50% of Africa’s youth spend up to a quarter of their monthly income buying fresh water. One in six of them spend more than half of what they earn on fresh water. A third of all 18 to 24-year-olds on the continent rely on bottled water.
These are just some of the environmental findings in the second edition of the African Youth Survey released today in Johannesburg and London. Conceptualised and underwritten by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation chaired by industrialist and philanthropist Ivor Ichikowitz, the unique research tool aims to gauge the pulse of the continent’s youth.
Fieldwork for the first edition of the survey was conducted in 2019, with the second edition being completed last year and then compiled for release this year. Researchers conducted 300 face-to-face interviews, split evenly between male and female respondents in 18 countries, asking them a range of questions across a wide scope of topics. To date almost 10 000 youths have been interviewed.
The amount of money African youths spend on fresh water comes into sharp relief with the comparative figure in Britain, where the cost of the recommended 50litres of water per day is only 0,1% of the average basic salary.
The continent is becoming increasingly water insecure because of the ravages of climate change.
“It is one of the most profound ironies that raw materials extracted from Africa and then beneficiated in the northern hemisphere which rapidly industrialised as a result, will have a disproportionate effect on the continent from which they were taken,” says Ichikowitz.
The study has found that African youth are deeply concerned about the impact of climate change. Half of them believe that it will have a very damaging effect on future generations while 40% believe their own lives will be affected negatively. 80% want their government to do more about climate change and want them to pursue policies that will lead to their countries going carbon neutral.
Three quarters of them are concerned about the impact of pollution on the land, water and air, especially the destruction of farmlands and natural habitats and the upsurge in pestilence and crop infestation. They are also worried about poaching with 66% calling for a ban on all products of illegal hunting.
If their governments will not act, then the youths themselves will. The survey reveals how two thirds of African youth actively support or participate in or donate to environmental causes, with the most active being youth in Kenya, Ghana and Rwanda. 66% of 18 to 24-year-olds are actively reducing their own carbon footprint themselves.
“What we see, when we study the survey,” says Ichikowitz, “is that this next generation is neither disempowered nor ignorant of the hazards their countries and their continent face. On the contrary, these are a highly motivated, highly informed and deeply committed cohort of citizens determined to ensure they have a chance at a life that was perhaps denied their parents.
