Post-2015 development agenda and the framing of the sustainable development goals,

Post-2015 development agenda and the framing of the sustainable development goals, what are the key issues that needed to be addressed in terms of environmental sustainability from the African Youth perspective

As Africa is endowed with great natural resources like forest and minerals, sustainable management of these resources should be strengthened to ensure that the revenue from these resources are channeled into addressing social problems and also to access good health.

This can be done by reaffirming commitment to bilateral and multilateral agreement that protect, regulate and prevents the over exploitation of our natural resources. Example is the VPA agreement to prevent illegal timber onto the EU market. Beyond this, I believe the capacity of Africans should be built to introduce Forest certification in the management of their forest. This will not only help in the long term protection of our forest but will also secure the overall interest of the indigenous/local people.

Still there remain far too many people without sufficient food or even access to food of the
necessary nutritional value. Most estimates suggest that a 70 per cent increase in food production will be required in order to feed what is expected to be a global population of nine billion people by 2050. 

This is a significant challenge: limited opportunities exist for expanding the area of land under cultivation without compromising other land uses, and agriculture is currently too dependent on external inputs and over-reliant on fossil fuels. 

But most importantly, water availability is now regarded as the key constraint to further gains in agricultural output. 

While we require only about two to four litres of water a day to drink, it takes between 2,000 and 5,000 litres of water to produce one person’s daily food

There must be intense education and awareness creation for the youth on the post-2015 development agenda

Youth working in the area of environmental sustainability should be tasked with some responsibilities or roles in achieving goals or objectives set.

The views or opinions of young people should be included in all the decision making processes

By Kenneth Nana Amoateng,

Chief Executive Officer

Abibimman Foundation

www.abibimmanfoundation.org