Vol. 7 No. 2 (2023)
Editor Reviewed Articles

How Can African Countries Address Climate Change Problems and Optimise Demographic Dividends for Socioeconomic Development?

PDF
  • Sunday Adedini,
  • Olumide Taiwo,
  • Oluwole Smile,
  • Olasunkanmi Ajala,
  • Sijuwade Ojuko-Aladejana,
  • Paul Akeni
Sunday Adedini
Federal University Oye-Ekiti / University of the Witwatersrand / Center for Health Economics and Development
Olumide Taiwo
Center for Health Economics and Development
Oluwole Smile
Center for Health Economics and Development
Olasunkanmi Ajala
Center for Health Economics and Development / Anchor University
Sijuwade Ojuko-Aladejana
Center for Health Economics and Development
Paul Akeni
Center for Health Economics and Development
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63799953906867

Published 2023-07-10 — Updated on 2023-08-29

Keywords

  • Climate change,
  • Population dynamics,
  • Demographic dividend,
  • Socioeconomic development,
  • Africa

How to Cite

Adedini, Sunday, Olumide Taiwo, Oluwole Smile, Olasunkanmi Ajala, Sijuwade Ojuko-Aladejana, and Paul Akeni. 2023. “How Can African Countries Address Climate Change Problems and Optimise Demographic Dividends for Socioeconomic Development?”. The Journal of Population and Sustainability 7 (2):15-30. https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63799953906867.

Copyright (c) 2022 Sunday Adedini

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Abstract

As all 54 countries in Africa strive to overcome their different socio-economic challenges, the climate crisis as well as the unsustainable population growth appear to be threatening the attainment of national and international development agenda across the continent. This paper presents the relationship between climate change and population dynamics; how Africa can address the problems of the climate crisis and rapid population growth, and create the potential to harness a demographic dividend and accelerate economic growth. Many African countries need to take necessary measures to achieve a rapid and sustained fertility transition, including providing access to quality family planning services, reducing adolescent fertility, educating female children, empowering women, reducing under-five mortality and expanding labour market opportunities. These are necessary conditions for fertility transition and reaping the benefit of a demographic dividend in Africa. As African countries take strategic steps to catalyse fertility transition and accelerate economic growth, there is a need to take urgent measures to fight the climate change crisis which appears to be eroding socio-economic gains across the continent. While Africa adds only a trifling fraction of the global greenhouse gas emissions, the continent bears a disproportionately significant portion of the detrimental impact of climate change. Without the necessary actions to stem and reverse the consequences (such as health crises, food insecurity due to the destruction of crops by severe weather, the destruction of livelihoods and increases in the numbers of internally displaced persons), climate change is likely to have significant negative effects on the achievement of the sustainable development goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. There is a need to address the twin problems of unsustainable population growth and climate crisis in Africa.

PDF

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

  1. Adedini, S.A. 2023a. ‘Here’s how family planning can support liveable cities and sustainable urbanization in Nigeria’. Conversation Africa. https://theconversation.com/nigerias-cities-are-growing-fast-family-planning-must-be-part-of-urban-development-plans-199325
  2. Adedini, S. 2023b. ‘Population dynamics, urbanisation and climate change in Africa’s intermediate cities: what can family planning contribute?’ The Journal of Population and Sustainability 7 (2). https://doi.org/10.3197/JPS.63799953906860
  3. Adedini, S.A., C. Odimegwu, E.N. Imasiku and D.N. Ononokpono. 2015. ‘Ethnic differentials in under-five mortality in Nigeria’. Ethnicity and Health 20 (2): 145–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2014.890599
  4. African Development Bank (AfDB). 2022. Climate Change in Africa. https://www.afdb.org/en/cop25/climate-change-africa
  5. African Development Bank (AFDB). 2019. Climate Change Impacts on Africa’s Economic Growth. https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/documents/publications/afdb-economics_of_climate_change_in_africa.pdf
  6. Arsenis, Panagiotis and Dimitrios Varvarigos. 2011. ‘Corruption, Fertility, and Human Capital’. Discussion Papers in Economics 11/28, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester, revised April 2011.
  7. Bado, A.R., J.P. Guengant and H.I. Maga. 2022. ‘Sub-Saharan Africa: Slow fertility transitions despite policy efforts’. In International Handbook of Population Policies. Springer. pp. 159–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02040-7_8
  8. Blackburn, Keith and Rashmi Sarmah. 2008. ‘Corruption, development and demography’. Economics of Governance 9 (4): 341–62.
  9. Bloom, David E. and Jeffrey C. Williamson. 1998. ‘Demographic transitions and economic miracles in emerging Asia’. World Bank Econ Rev 12 (3): 419–55. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/12.3.419
  10. Bongaarts, J. 2017. ‘Africa’s unique fertility transition’. Population and Development Review 43: 3–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00164.x
  11. Boserup, E. 1981. Population and Technological Change: A Study of Long-Term Trends. University of Chicago Press.
  12. Bradshaw, C.J., C. Perry, M.A. Judge, C.M. Saraswati, J. Heyworth and P.N. Le Souëf. 2023. ‘Lower infant mortality, higher household size, and more access to contraception reduce fertility in low-and middle-income nations’. PLoS One 18 (2): e0280260. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0280260
  13. Cardona, C. et al. 2020. ‘Generating and capitalizing on the demographic dividend potential in sub-Saharan Africa: a conceptual framework from a systematic literature review’. Gates Open Research. https://doi.org/10.12688/gatesopenres.13176.1
  14. Carrillo, A.C. 2009. ‘Internal displacement in Colombia: humanitarian, economic and social consequences in urban settings and current challenges’. International Review of the Red Cross 91 (875): 527–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1816383109990427
  15. Cleland, J. 2012. ‘Will Africa benefit from a demographic dividend?’ The Health & Education Advice & Resource Team (HEART).
  16. Coale, A.J. and E. Hoover. 1958. Population Growth and Economic Development in Low Income Countries. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
  17. Cummins, M. 2019. ‘Population Dynamics and the Demographic Dividend Potential of Eastern and Southern Africa: A Primer’. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3523552
  18. GAVI. 2022. Gavi (2023): Africa’s Climate Crisis Is a Health Crisis: https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/africas-climate-crisis-health-crisis?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3eGfBhCeARIsACpJNU_gxt-no73wgXwQqdFUC_5FewURJvW1voXaX5VJe_Nqo4QKCTJHOIwaAvNMEALw_wcB
  19. IDMC. 2018. The Ripple Effect: Economic Impact of Internal Displacement: https://www.internal-displacement.org/sites/default/files/inline-files/201810-literature-review-economic-impacts.pdf
  20. IPCC. 2022. Sixth Assessment Report. Climate Change Impacts and Risks. Fact sheet – Africa. October 2022.
  21. Kelley, A.C. and R.M. Schmidt. 2001. ‘Economic and demographic change: A synthesis of models, findings, and perspectives’, in N. Birdsall, C. Kelley and S.W. Sinding (eds), Population Matters: Demographic Change, Economic Growth and Poverty in the Developing World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 67–105.
  22. Kuznets, S. 1967. ‘Population and economic growth’. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 111: 170–93.
  23. NASA. Global Climate Change. Vital Signs of the Earth. Arctic Sea Ice Minimum Extent. https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/arctic-sea-ice/
  24. New Climate Institute (NCI). 2021. Net Zero Tracker. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, Data-Driven EnviroLab, Oxford Net Zero. Last updated 2 November 2021. Cited in Hannah Ritchie, Max Roser and Pablo Rosado (2020) ‘CO2 and Greenhouse Gas Emissions’: https://ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions
  25. NOAA. National Centers for Environmental Information, Monthly Global Climate Report for Annual 2022, published online January 2023: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/global/202213 (accessed 25 February 2023).
  26. Osei-Appaw, A. and A. Christian. 2022. ‘The demographic dividend as a pathway to development: The role of fertility and education in Sub-Saharan Africa. A narrative review’. International Journal of Economics 7(1): 76–90. https://doi.org/10.47604/ijecon.1680
  27. Ray, C.A. 2021. The Impact of Climate Change on Africa’s Economy. Foreign Policy Research Institute: https://www.fpri.org/article/2021/10/the-impact-of-climate-change-on-africas-economies/
  28. Reed, H.E. and B.U. Mberu. 2014. ‘Capitalizing on Nigeria’s demographic dividend: reaping the benefits and diminishing the burdens’. Etude de la population africaine = African Population Studies 27 (2): 319. https://doi.org/10.11564/27-2-477
  29. Simon, J. 1981. Economics of Population. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing
  30. Statista. 2022. Fertility rate in Africa from 2000 to 2030: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1225857/fertility-rate-in-africa/
  31. Sunmola, A.K., J.S. Olaosebikan and T.J. Adeusi. 2020. ‘High fertility level in sub-Saharan Africa: implication for reaping and optimizing demographic dividend’. Int J Community Med Public Health 7: 3698. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20203947
  32. UN. 2022. World Population Prospects 2022: Summary of Results. UN DESA/POP/2022/TR/NO. 3. New York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division.
  33. UNDP. 2023. The SDGs in Action: https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals/no-poverty?gclid=Cj0KCQiA3eGfBhCeARIsACpJNU_7dX_wxDuow0catfAn6P1PT1zB_EnTsg_Ca4L0op7UekITcdj4zqUaAtwLEALw_wcB
  34. UNHCR. 2022. Millions Face Harm from Flooding across West and Central Africa: https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2022/10/635b913a4/millions-face-harm-flooding-across-west-central-africa-unhcr-warns.html
  35. WMO. 2022a. Provisional State of the Global Climate: https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=11359
  36. World Resources Institute (WRI). 2022. Climate Watch Historical GHG Emissions. Washington, DC: https://www.climatewatchdata.org/ghg-emissions?end_year=2020&start_year=1990
  37. Yigzaw, G.S and E.B. Abitew. 2019. ‘Causes and impacts of internal displacements in Ethiopia’. African Journal of Social Work 9 (2): 32–41.