by Daniel Onyango

Created on: February 14, 2008   Last Updated: December 05, 2008

If there are any reasons why the world should care about the environmental issues in Africa, two immediate reasons come to mind: geopolitics and the concept of a global village. There are as many other reasons why any sane person should run as far away from the continent as posiible. Even though Africa has great potential and resources, her endless woes and the buffoonery of her leaders, are an enduring night-mare that causes sleeplessness to the rest of the world.

However, people in Europe, Asia, America and the rest of the world are still drawn to Africa because it is almost impossible to shut the continent out from the rest of the world.

Africa's link with the rest of the world began with the scramble for her, where Great Britain, France, Portugal and Germany to mention a few, acquired colonies in Africa. Following independence from the colonial governments, political instability and internal conflicts have left an endless litany of human and environmental degradation in the continent.

In the case of Mozambique, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, the world's attention has been caught by the threat to their unique fauna and flora.

In some of the African conflicts, (like the liberation war in Mozambique) vested interests ensured that support (military and otherwise) continued to flow in from the former rulers.

For this, and other historical links, it has been difficult for the world, particularly the western world to turn a blind eye to what is going on in these countries.

On the other hand, the natural environment knows no boundaries. For instance, the well known annual migration of wildebeests in the Maasai-Mara and Serengeti National parks is a cross-border affair between Kenya and Tanzania. If there is disease outbreak among these animals or their environment is affected, it would not just be Kenyan or Tanzanian, but a regional problem.

This illustrates the fact that an environmental issue in one part of the world can take a global dimension, depending on its magnitude.

That said, the world has become a small village. Technological advancement in media reporting has ensured that the effects of the floods in Mozambique, the degradation of Gishwati forest in Rwanda, and malpractices in the Zimbabwean national parks are flashed in our living room television screens.

It therefore follows that a civilized world (knowing the importance of ecosystems), would use all resources at its disposal to restore any environmental degradation before it worsens. Furthermore, environmental issues

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