Sustainable Development in Western Anglophone Africa: Analysis of Millennium Development Goal 7s viability Ensuring environmental sustainability in forest management under corruption aspects in Ghana and Liberia

Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Development Politics, grade: Gut, University of applied sciences (IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems), course: International Law, language: English, abstract: Sustainable development has been on the international agenda since the 1970s and there is general agreement that this topic is of international concern for the global community, also with a view to its interlinks with and affects on poverty. The demand for concrete objectives to tackle the many faces of poverty was met by the creation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are intended to be met by the year 2015 and are expected to lift a large number of people out of poverty. A total of eight goals and eighteen targets address challenges such as nutrition, education, health, gender equality, environmental sustainability and global partnerships. Continuous progress has been achieved so far in most of the world¿s regions except for Sub-Saharan Africa. Many economies in Sub-Saharan Africa are dominated by extractive industries. With this background, MDG 7, ensuring environmental sustainability, in particular Target 9, concerned with reversing the loss of natural resources, is of particular relevance in this region. West Africa, especially the former British colonies, has extensive natural tropical forest resources which need to be managed sustainably not only to prevent the extinction of biodiversity and species but also for their value to all stakeholders. Among the multiple challenges which MDG 7 faces in Ghana and Liberia are corruption and illegal trade. National forest laws and land tenure systems, the absence of up-to-date data on forest resources and governmental decisions are being observed in Ghana and Liberia. Various initiatives with the potential to achieve sustainable forest management are outlined, such as collaborative forestry, the diversification in wood exports and the successful implementation of certification schemes in combination with the detection and avoidance of trans-national crime which can be achieved only in cooperation and through global partnerships. The role of international development cooperation and financial assistance for the achievement of MDG 7 will be analysed from the background of domestic preconditions. The overall aim of this work is to reveal the linkages between poverty, the eight MDGs and their relevance for the viability of MDG 7, and to emphasize the necessity for strengthened international efforts especially in combating transnational crime to allow for the MDGs to be reached by 2015.