The Economy in Contemporary Africa by Miller Derek L.;

Author:Miller, Derek L.; [Miller, Derek L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing LLC

Across Africa, poaching poses a serious threat to wildlife populations—and, therefore, tourism. In 2015, more than a thousand rhinoceroses (in South Africa) and tens of thousands of elephants (mostly in Kenya) were killed by poachers. Rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks are worth a large amount of money in some countries due to the demand for ivory and the use of rhinoceros horn in traditional medicine. While governments try to protect the animals and armed rangers often patrol national parks, they cannot stop the criminal gangs that make huge profits from the business of poaching. If nothing changes, there is concern that animals like the rhinoceros will go extinct from the illegal trade.

One unlikely strategy to save these animals is through the legalization and regulation of trophy-hunting animals. This strategy has its detractors as well as its proponents. Dr. Peter A. Lindsay from South Africa argues in an academic paper that trophy hunting protects animals in three key ways: it “creates crucial financial incentives for the development and/or retention of wildlife as a land use over large areas in Africa ... Hunting plays an important role in the rehabilitation of degraded wildlife areas by enabling the income generation from wildlife without affecting population growth of trophy species. Furthermore, hunting operators often conduct anti-poaching to protect the wildlife resource on which they depend” But some conservationists disagree with these conclusions. They argue it does not make sense to kill rare animals in an attempt to save the species.

Industry

Industry is growing in importance in eastern Africa, but it currently trails agriculture and services in nearly every country in the region. Eastern Africa lacks the vast mineral and metal reserves that exist in southern Africa. Petroleum production is important in Sudan and South Sudan, but it is by and large isolated to these two countries (Uganda is just beginning to exploit some oil reserves). Manufacturing remains a relatively small but growing part of the regional economy: Kenya and Ethiopia are hoping to expand their manufacturing industries in the future.

In 2011, South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan after a referendum in which more than 98 percent of South Sudan’s people voted in favor of independence. In the decades before the referendum millions of people, mostly South Sudanese civilians, had died in civil wars in the country. Since 2011, oil production in the region has declined. Sudan lost nearly three-quarters of its oil production to the new country, and production in South Sudan has been in steady decline due to the deteriorating security situation there: a civil war has been ongoing since 2013. It is hoped that further investment in the region will increase production and allow the government to improve the lives of the people there, but this is unlikely until security improves.

According to a report by KPMG, both Kenya and Ethiopia have promising manufacturing sectors. The report states that Kenya’s manufacturing sector is much bigger than its neighbors’ (although it does not compare favorably to South Africa) and that the major manufacturing subsectors in Kenya are “meat and fruit canning, wheat flour and maize meal milling, and sugar refining.

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