August 2012 www.un.org/africarenewal United Nations Department of Public Information Africa's booming economies: the next global frontier? Rio summit: between rhetoric and hope Surge in girls’ schooling Building peace from the ground up Contents August 2012 Vol. 26 No. 2 Formerly ‘Africa Recovery’ Special feature Africa’s booming 16 economies Strong growth attracts interest of global investors, but huge challenges still lie ahead 1 8 Mining for development 2 0 Tourism slowly coming of age 2 2 Harnessing African stock exchanges 2 5 Private equity: new cash for expanding business Students in a Burundi classroom: A number of African countries have Also in this issue greatly increased school enrolments. UNICEF / Pawel Krzysiek 3 Rio summit keeps hopes alive 5 ‘Green economy’: rhetoric or path to future? Editor-in-Chief 6 African schools keep eye on the prize Masimba Tafirenyika 9 Is democracy in West Africa under threat? Managing Editor 12 Building peace from the ground up Ernest Harsch 27 Mali’s Timbuktu suffers rebel fury Staff Writers Kingsley Ighobor Jocelyne Sambira Departments Research and Media Liaison Rebecca Moudio 28 Wired Aissata Haidara 29 Appointments Design & Production 31 Books John Gillespie Administration Bo Li Cover photo: Distribution Aerial view of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at night. Alamy / AfriPics.com Atar Markman Lindsay Thomas Africa Renewal is published in English and organizations. Articles from this magazine French by the Strategic Communications may be freely reprinted, with attribution to Division of the United Nations Department the author and to “United Nations Africa of Public Information. Its contents do not Renewal,” and a copy of the reproduced necessarily reflect the views of the United article would be appreciated. Copyrighted Nations or the publication’s supporting photos may not be reproduced. 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Rio summit keeps African hopes alive Some gains, plus commitments to future sustainable development talks By Kingsley Ighobor frican expectations were high for the United Nations A Conference on Sustainable Development, the biggest UN summit ever. The conference, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June, was “too impor- tant to fail,” said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the outset. Under the theme of “The Future We Want,” many of the 100 heads of state and more than 40,000 participants demanded ambi- Tree nursery in Ghana: Participants at the tious and measurable outcomes to anchored its case on two broad princi- Rio summit pledged to plant 100 million address sustainability issues such as the ples: that the continent is making serious trees by 2017. Alamy / GS International “green economy,” climate change and so efforts towards sustainable development on. Yet when it was over, the “Rio+20” and that the world should recognize and At the summit, the coordinator of summit, as it was commonly called, left support those efforts. African negotiators, Macharia Kamau a heated debate over whether those goals of Kenya, said that “the ability of African had been met. African position countries to implement agreements on The 14-page statement presented many sustainable development is only possible For African delegates, the general view positions, including a call for a stronger, if they are empowered with the resources was that while the continent did not independent and well financed UN and means to undertake development come away with a basketful of goodies, Environment Programme (UNEP), that will protect biodiversity and not it also did not leave with empty hands. which is based in Nairobi, Kenya. UNEP lead to climate change.” There was no Izabella Teixeira, Brazil’s environ- should have “secure, stable, additional concrete commitment on this, although ment minister, noted that not everyone and predictable financing to fulfil its further talks are planned in the future. was going to be happy with the result. mandate,” argued the African statement. Negotiating with 193 nations to agree on Even though the Rio outcome document Refocused attention consensus outcomes would inevitably gave few specifics on strengthening South African President Jacob Zuma, be a grinding task, she said. Some argu- UNEP, delegates nevertheless agreed who was very active in Rio, said that the ments will prevail, some will not. that the programme needs bolstering. “outcomes have refocused the atten- tion of the world leaders to the daunting Africa’s preparations for Rio+20 began Africa also asked developed countries challenges of addressing global poverty, with a meeting of its environment to allocate 0.7 per cent of their gross inequality and the deteriorating state of ministers in Ethiopia in October 2011. national product (GNP) as aid to devel- the environment.” There they hammered out a detailed oping countries and canvassed for “equi- consensus statement that was later table, durable and development-oriented Sunita Narain, an Indian environ- adopted by the African Union. Africa solutions to debt problems.” mentalist, went as far as to call the Rio August 2012 3 is UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs. A recent survey of 3,000 business leaders by the MIT Sloan Management Review and the Boston Consulting Group found that 70 per cent are incorpo- rating sustainability into their business strategy. The survey reported that many companies in Africa plan to increase their sustainability commitments. And more African delegates in Rio explain their organizations are cutting greenhouse gas continent’s aspirations for the summit. “The formulation of the SDGs, and emissions and protecting biodiversity. UN / Maria Elisa Franco their interface with the post-2015 development agenda, will be one of the Summit participants also pledged to outcome document a “victory for the most important follow-up actions initi- plant 100 million trees by 2017, empower developing world … because it reiterates ated by the Rio+20 summit,” argues 5,000 women entrepreneurs in green the principle of common but differenti- Martin Khor, executive director of the economy businesses in Africa and ated responsibilities and respective South Centre, a Switzerland-based annually recycle 800,000 tonnes of poly- capabilities.” That terminology relates organization of developing country vinyl chloride, a commonly used plastic. to a shared vision for combating climate governments. “At least the world has change based upon each country’s social agreed to continue to promote Hard to measure and economic capacities. sustainable development,” adds Manish While some African leaders remain Bapna, acting president of the World hopeful, the Africa Progress Panel, a Ms. Narain also noted that the summit Resources Institute, a US-based group of eminent individuals headed “did not dismantle the framework of environmental think tank. by former UN Secretary-General Kofi justice and equity in global negotiations.” Annan, believes that the conference She thus alluded to the successful effort Business and civil society commitments were too vague: “The lack by developing countries, especially India, In contrast to the gradual approach of commitment to defined and measur- China and those in Africa, to push back seemingly favoured by governments, it able sustainable development goals a proposal by the rich countries to set appears that businesses, non-govern- at the Rio+20 summit is a profoundly targets and timetables towards a “green mental organizations (NGOs), civil disturbing outcome. We have an obli- economy.” Such targets, developing society groups, universities and others gation to the world’s poorest and most countries feared, could have led to trade are revving up momentum. The UN vulnerable people, who bear the brunt of restrictions or other sanctions if they reports that, together with governments, the global ecological crisis.” did not move quickly enough. Instead, such groups made about 700 voluntary the outcome document states that each commitments during the summit, total- Others believe the conference did not country will move at its own pace. ling more than $500 billion. Of that adequately reflect a number of positive amount, $50 billion will be used for an developments around the world. “Just Commitments initiative by the UN Secretary-General look at Germany’s shift to clean energy,” African negotiators, especially to achieve universal access to sustain- notes Mr. Bapna, “Niger’s efforts to from South Africa, wanted specific able energy by 2030. re-green its landscape or Rio’s just- commitments on Sustainable launched bus rapid transit system.” Development Goals (SDGs), which are Bindu Lohani, vice-president of the expected to replace the Millennium Asian Development Bank, reminded There is no doubt that the conference did Development Goals after their expira- delegates that eight development banks not meet everyone’s expectations. Yet tion in 2015. The delegates agreed to will invest $175 billion in sustainable many elements in the outcome document constitute by next year a 30-member transport in developing countries. satisfied some African delegates. The working group under the UN General next challenge is for world leaders, Assembly to report on such global José María Figueres, former president businesses and NGOs to come through SDGs. In addition, there will be an of Costa Rica, said, “Those who have on their promises. “The speeches are intergovernmental process, super- failed you, Mr.