A self-reliant environment: the possibility of a technological alternative

Abstract

This is not a carefully thought out scientific study of a set of scenarios for Africa, but rather a preliminary attempt to put together a certain number of previously scattered ideas on environment in Africa and to look at their possible relationships over the next few decades. The rather fashionable subjects which are often referred to under the heading of environment such as the campaign against traffic jams, noise and pollution, the plea for more open spaces and green belts, attempts to safeguard historic monuments and rare fauna and flora or campaigns to keep beaches clean, sweep up street litter and get rid of overcrowding of people in city streets will not be dealt with here. Although the problems to be tackled when talking of these subjects may well exist in Africa, they stem from a rather Eurocentric view of environmental problems and are frequently used nowadays in a demagogic manner to turn people's attention away from the more fundamental structural questions of environment. In dealing with three rather different themes, it is hoped that their juxtaposition will give rise to a questioning of some of the implications of the. present orientation of African "development" and suggest a possible alternative for the coming years.