Chapter 1
Sustainability Challenges in Sub-Saharan
Africa in the Context of the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs)
Denabo Juju, Gideon Baffoe, Rodolfo Dam Lam, Alice Karanja,
Merle Naidoo, Abubakari Ahmed, Marcin Pawel Jarzebski, Osamu Saito,
Kensuke Fukushi, Kazuhiko Takeuchi, and Alexandros Gasparatos
1.1 Introduction
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) comprises 46 countries that are located south of the
Sahara desert. SSA is the poorest and least developed region of the world across a
series of socio-economic metrics (UNDP 2018a). For example, it is characterized by
D. Juju
Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia
G. Baffoe
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
R. Dam Lam · M. P. Jarzebski
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
A. Karanja · A. Gasparatos (*)
Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: gasparatos@ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp
M. Naidoo
Graduate Programme in Sustainability Science – Global Leadership Initiative (GPSS-GLI),
The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
A. Ahmed
Department of Planning, University for Development Studies, Wa, Ghana
O. Saito · K. Takeuchi
Institute for Global Environmental Studies (IGES), Hayama, Japan
Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: saito@unu.edu; atake@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
K. Fukushi
Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), United Nations University,
Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: fukushi@ifi.u-tokyo.ac.jp
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
A. Gasparatos et al. (eds.), Sustainability Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa I,
Science for Sustainable Societies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4458-3_1
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