Extending the frontiers of financial development for sustainability of the <scp>MENA</scp> states: The roles of resource abundance and institutional quality

This paper explores Green Education in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), addressing shared environmental challenges across its 21 diverse countries. Despite differing economic structures, economies and politics, the need for green education, also known as environmental education (EE) or education for sustainable development (ESD), is evident. MENA encounters obstacles like centralised education structures, governance issues, curriculum gaps, limited funding, environmental awareness and gender disparities. Overcoming these challenges necessitates a comprehensive strategy involving curriculum integration, policy support, collaboration with non‐governmental organisations and international organisations, sufficient funding and effective monitoring. Engaging in global initiatives like the Paris Agreement and the Middle East Green Initiative provides opportunities to enhance EE. Adopting a holistic approach empowers the MENA region to address environmental concerns, promote sustainable development and align with global conservation efforts.

Advancing green education in MENA region: Challenges, opportunities and best practices

Onyeaka,

Akinsemolu

2024

Does economic complexity provide antidotal pathways to evade the resource curse syndrome? A novel role for institutions

Olaniyi,

Odhiambo

2024

This study offers the first empirical attempt to examine the role of institutional quality in influencing the contribution of economic complexity to evading resource curses and reducing resource dependency in resource‐rich countries. We analyze data from 20 resource‐rich African countries covering the years 1995–2021, using fully modified ordinary least squares, a Driscoll–Kraay nonparametric covariance matrix, and the method of moments‐quantile regression. These countries predominantly suffer from resource curses, resource dependence, weak economic complexity, and deficient institutions. The findings reveal that economic complexity has no direct potency to spur less reliance on natural resources and mitigate resource curses. Institutional quality, on the other hand, creates stimuli and technical support that facilitate less resource dependence and offer countermeasures to evade resource curses in resource‐rich African countries. Interestingly, institutional quality strengthens economic complexity by increasing knowledge‐based productive capacity, technological innovation, extending non‐resource sectors and exports, promoting innovative business opportunities, fostering entrepreneurship, diversifying economies, reducing resource dependence, and mitigating resource curses. The study concludes that institutional quality enables economic complexity to spur less reliance on natural resources and pave the way to evade resource curses in resource‐rich African countries. The primary policy implications of the study suggest that the capacity of resource‐rich African countries' economic complexity to reduce resource dependence and provide strategies to circumvent the resource curse is contingent upon the efficiency and effectiveness of their institutions.

Quest for SDG‐13: The Aptness of Green Investments and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to Emission Mitigation Among Central‐African States

Onifade,

Musah,

Gyamfi

et al. 2024

The Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG‐13) enunciates the need to combat climate change by encouraging necessary actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and this laudable goal was re‐echoed at COP‐28 in the UAE. Although negatively impacted by climate change, the vast literature is silent on the Central Africa (CA) region. Thus, we empirically dissect the emission‐mitigating roles of green investment while integrating the moderating influences of ICT, foreign capitals (FDI), and non‐renewable energy intake, within the region's economic expansion and population growth. We observe that economic expansion has a non‐linear impact on emissions (an inverted U‐Shaped pattern); with initial emission‐inducing effects from non‐renewable energy, financial development, population, and foreign capitals while green investment and ICT mitigate regional emissions. Subsequent expansion in indicators (green investments, FDI, and ICT) significantly mitigates emissions except for non‐renewable energy intake. Green investments' interactive impacts with overall financial development trends also enhance regional environmental goals. Overall, the study posits that CA states can potentially mitigate environmental degradation by leveraging ICT and green investments towards the realization of SDG‐13.