Poverty across the region has meant continued loss of forests and other precious environmental resources. In SSA, the proportion of land covered by forest is estimated to have decreased from 29.3 per cent in 1990 to 27.1 per cent in 2000.

Environmental performance has varied considerably at country level, with commendable achievement in some countries. Average deforestation for North Africa remained constant at 1 per cent over the decade. Others lost as much as 33 per cent of their forest coverage.

With little access to alternative and affordable energy sources - 60 per cent of Africa’s energy demand is met by forests - African communities continue to rely on firewood for heating, cooking and lighting. Energy use per unit of GDP, a measure of energy efficiency, declined in Africa between 1990 and 2002, but improved in developing regions as a whole. In addition, population displacement through civil wars and/or natural causes has also taken its toll on the African environment.

Overall, deforestation, as well as poor land use and management, has had a devastating climatic effect on the continent, increasing the region’s historic tendency to both extremes of drought and flooding. Some of the problems caused by environmental and land degradation are: lower agricultural yields due to declining soil productivity, pollution, depletion of freshwater basins, loss of biodiversity, and loss of revenue from tourism.

Despite the adverse impact of depleted forest coverage and related damage to water resources, total population access to water in SSA increased from 49 to 58 per cent in ten years. In rural areas, it increased from 36 to 45 per cent. However, unless water basin management takes a much more visible and tangible role, progress on this target may be unsustainable. Connected to water management as it is, access to basic sanitation also showed little progress, rising from 32 to 36 per cent.

In contrast, on a more positive note, North Africa has already met its second target in towns by halving the proportion of the urban population without sustainable access to safe drinking water, although more has to be achieved for rural populations. SSA is also on track and is also likely to meet that target in urban areas, though not in rural areas.

North Africa is also on track to achieve the target of improving the lives of slum dwellers. In this area, SSA is unlikely to meet the target as its slums have generally continued to proliferate.