Recipient, Nobel Peace Prize (2004), © 2020 The Wilson Center. Too often these challenges are portrayed by the media in extreme terms connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Date & Time. Illuminating the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, Maathai offers “hardheaded hope” and “realistic options” for change and improvement. Poignant. The Challenge for Africa is a milestone in African writing that both educates and inspires.”—Tim Butcher, bestselling author of Blood River: A Journey to Africa’s Broken Heart, Introduction: On the Wrong Bus One The Farmer of Yaoundé Two A Legacy of Woes Three Pillars of Good Governance: The Three-Legged StoolFour Aid and the Dependency Syndrome Five Deficits: Indebtedness and Unfair TradeSix Leadership Seven Moving the Social Machine Eight Culture: The Missing Link? . What is now critical is the perception of markets that economic policy formulation and implementation is consistent and predictable. . This forces the economy to fully exploit its comparative advantage through trade; and finally, the primary role of the government should be the creation of an enabling environment that encourages foreign and domestic investment, and of a solid infrastructure to support an expanding economy. As a result, economic success in today's world is less a question of relative resource endowments or geographical location than it used to be in the past. Clearly, those economies that open themselves to trade and capital flows on a free and fair basis and are able to attract international capital will benefit the most from globalization. Indeed, increased capital mobility carries the risk of destabilizing flows and heightened exchange rate volatility, in cases where domestic macroeconomic policies are inappropriate. Now, it is more a question of the market perception of the orientation and predictability of economic policy. Or, ‘Don't worry about peace today, or conflicts that are going on; let us worry about management of resources.' Oct 19, 2010 Sovereign African countries barely existed when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, three years after the end of World War II. . "Even though it is the women who provide the drive for planting trees—partly because it is they who suffer when the environment is destroyed, it is also they who work in the field—once we are in the community, we will have to deal with the women, deal with the men, deal with the children, deal with the livestock, deal with everything," said Maathai. HIV/AIDS is a devastating pandemic in many villages in Africa, moving silently and rapidly through homesteads and leaving a trail of death and misery. | Inspire your inbox – Sign up for daily fun facts about this day in history, updates, and special offers. . Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Synopsis submission guide. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Plot Summary submission guide. IMF Members' Quotas and Voting Power, and Board of Governors, IMF Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, IMF Capacity Development Office in Thailand (CDOT), IMF Regional Office in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), Currency Composition of Official Foreign Exchange Reserves. at the Southern Africa Economic Summit Be the first to contribute! It looks like we don't have a Synopsis for this title yet. Yet the portrait of Africa painted in the media--poverty-stricken, desolate and desperate--frequently ignores the intricacies of the issues. More importantly, no one set of policies is a sufficient condition for success--indeed, experience shows that poor policies in one area can obstruct progress, even if policies in other areas are good. The government must also implement policies that eliminate the structural weaknesses that would be exposed by the heightened international competition. And there has been a phenomenal growth in cross-border financial flows, particularly in the form of private equity and portfolio investment, compared with the past. "Some of these issues are complex, they are difficult—but they have a lot to do with the way we have decided to manage our resources and to manage our politics and economics. The challenge facing the developing world, and African countries in particular, is to design public policies so as to maximize the potential benefits from globalization, and to minimize the downside risks of destabilization and/or marginalization. ", The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) explores the connections between environmental change, health, and population dynamics and their links to conflict, human insecurity, and foreign policy. . In fact, this topic is a central theme of the most recent edition of the IMF's World Economic Outlook. Climate Change, Forests, and Environmental Justice, According to Maathai, 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are due to deforestation and forest degradation—more than the percentage due to transportation. So we need to go outside that box and deal with development in a holistic way.". This reflects above all the success of multilateral tariff reduction and trade liberalization efforts. . Written with a measured tone and in plain, simple language, it would be a mistake to underestimate the book’s validity and sheer intellectual power.”—African Business (London) “Wangari Maathai has been a champion of the environment, of women, of Africa, and of anyone concerned about our future security.”—Kofi Annan “Exposes the most obstinate ‘bottlenecks to development,’ proposing ingenious initiatives aimed at overcoming a legacy of colonialism, an unforgiving global economy—and, most intractably, a mentality of dependency. 2. "If you don't, then, therefore, ensure that the resources within the country are equitably distributed, and you encourage these prejudgments that communities have against each other, you're going to have conflict," she said. "This is the one issue which really comes to tell us that indeed, the planet is a small village, and all of us are in this little village together. Such are the solutions that will bring new light to Africa. . In The Challenge For Africa, Maathai analyzes roadblocks to development, including the absence of peace and security, the lack of technological developments, the absence of fair international trade, population pressures and enduring hunger, the silencing of native languages and the evisceration of traditional cultures, and the dearth of genuine political and economic leadership. In The Challenge For Africa, Wangari Maathai offers a powerful and compelling look at the problems facing Africa and the promises of the future. While Africa is clearly on the right track, there is still some way to go. Plot Keywords New Sea Law Could Revolutionize Protections in Brazil's Coastal Areas, Governance is Essential to Manage the Risks of Solar Radiation Modification, 21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy is Climate Policy Full Report, Video: 21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy is Climate Policy. Administrative price controls are being reduced and agricultural marketing has been widely liberalized. The benefits of these developments are easily recognizable--increasing trade has given consumers and producers a wider choice of low-cost goods, often incorporating more advanced technologies, and facilitated a more efficient use of global resources. Open and integrated markets place a premium on good macroeconomic policies, and on the ability to respond quickly and appropriately to changes in the international environment. . Also, economic thought itself has evolved over time, toward the general acceptance of the fact that outward- oriented and open economies are more successful than closed, inward-looking ones. Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, offers a refreshingly unique perspective on the challenges facing Africa, even as she calls for a moral revolution among Africans themselves, who, she argues, are culturally deracinated, adrift between worlds.