As a consequence, environmental pollution and degradation begin to decline since the country has the capacity to invest in environmental friendly technology. Similar results were found by Grossman and Kruger (1995). Source: Robert T. Deacon and Catherine S. Norman*, Does the Environmental Kuznets Curve Describe How Individual Countries Behave? University of California, Santa Barbara April 5, 2004  4  BIS Review 74/2004  However critics of the model [Common, 1995, Shafik 1994, Selden and Song, 1994, and Lopez, 1994], argue that there may be irreversible environmental damage before the top of the curve is reached, the model does not hold for all environmental indicators. Elasticity of substitution between factors of production, pollution and consumer utility must be taken into account. Empirical evidence from South Korea (Lim, 1997) shows that the relationship between economic growth and environment cannot simply be explained by a trade-off or inverted U-shape relationship. The result can be attributed to the worsening (increase) in indicators such as CO2 and industrial waste as per capita income increases in contrast to other indicators such as water quality and domestic waste which experience a U-shaped relationship. Other factors such as pollution due to transportation were found to possibly be lower when people live closer together (Selden and Song, 1994). Globalisation has resulted in the spill over of technology and knowledge from developed countries to several middle-income and many industrialising economies via Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Research and Development (R&D) efforts, thereby leaving developing countries lagging behind (Panayotou, 2000).

Effective environmental protection policies relating primarily to the effects of degradation and depletion of the environment need to be implemented and maintained by institutions and individuals at all levels of society namely, local governments and national, regional,  4  Environment Canada, International Relations, International Agreements, 1998 http://www.ec.gc.ca/international/multilat/ ozone_e.htm  5  Kyoto Protocol, Status of Ratification, Last Modified 29th July 2004, http://unfccc.int/resource/kpstats.pdf  BIS Review 74/2004  7  as well as international institutional bodies. This is even more critical for Africa which is also faced with unique constraints such as rapid urbanisation, poverty, poor legislation and inadequate capacity to implement and enforce legislative controls where they exist. The trend of population growth in developing countries, estimates that 95% of the total world population growth will occur in Africa, Latin America, and Asia over the next 30 years (Post-LawrenceWeber, 1999). The resulting increasing strain on natural resources due to the imminent population boom in Africa if not checked, will cause many setbacks to economic growth and human development. It is therefore advisable that stricter environmental policies be implemented in these countries so as to offset encounters with such negative developments. The anticipated future demographic pressure on urban areas due to a shift of the expanding population to the cities and towns in search of jobs will ultimately result in increased levels of air pollution, and pressure on transportation facilities, urban sanitation, access to clean water supply, and waste disposal.