Plunder of timber and fisheries is holding back Africa #kofiannan

Africa's rich natural resources offer a unique opportunity for a breakthrough in improving the lives of Africa's citizens, says a major new report launched today by Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General, but too often these resources are plundered by corrupt officials and foreign investors. Rising inequality is also blocking Africa from seizing that opportunity, the report shows. The 2014 Africa Progress Panel report,Grain, Fish, Money: Financing Africa's green and blue revolutions, calls on Africa's political leaders to take concrete measures now to reduce inequality by investing in agriculture. It also demands international action to end what it describes as the plunder of Africa's timber and fisheries. "After more than a decade of growth, there is plenty to celebrate," Mr Annan will say when he releases the report. "But it is time to ask why so much growth has done so little to lift people out of poverty - and why so much of Africa's resource wealth is squandered through corrupt practices and unscrupulous investment activities." "Africa is a continent of great wealth so why is Africa's share of global malnutrition and child deaths rising so fast? The answer is that inequality is weakening the link between economic growth and improvements in wellbeing," he said. Although average income has risen by one-third in the past decade, there are more Africans living in poverty now - around 415 million - than at the end of the 1990s. New global development goals are likely to aim to eradicate poverty by 2030 - but on current trends, one African in five will still be in poverty when that deadline arrives. Mr Annan, who played a central role in shaping the Millennium Development Goals, says: "When countries sign up to the new global development framework, they should pledge not only to meet ambitious targets but also to narrow the region's indefensible gaps between rich and poor, urban and rural, and men and women." The report's authors identify agriculture as the key to growth that reduces poverty. They point out that most of Africa's poor live and work in rural areas, predominantly as smallholder farmers. "Countries that have built growth on the foundations of a vibrant agricultural sector - such as Ethiopia and Rwanda - have demonstrated that the rural sector can act as a powerful catalyst for inclusive growth and poverty reduction," Mr Annan will say at the launch.