Natural Resources & Sustainability

The earth is endowed with natural resources that support human life including the totality of our natural environment, which we exploit for economic growth and development. Some examples of natural resources include vegetation, soil, air, rivers / water resources, natural gas, crude oil, minerals generally and ecosystem services amongst many others. A common denominator across all these natural resources is the quest for “prudent and strategic management” that can ensure their sustainable utilisation including our ability to pass them on (in good condition) to generations unborn. This, however, remains a herculean task to accomplish. The first step in attempting to manage natural resources require a thorough characterisation of the environmental sphere from which each natural resource is derived. Second, the skills to transparently account for how, and what, these natural resources are transformed into in the form of the four capitals (e.g., human, financial, social and natural capitals) are most vital. Third, these four capitals must be monitored in space and time vis-à-vis the future of generations unborn with strategic plans to ensure they outlive us. This academy, therefore, provides state-of-the-art training and skills acquisition around the aforementioned areas for top government and private sector players across the African continent.