African summary report on new and emerging challenges

Abstract

This Africa report on new and emerging challenges aims to inform the deliberations at the Africa regional preparatory conference for the United Nations conference on sustainable development and serve as reference material during the Rio+ 20 Summit. In the twenty years that have passed since the Rio conference in 1992, African countries have gained significant experience in the implementation of the sustainable development agenda albeit with mixed results towards achieving the sustainable development goals set. This report aims to provide a synopsis on new and emerging challenges, in the context of Africa's overarching priority of poverty eradication and sustainable development. The report uses data available in literature and outlines key challenges at national and regional levels as well as the progress made towards achieving sustainable development targets in Africa at all levels. The report assesses the implications of these challenges for the achievement of the MDGs in the broader context of sustainable development and poverty eradication as an overarching priority for Africa, the list of challenges presented here is not exhaustive as other challenges such as the rate of urbanization and the continued fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases also require attention.