The hidden development patterns of Africa and their sustainability correlations

IF 5.4 Q1 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Environmental and Sustainability Indicators Pub Date : 2024-09-10 DOI:10.1016/j.indic.2024.100474
Richard Ross Shaker , Brian R. Mackay
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Abstract

With steady population growth and formidable development issues, understanding Africa is crucial for reaching global sustainability. Through policy support, societies have embraced indicators and their composite indices as tools to create benchmark initiatives, assess current conditions, and help set future development targets. Responding, a paralyzing amount of these metrics are now available for decision-makers, practitioners, and researchers to choose from causing difficulties during their applied use. Further, the number of underlying development dimensions essential for capturing all aspects of sustainability remains undetermined. Building upon other continental studies, this research first condensed and described a set of 44 multi-metric sustainability indices across 52 African nations. A factor analysis uncovered 11 significant sustainable development dimensions (factors) that conveyed over 79% of the total variation of the original 44 indices. Next, the 11 latent dimensions were combined (aggregated) into a mega-index of sustainable development (MISD). Lastly, Ward's cluster analysis was used to create country-bundles of similarity from the 11 factors. The four strongest hidden dimensions expressed: (F1) human well-being synergies; (F2) governance and liberty; (F3) economic stability; (F4) happiness and innovation. The human well-being synergies dimension (F1) explained over one-third of the total variance, and had greatest improved conditions in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. MISD ranked Namibia best, then Ghana, Gabon, Kenya, and Zambia; Seychelles ranked worst, then Eritrea, Burundi, Comoros, and Mauritania. Cluster analysis revealed a six-bundle solution. This cross-country analysis spotlights the underrepresentation of planetary boundaries within existing development indices. Lastly, favorable development dimensions were rarely found spatially concordant.

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非洲的隐性发展模式及其与可持续性的相关性
随着人口的稳步增长和发展问题的日益严峻,了解非洲对于实现全球可持续发展至关重要。在政策的支持下,各个社会都将指标及其综合指数作为创建基准倡议、评估现状和帮助制定未来发展目标的工具。与此相对应的是,现在有大量的指标供决策者、从业人员和研究人员选择,给他们的应用造成了困难。此外,对于捕捉可持续发展的各个方面而言,有多少基本发展维度是必不可少的,这一点仍未确定。在其他非洲大陆研究的基础上,本研究首先浓缩并描述了一套涵盖 52 个非洲国家的 44 个多指标可持续发展指数。通过因子分析,发现了 11 个重要的可持续发展维度(因子),这些维度表达了原始 44 个指数中超过 79% 的总变化。接下来,这 11 个潜在维度被合并(汇总)成一个超大型可持续发展指数(MISD)。最后,利用沃德聚类分析法,从 11 个因子中创建出具有相似性的国家束。四个最强的隐性维度分别是:(F1)人类福祉协同作用;(F2)治理与自由;(F3)经济稳定;(F4)幸福与创新。人类福祉协同作用维度(F1)解释了三分之一以上的总方差,地中海沿岸国家的条件改善最大。国际社会发展部将纳米比亚排在最前,然后是加纳、加蓬、肯尼亚和赞比亚;塞舌尔排在最 后,然后是厄立特里亚、布隆迪、科摩罗和毛里塔尼亚。聚类分析揭示了一个六束解决方案。这种跨国分析凸显了现有发展指数中行星边界的代表性不足。最后,很少发现有利的发展维度在空间上是一致的。
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来源期刊
Environmental and Sustainability Indicators
Environmental and Sustainability Indicators Environmental Science-Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
CiteScore
7.80
自引率
2.30%
发文量
49
审稿时长
57 days
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