Influence of Environmental Practices on Sustainable Development of the Sub-Saharan African Countries

While sustainable development has garnered widespread international support, there is a notable gap in research concerning the practical obstacles and opportunities associated with implementing sustainable development in Sub-Saharan Africa. This research aimed to determine the influence of environmental practices on sustainable development of the sub-Saharan African countries. The study was guided by the Ecological Modernization Theory.

The research used a longitudinal panel design, which was necessary to capture the temporal precedence and provided a stronger basis for causal inference. The study adopted a positivist research philosophy. The study examined data from 49 Sub-Saharan African countries over 24 years from 2000 to 2023. This period was effectively chosen to embrace a significant longitudinal curve to grasp the short and long-term tendencies in the sustainability-related practices and sustainable development. The study utilized a structured secondary data collection sheet for data collection, designed to explore the multifaceted dimensions of environmental practices, including GHC emissions, renewable energy and forest area cover within the Sub-Saharan African region.

System GMM results showed that the Environmental Practices Index (EPI) had a statistically insignificant relationship with sustainable development (β = -0.0329, p = 0.624), while the lagged dependent variable demonstrated strong persistence (β = 0.8124, p < 0.001), leading to the acceptance of the null hypothesis that environmental practices do not influence sustainable development.

The study concluded that current environmental sustainability measures in Sub-Saharan Africa do not significantly influence sustainable development outcomes, implying that policy efforts must prioritize institutional capacity and enforcement mechanisms over mere regulatory adoption. The research recommended that future research should examine the implementation-effectiveness gap in environmental practices, as well as expanding the geographic scope to South Africa, which may produce relationships that differ from those in Latin America, Asia or other regions.