Severity of environmental degradation and the impact on quality of life in Africa

TY - JOUR

T1 - Severity of environmental degradation and the impact on quality of life in Africa

AU - Sakariyahu, Rilwan

AU - Fagbemi, Temitope

AU - Adigun, Rasheed

AU - Lawal, Rodiat

AU - Seyingbo, Oluwagbenga

AU - Oyekola, Olayinka

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors

PY - 2024/4

Y1 - 2024/4

N2 - Considering the mounting impacts of environmental degradation on the global ecosystem, this study offers an empirical contribution to the debate on whether there exists a significant nexus between environmental degradation and quality of life in Africa. Towards this end, we employ several econometric techniques to account for cross-sectional dependence, causality, and also present results based on IV-Lewbel 2SLS regression. Using a sample of African countries, the results indicate cross-sectional dependence due to spill-over effects from common factors in Africa, while the panel cointegration test affirms that environmental degradation have long-term consequences for quality of life only in sub-Saharan African region. Moreover, our results reveal a unidirectional causality between environmental degradation variables and quality of life at both the continent and sub-Saharan African region levels while a bi-directional causality between these variables are revealed for North Africa. On this evidence, our conjecture is that increased mineral extraction, greenhouse gas emissions, and deforestation, amongst other factors, may be driving this result. Hence, improvement in environmental quality in the continent would have an increasingly beneficial effects on the well-being and survival of the populace. The varied impacts across regions also suggest that policy initiatives toward mitigating the effects of environmental degradation should consider regional dynamics of the continent.

AB - Considering the mounting impacts of environmental degradation on the global ecosystem, this study offers an empirical contribution to the debate on whether there exists a significant nexus between environmental degradation and quality of life in Africa. Towards this end, we employ several econometric techniques to account for cross-sectional dependence, causality, and also present results based on IV-Lewbel 2SLS regression. Using a sample of African countries, the results indicate cross-sectional dependence due to spill-over effects from common factors in Africa, while the panel cointegration test affirms that environmental degradation have long-term consequences for quality of life only in sub-Saharan African region. Moreover, our results reveal a unidirectional causality between environmental degradation variables and quality of life at both the continent and sub-Saharan African region levels while a bi-directional causality between these variables are revealed for North Africa. On this evidence, our conjecture is that increased mineral extraction, greenhouse gas emissions, and deforestation, amongst other factors, may be driving this result. Hence, improvement in environmental quality in the continent would have an increasingly beneficial effects on the well-being and survival of the populace. The varied impacts across regions also suggest that policy initiatives toward mitigating the effects of environmental degradation should consider regional dynamics of the continent.

KW - Climate change

KW - Environmental degradation

KW - Quality of life

KW - Africa

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85188520957

U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120537

DO - 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.120537

M3 - Article

C2 - 38508010

SN - 0301-4797

VL - 356

JO - Journal of Environmental Management

JF - Journal of Environmental Management

M1 - 120537

ER -