Risk assessment and management for environmental protection in Sub-Saharan Africa

Global environmental challenges such as deforestation, desertification, biodiversity loss soil erosion, inadequate waste management, water pollution and climate change facing especially Sub-Saharan Africa have catalysed increasing need for participatory academic discourse on probable causes, impacts and robust mitigation mechanisms. It is against this backdrop that the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus (BTU), Germany organised a four-day Alumni conference in Sub-Saharan Africa at the University of Buea, Cameroon from 8th-11th December 2008 on the theme “risk assessment and management for environmental protection”. This book is an outcome of the conference whose multidisciplinary participants drawn from both developed and developing countries contributed immensely to its realisation. It examines some of the most severe environmental problems and threats confronting particularly Sub-Saharan Africa and presents diverse perspectives on how the problems as well as risks associated with them can be tackled through risk assessment and management tools, environmental management systems, environmental law, environmental assessment tools and other appropriate pragmatic management mechanisms. The risk assessment and management concepts addressed in the book can be adapted and applied to other regions of the globe. This unique environmental sustainability book will serve as an invaluable asset for policy makers, environmental managers, researchers, teachers, students and the general public.