Environmental Sustainability, Resource Management, and Climate Resilience in Resource-Constrained Economies: A Multidisciplinary Review of West African Evidence

Publication Details

Publication Date

10/10/2026

Volume / Issue

Vol 1, Issue 5 (2026)

Article No.

072

Journal

British Journal of Contemporary Research

DOI

https://doi.org/10.67693/BJCR-SLSKD34Q

Received

28 Sep 2026

Views

23

Downloads

11

Abstract

Resource-constrained economies confront environmental pressures, accelerating waste generation, degraded land, unreliable energy, contaminated food chains and climate-driven instability under institutional and financial conditions that differ markedly from those in which mainstream sustainability frameworks were developed. This review synthesises multidisciplinary evidence on ecological stewardship, waste and materials management, renewable energy, pollution remediation, green architecture and climate adaptation, drawing on a corpus of recent West African studies and reading it against the international literature. Four themes are examined: socio-ecological stewardship and the socio-environmental drivers of instability; waste management and circular-economy material innovation; renewable energy, pollution control and chemical optimisation; and green architecture and adaptive land-use planning. Three cross-cutting findings emerge. First, the binding constraint on sustainability transitions in these settings is institutional and behavioural rather than technical: viable low-cost technologies for waste valorisation, water treatment and green coatings already exist and perform well, but fragmented governance, weak enforcement, low public awareness and financing gaps prevent their diffusion. Second, culturally embedded resources, faith-based institutions, indigenous ecological knowledge and eco-cultural communication systems are underused assets that operate where formal governance is weakest, though the evidence for their measurable environmental impact remains thin. Third, environmental degradation, poverty and climate stress interact to produce security and livelihood crises that are inseparable from sustainability policy. The review argues that technical, socio-cultural and governance interventions are complementary rather than sequential, identifies methodological weaknesses in the underlying evidence base, and sets out priorities for research capable of supporting policy.

License

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Free to read, share, and adapt with attribution.