participating country.

REQUIRED FINANCIAL RESOURCES

In view of the magnitude of the projects identified in the participating countries, we appeal to the Presidents and Heads of States and Government in Africa to provide the funding support needed for the benefit of their people and for the people of Africa at large. The estimated funding support that is required is US$ 5 million per year. This will cover the cost of scientific research on some of the promising biota, the development of implementation strategies, the acquisition of equipment and development of appropriate infrastructures to enable the project to generate tangible impact, the development of training programmes to improve the skills of people, marketing costs, advocacy costs including production of materials in local languages to enhance S&T diffusion. This will generate synergy, thus helping to ensure maximum success in the endeavours.

UNDP Africa's vision is to establish an African Institute of Bioresources Prospecting for fostering knowledge networking, disseminating research results and practical experience and establishing linkages between the Institute and resources, to strengthen the capacities of country stakeholders. On the basis of good prospects and achievements generated so far, it is anticipated that donors will be requested to secure endowment funding for establishing an international, self-sustaining African Institute for Bioresourcces Prospecting, Sustainable Development, and Management (ABPM), which, indeed, will fill a lacuna of the missing link that has been characterizing Africa's socio-economic development paradigms and strategies, using her bioresources heritage in a wise and sustainable manner. ZERI philosophy and methodology will be applied in all the institute's operations.