More than half of global population growth between now and 2050 is expected to occur in Africa.

Economic opportunities

This is according to a recent United Nation's report, which states that of the additional 2.4 billion people projected to be added to the global population in the next 35 years, 1.3 billion will be added in Africa (that’s four times the current population). This means that the continent will house approximately 25% of the global population by 2050.“This projected growth may pose the greatest threat globally to climate change and other looming crises, as these future generations enter the economy needing food, water and energy, and generating waste. Changing the developmental paradigm of Africans now towards a circular green economy could therefore be regarded as the single most important endeavour in the world today,” says Gordon Brown, CEO of Alive2Green, organisers of Sustainability Week 2016, taking place at the CSIR Convention Centre in Pretoria from 31 May to 5 June 2016.“Significantly changing the social and environmental outlook of Africans also offers tremendous economic opportunities for innovators and early adopters, as the process of technological leap-frogging heralds in a true 'green economy'. Our hope for Sustainability Week 2016 is to highlight the need to develop and accelerate the pipeline of sustainability-oriented projects and contribute to igniting a green revolution in Africa," Brown says.“It has never been more pertinent for businesses, thought-leaders, policy-makers, practitioners, producers and investors across Africa and beyond to re-evaluate their respective areas and the cause and effect of their actions.”Sustainability Week, one of the largest gatherings on sustainability in Africa, has proven itself a significant forum for stimulating such international dialogue and action, and the 2016 edition will be no different.This year’s Sustainability Week programme boasts 14 seminars and over-flow sessions aimed at promoting collaborative thinking and development to accelerate the sustainable solutions needed to support rapid economic and population growth.For more info, go to www.sustainabilityweek.co.za