Towards alternative strategies for sustainable development in Africa

Abstract

African dynasties and empires enjoyed sustainable development prior to Western contact and conquest. This is fast eroding since the colonial era of rooting out all what is African by modernizing Africa through the inculcation of Western ideologies and technologies. Bilateral and multilateral development cooperation for Africa has strongly favoured flawed strategies that put classical economic models at the forefront of Africa's development. This model favours the West's wasteful and highly polluting attitudes of overproduction and overconsumption. This paper exposes the unsustainability of this model and provides attributes for an alternative sustainable development strategy for Africa, which must win support and understanding amongst African leaders. A schematic at the end of this paper represents this gateway to Africa's ecological, economic and social resilience. A robust research agenda for regional case studies will generate data to ensure the revitalization of traditional coping strategies for the sustainable development of Africa.