Environment and Health in Sub-Saharan Africa Managing an Emerging Crisis : Selected Papers from ERTEP 2007, July 17-19 2007, Ghana, Africa

This book is the second edited compilation of selected, refereed papers submitted to ERTEP 2007. The book is organized into 10 chapters along four of the key themes that were discussed at the conference: Environmental Health Management; Mining and Environment; Environmental Monitoring and Policy Development; and Susta- ability and Social Responsibility. It is hoped that the contents of the book will p- vide an insight into some of the environmental and health management challenges confronting the developing world and the steps being taken to address them. The ?rst three chapters under the Environmental Health and Management theme discusses issues related to food security and related environmental distress in sub- Saharan Africa. Chapter 1 argues that pervasive poverty and low agricultural p- ductivity are important factors in understanding food insecurity in the region, and broader global processes are examined. This chapter maintains that while poverty undermines individual and household access to suf?cient food through market p- chase, land inequalities, corruption, structural adjustment programs, civil con?ict, HIV/AIDS and the role of the World Trade Organization Agreement on Agric- ture are decisive. The authors argue that achieving food security in sub-Saharan Africa requires policies and actions that are integrated with efforts to reduce poverty, enhance livelihoods and incomes and increase agricultural output, while also paying attention to underlying structural factors that bear on agriculture in the region.

This book aims to discuss environmental and health management and policy issues in Sub-Saharan Africa and present ways to address specific environmental problems of the people and ecosystems in general.

The book contains selected refereed papers on food security, environment and health, environmental management and policy development and social responsibility that were submitted to or presented at the First International Conference on Environmental Research, Technology and Policy held in Accra, Ghana, July 17-19, 2007.

The primary goal of the conference was to provide a forum for policy makers, scientists, practitioners, and civil society advocates to discuss grass-root environmental issues. To assess efforts by government machinery and identify what communities and corporate entities can do as a social responsibility to mainstream environmental protection for sustainable development.