In the West, often when the subject of corruption is brought up, particularly Africa and corruption, it is seen as an African problem, something that happens there due to dodgy businesses and corrupt politicians. The dark continent where grubby money rules is an image that many have when corruption and Africa are mentioned, while the images of the corridors of power in Europe sit in stark contrast. A passing glance at statistics on the subject would seem to support this idea, with 11 of the 23 most corrupt countries in the world coming from Africa, according to the Corruption Perceptions…
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh is a freelance journalist based in Johannesburg. He writes about the environment, energy and the green economy as well as politics and society for British publications, including Environmental Finance, the New Statesman and The New European.
Water scarcity is only set to grow as an issue in Africa as its population increases from 1.4 billion currently to an estimated 1.7 billion by 2030, while as many as 2.5 billion people could live on the continent by 2050. Demand for water will also increase as it is needed not just for drinking but also for sanitation, farming, energy, and manufacturing as the continent increasingly industrialises. The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) estimates that globally, the right wastewater treatment processes could supply more than 10 times the water provided by current desalination efforts and offset over 10% of…
Earlier this year, at its tri-annual board meeting in March, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) approved two projects, worth a combined $1.8651 billion, to target climate-resilient infrastructure and renewable energy across Africa. The $765.1 million Infrastructure Climate Resilient Fund (ICRF) will be allocated to greenfield climate-resilient infrastructure projects primarily in transport, clean energy, and telecoms across 19 sub-Saharan African countries. Meanwhile, the Sustainable Renewables Risk Mitigation Initiative (SRMI)-Resilience facility has a total value of $1.1 billion and will invest in renewable energy projects in six African countries, as well as three in Asia. It will create 2.2GW of new renewable…
The Sahel: Africa’s Great Green Wall The African Union’s ambitious plans to revitalise the Sahel region face daunting challenges, including financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic It is a project that doesn’t lack ambition. The African Union’s Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) aims to create a new living world wonder, an 8,000 km tree line across the 21 countries in the Sahel region of Africa. A project this size needs the funding to match and so far, more than $8 billion has been pledged. But conflicts, capacity, direction and ensuring capital remain huge challenges standing in the way of the…
The arms industry: fuelling conflict The world’s biggest arms fair, which turned 20 in 2019, is lauded as a ‘fantastic showcase’ by its British hosts, but critics strongly disagree The Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI), which boasts of being the world’s largest arms fair, celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. The biennial event, held in London, aims to bring together the global arms industry under one roof, showcasing more than 1,700 exhibitors and 36,000 attendants from more than 50 countries. It is supported by the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence and Department for International Trade, as well as BAE…
SDG 7: affordable and clean energy Africa is making progress with efforts to provide people with electricity, but much more needs to be done to advance the use of cleaner cooking By Joe Walsh As a whole, Africa has struggled to make serious progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, affordable and clean energy. Of the continent’s 55 countries 39 have made less than 50% progress towards their 2030 target from their 2010 baseline, according to the 2018 Africa SDG Index, with the report calling it a big challenge that needs to be prioritised. The remaining countries had not achieved…
