ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews in detail that Africa is especially important in an anti-poverty context because it has been less successful than other areas in meeting the Millennium Development Goals that developing countries set for themselves over 2000-2015. Biomes have not been constants in Africa – their shifts have been fundamental to the economic development of the continent. The framework is based on the staple theory of international trade and development. This perspective stresses the economic consequences of the physical properties of an area's central export item and the dynamism of the type of linkages it establishes with the rest of the economy. Much of the variety in African economic situations reflects contrasts in geography and environment across the continent. The most powerful river systems in shaping the continent's geography are the Nile, the Zambezi, the Congo and the Niger. Gender inequality is important to stress in Africa.
