Potentials, drivers and barriers to green economy transition: Implications for Africa

African countries depend majorly on natural resources for livelihood sustenance. Despite many untapped potentials in some sectors of Africa's economy, the continent is still faced with several social, economic and environmental problems. Green economy presents an appealing policy framework to help the continent overcome these challenges and transit to a more environmentally-friendly, low-carbon and resource-efficient economy. Achieving this socially-inclusive viable economy is limited by weak institutions and political will, human and institutional capacity gaps, a paucity of data for impact assessment, poor awareness of the benefits of green economy concepts and poor coordination among green economy actors. This review identifies the potentials, drivers and barriers to a green economy in Africa. Some countries recognised the role of the green economy in sustainable development. However, mainstreaming the right policy mix into national plans across the sectors of society remains a big challenge. This review thus recommends strengthening both public institutions and political will that will help to prioritise policy frameworks, mainstream private sector involvement, close capacity gaps, create sufficient public awareness and build sectoral synergy among green economy actors for an environmentally-sustainable, low-carbon and resource-efficient economy.