Time: 12:00 – 12:45

Speaker: Andrew Hudson, LWG

Time: 13:00 – 13:45

Speaker: Rodrigo Henriquez, Leather Naturally

Time: 10:00 – 10:45

Speaker: Prof. Mwinyikione Mwinyihija

Leather and leather products are highly-globalized products and continue to be traded all over the world. Moreover, the leather industry occupies a prominent position in the world’s economy with a global traded value that exceeded 260 billion in 2019. The leather sector is therefore one of the key sectors boosting development through its contribution to expansion and diversification of industries, creation of wealth and utilization of readily available by-products and renewable resources. The leather sector in Africa holds untapped potential and recognized as the most promising foreign exchange earning sector.

The leather industry is also accused of being a source of pollution to the environment with effects on water and soil profile, plant growth, and human health. Although the African leather industry is relatively insignificant compared to other worlds, the present discussion tries to give information about the activities that ALLPI is undertaking to minimize the environmental problems, that encompass:

1. Greening contribution of leather in Africa through Research
2. Evolving policy for environmental management and
3. Application of implementation matrix that allows the private sector to self-assess in order to revamp his/her leather processing methods for minimizing discharge to the environment.