The nexus between pollution, waste and the blue and green economies

Africa’s blue economy (marine and freshwater environments) is under a multi-pronged threat, from pollution, to urbanisation, to ageing water management infrastructure or the lack of it, to the effects of climate change.

The African Union regards the blue economy as a major contributor to the continent’s economic transformation.

The objective of the AU’s Blue Economy Strategy is to “guide the development of an inclusive and sustainable blue economy that becomes a significant contributor to continental transformation and growth, through advancing knowledge on marine and aquatic biotechnology, environmental sustainability, the growth of an Africa-wide shipping industry, the development of sea, river and lake transport, the management of fishing activities on these aquatic spaces and the exploitation and beneficiation of deep sea minerals and other resources.”

The AU Blue Economy Strategy comprises the following five themes:

1. Fisheries, aquaculture, conservation and sustainable aquatic ecosystems

2. Shipping or transportation, trade, ports, maritime security, safety and enforcement

3. Coastal and maritime tourism, climate change, resilience, environment, infrastructure

4. Sustainable energy and mineral resources and innovative industries

5. Policies, institutional and governance, employment, job creation and poverty eradication, innovative financing

“Without blue there can be no green”

During the recent Africa’s Green Economy Summit in Cape Town, Janine Osborne, CEO of the Sustainable Seas Trust, led a discussion that focused on the nexus between pollution, waste and the blue and green economies.

She said: “We know that climate change is already affecting the blue and green economies in various ways. Sea level rises are causing havoc on shorelines due to geomorphological processes, changes in precipitation are causing floods and droughts and unpredictable patterns, and rising temperatures are starting to change patterns of ecosystems and food productivity, which impact human health and safety and businesses in a profound way.”

She continued: “Preparing Africa’s blue and green economies for these outcomes could help reduce climate change, while improving the resilience and adaptation of the continent’s coastal communities. However, this will require sustainable investment and radical innovation in both the blue and the green sectors, because without blue there can be no green.”

Africa is the second most polluted continent in the world, but at the same time, it has the lowest per capita consumption of plastics in the world. And waste, particularly plastic pollution, harms the blue economy in many ways by damaging marine ecosystems, impacting fisheries and reducing tourism potential. Says Janine Osborne: “This is the reason why a proper waste management is crucial for a sustainable blue economy for Africa. With the waste collection rate at only 55%, that’s on average across Africa, we know that municipal solid waste collection services in most African countries is inadequate.” [Hear more from Janine Osborne here in a recent interview.]

Valuing waste as a resource

A shift is needed from seeing waste as something that holds no value, to rather focusing on waste as a resource. This is according to Petro Myburgh, Senior Manager: Sustainability at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, who was part of the same discussion at AGES. She explained: “When we repurpose waste, upcycle, think about the circular economy, we must understand that there is a higher value associated with those products. So when we talk about circular initiatives we must understand that when we buy a product that was repurposed or upcycled, resources and skills went hand in hand with those processes, and we should work harder to associate value to that.”

She added that more opportunities should be created to foster innovation. “Our last circularity challenge that we hosted, there were huge opportunities from people within communities who thought outside the box. This could go a long way with more business support or getting access to resources, funding, technical development and skills. I think these present huge opportunities in the informal sectors and for community-led projects and programmes to help them establish firmer processes within waste management within society.”

“Strengthening the market demand, there are huge opportunities to collaborate with government organisations and policy makers on how to create to sustainable procurement policies that we can support circular economy models through the collaboration in public-private partnerships.”

Financing resilient urban development

Jeremy Gorelick, Senior Advisor Urban Infrastructure Finance at the Green Finance Institute (GFI) also advocates for increased private sector involvement in financing urban infrastructure.

In the face of rapid urbanisation, climate change and natural disasters, there is an urgent need in Africa to develop resilient infrastructure, integrate digital technologies, ensure effective governance and secure innovative financing to create liveable and sustainable urban environments, of which water infrastructure is an integral part.

Says Jeremy: “We need to see more of a consistent embrace of public-private partnerships or concessions in African cities across a number of sectors. Looking at this from the transport, from the water and sanitation perspective, from solid waste management, from housing and a number of other areas that are key and critical, we need to find ways that we can make sure that the public sector is playing the right role in enabling certain things and infrastructure where needed, but that we also see the private sector playing an important part.” [Read or watch the full interview with Jeremy Gorelick here.]

Water project pitches

This year’s project pitch platforms at AGES featured several investment-ready projects focused on water infrastructure or management, or in the case of of Impact-Free Water (IFW), harnessing the immense power of ocean waves, delivering high-pressure, pre-filtered seawater directly to shore.

According to IFW, its innovative wave energy converter (WEC) is a pioneering technology that not only ensures a sustainable source of water but also generates electricity in the process, providing sustainable solutions through environmentally responsible and cutting-edge technology.

Another organisation looking for investment is Water For Development (Water4Dev), a youth-led community-based movement in Burundi that is tackling complex WASH issues affecting underserved communities using social innovation.

“Our overall mission is to improve access to drinking water, hygiene and sanitation services for communities with inadequate drinking water supplies,” says Eric Niyikiza, Research and Innovation Officer for Water4Dev. Part of Water4Dev’s initiatives is treating drinking water with locally produced chlorine while monitoring water quality in rural areas. [Read and watch Eric’s interview about their progress here.]

– This article first appeared in the Green Economy Express newsletter, published by Africa’s Green Economy Summit.