In his new book, “Gabon decrepitude, je reve pour notre Afrique”, Jimmy Mapango talks about the necessity for an African renaissance and how mismanagement and irresponsibility affects Gabon and Africa as a whole.

Writer, poet and activist

Thierry jimmy Mapango is a long time activist and member of the international coalition; publish what you pay for. He has been involved directly in a call for greater government transparency in the issuing of contracts to foreign companies who tend to exploit the country’s natural resources at the expense of the Gabonese people and their environmental heritage.

Working closely with Goldman Environmental Prize winner, Marc Ona, Jimmy Mapango has a gone a long way to impact his country’s approach to dealing with foreign interests in its natural resources. In his work, he sounds off warnings that include the attribution of only 15% of all of Gabon’s Belinga mining project profits to the country while a shocking 85% would go to China.

His book, published on the 15th of April 2009 on thebookedition.com, tells the story of the Gabonese people and their response to projects granted to foreign companies that fail to be economically sustainable for them and further destroy their environmental and natural heritage.