Beyene Sisay Demissew
College of Business and Economics, Department of Economics, Arsi University, Asella, Ethiopia.
Heliyon. 2022 Sep 25;8(9):e10756. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10756. eCollection 2022 Sep.
Due to several types of human activities, the environment of African countries has not improved. Moreover, environmental economists have criticised the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis because it does not analyse the feedback effect of the environment on economic growth and does not measure environmental pollution broadly. Besides, empirical studies that comprehensively measure the environment and examine the feedback effect are not available in Africa's case. In addition, findings concerning the association between human activities and Environmental Quality (EQ) have been paid limited attention to Africa, although 50% of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focus on these issues. Therefore, this study examines the link between human activities and EQ as well as the effect of EQ on growth for 38 African countries from 2000 to 2018. The study found that EQ has a positive and non-linear association with human capital, technology, and urbanisation. However, it has a negative and non-linear association with GDP Per Capita (GDPPC) and trade openness. Further, EQ significantly increases GDPPC. The study also recommends that African countries need to invest in improving Human Development Index (HDI), use green or low-carbon technologies, reduce migration from rural to urban, develop comprehensive urban planning, and design and implement appropriate trade policies.
由于多种人类活动类型，非洲国家的环境并未得到改善。此外，环境经济学家批评了传统的环境库兹涅茨曲线（EKC）假说，因为它没有分析环境对经济增长的反馈效应，也没有广泛衡量环境污染。此外，在非洲的案例中，尚无全面衡量环境并检验反馈效应的实证研究。此外，尽管50%的可持续发展目标（SDGs）关注这些问题，但关于人类活动与环境质量（EQ）之间关联的研究结果在非洲受到的关注有限。因此，本研究考察了2000年至2018年38个非洲国家人类活动与环境质量之间的联系以及环境质量对增长的影响。研究发现，环境质量与人力资本、技术和城市化呈正相关且非线性相关。然而，它与人均国内生产总值（GDPPC）和贸易开放度呈负相关且非线性相关。此外，环境质量显著提高人均国内生产总值。该研究还建议，非洲国家需要投资改善人类发展指数（HDI），采用绿色或低碳技术，减少从农村到城市的迁移，制定全面的城市规划，并设计和实施适当的贸易政策。
