Sustainable growth is an article of faith

Alex Awiti

"Chinese now realize the importance of environmental protection because of the terrible air and smog that many living in cities are having to put up with," Yan says.

"Initiatives from individuals, companies and factories are very important because it is they who are the real players in this game."

Environmental pollution has so affected people's lives that the government was bound to act, and that in turn has influenced the way many companies in China are developing, Yan says.

"The number of those coming to us looking for professional advice on reducing pollution and adopting a green development mode has risen in the past few years, and we see this as huge progress in raising awareness. On the other hand, this field in China is so new that there has been no successful business model, so we have had to move carefully as we look to become a respected carbon emissions management organization."

Even though China is a newcomer to the field, that does not necessarily mean it has nothing to share with other countries, especially developing ones, including those in Africa, Yan says.

Many have long heralded Africa as the last paradise on Earth, largely untarnished by industrial pollution and other environmental problems, but in reality the continent has its own environmental demons to deal with.

Ecological crisis

Alex Awiti, director of the East African Institute of The Aga Khan University in Nairobi, says Africa's natural environment is in a perilous state.

"Africa's lakes and rivers are some of the most polluted. For example, Lake Victoria is experiencing an ecological crisis arising from eutrophication and the collapse of fisheries. Most of the pollution in the lake comes from municipal waste and soil erosion from farm and pasture land."

Forestry in the continent is under heavy pressure from logging, and the vital savanna is under assault from expanding agriculture, infrastructure and unplanned urbanization, which also threaten wildlife, he says.

"Africa's environmental challenges are exacerbated by rapid population expansion into fragile dryland ecosystems, forests and wetlands. Upland deforestation in many countries now threatens major river basins and surface water supply systems. Climate change is exerting additional pressure and could accelerate the collapse of vital ecological services.

"Lack of land use planning, especially land use zoning, is another major challenge to sustainable environmental management."

However, the conventional wisdom is that over the next few decades, the continent will march to the drumbeat of industrialization, which, it is argued, will make better use of resources, including land and energy, to achieve economic growth.

But Africa's industrialization may differ from traditional industrialization, Awiti says.