ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT POLICIES AND POLLUTION CONTROL STRATEGIES IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES

Summary

Environmental pollution constrains sustainable development in developing economies, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, where rapid urbanization, industrialization, population growth, and weak institutional capacity strain environmental resources. This study assesses the effectiveness of environmental management policies and pollution control strategies implemented by governments and industries in Nigeria and selected Sub-Saharan African countries, covering air, water, and land pollution, waste management, industrial environmental management, and circular economy initiatives. A convergent mixed-methods design combined a systematic review under the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 framework (29 sources published 2010–2026, drawn from seven databases and reports of major international organizations) with a questionnaire survey of 286 stakeholders in Anambra, Lagos, and Rivers States, Nigeria, analysed with mean scores, standard deviations, percentages, and the Kruskal–Wallis test. The review shows substantial progress in policy and regulatory frameworks but constrained implementation owing to inadequate funding, weak enforcement, insufficient monitoring infrastructure, institutional fragmentation, and technological limitations. Respondents rated all five programmes (mean scores 3.17–3.33) and air, water, and land pollution control (3.13–3.27) as moderately effective, giving an overall Environmental Performance Index (EPI) of 3.22, and ranked industrial activities as the leading pollution source; environmental officers rated programmes significantly more favourably than community residents. The study proposes an Environmental Governance Effectiveness Framework (EGEF) built on policy strength, institutional capacity, technological innovation, stakeholder participation, and continuous evaluation, and concludes that sustainable environmental management requires integrated governance, stronger enforcement, greater investment, cleaner production, and wider adoption of circular economy principles.

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