The future of Natural resources to ensure sustainable development

The Future of Natural Resources to Ensure Sustainable Development

Very often when words like gold, natural gas, oil, iron, bauxite, copper and the list continues are mentioned we think about natural resources.

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa still rely heavily on the sales of their countries natural resources to generate income to run their economies. There is a lot of conflict of interest between extraction companies, government and the local communities in which this resources are located.

Most of the time communities endowed with natural resources live in poverty and underdevelopment. This is because the government does not ensure that this communities are provided with basic social amenities like roads, electricity, schools, portable water, hospitals etc. Instead this communities suffer the following fate from the exploitation activities in their area

• Pollution: land pollution, water pollution, and or air pollution


• Destruction of the ecosystem

In worst cases some of this exploitation activities if not well handled can lead to the breakout of civil wars that leave people in this affected areas in starvation and insecurity and such they are forced to flee to other cities or countries as refugees

Where do women find themselves in all of this confusion?

Women in such areas suffer the following

• Little or no education


• Poverty


• Gender based violence


• Poor health

This is a serious problem affecting hundreds, thousands and even millions of women in sub-Saharan Africa. Why should women continue to live in poverty when there is wealth that if equitably and sustainably distributed can make the world a happy place for everyone?