5th Africa Forum

Circular Technologies for Environmental Remediation and Resource Management

Africa like the rest of the world faces intersecting stressors from expanding extractive industries for resources security and economic expansions, agricultural intensification for food sufficiency, water scarcity due to climate variability and other natural events. However,  these actions have not been well accompanied by adequate sustainability strategies leading to declining environmental quality and ecosystem services. Globally, industries are waking up to a hard truth that environmental damage also means lost value. Nonetheless, circular technologies have been establshed to offer pathways to remediate polluted environments, reclaim valuable resources from wastes, and deliver resilient, low-cost solutions that are scalable in African contexts. These can deliver ripple benefits including cleaner drinking water in towns, restored arable land for smallholder farming, safer mine closure strategies, and local jobs built around resource recovery and reuse. They further offer the chance to maximise limited resources without needing to explore new ones urgently. The 5th Africa Forum seeks to accelerate knowledge-sharing, transfer of technologies, strengthen global collaborations, and highlighting feasible innovation models that can deliver environment, social and governance targets that align with the global sustainable development goals. Topics including circular mine waste and tailings valorisation, water circularity technologies, soil and sediment remediation with resource recovery, and nature-based agroforestry and constructed wetlands will be discussed.