A Chatham House paper has suggested that implementing a circular economy could have a huge effect on poorer countries.
A new briefing paper released by the Royal Institute of International Affairs at Chatham House last week suggests that it is developing nations, as opposed to developed nations, that could benefit most greatly from a circular economy framework, reports edie.net. A Wider Circle? The Circular Economy In Developing Countries notes that, often due to economic necessity, developing nations are usually inherently “more circular” than their developed counterparts.
In lower-income countries, a great deal of economic activity is based around waste management and reuse, providing a major opportunity for these countries to “leapfrog to a more sustainable development pathway”, with the right framework. The report called such pre-existing circular activities “excellent political ‘entry points’” which it speculates could allow governments and the private sector, amongst other players, to promote “innovative economic models.”
Chatham House’s report also states that developed countries are at something of a disadvantage in terms of capturing value from circular economy models, because “most sectors are locked into linear systems.” Both China and the European Union implement closed-loop framework policies, and therefore the paper contends that piloting scaled approaches in developing countries could be mutually beneficial.
The paper also suggests that cross-nation agreements will be vital to unlocking the value of circular economy products, and material streams, as legislative changes in the developed nations will give rise to new trade dynamics.
Once again, developing nations could provide the perfect petri dish for examining such cross-nation collaborative approaches: In Rwanda, Nigeria and South Africa, governments are already working alongside both the EU and the World Economic Forum to launch the African Alliance on Circular Economy. Similarly, the African Development Bank is currently exploring how circular economy could support its industrial development strategy, with studies pointing to huge societal benefits: For example, the open burning of waste has been linked to the premature death of approximately 270,000 people every year.
However, certain barriers still stand in the way of circular economy practices, including technological and methodological ones, with the paper claiming that measuring progress in developing nations would be challenging. Yet existing techniques in these nations are driving the agenda at present, and Chatham House believe an injection of knowledge and finance to help them embrace the circular economy could not only alleviate pressure on resources, but even help push these nations out of poverty.