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Methodologically, brings an innovative sense by intersecting sustainable development goals (SDG), driven thematic clusters such as climate adaptation and transformational poverty, with spatial-economic diagnostics, revealing how unemployment, low productivity, and weak specialization in African countries, exacerbate migration and ecological degradation, spreading inequalities. Theoretically, we demonstrate how emergent research prioritizes cross-disciplinary SDG frameworks yet often overlooks the role of grassroots agency in co-designing poverty-alleviation strategies. Key findings highlight the urgency of centering community-led environmental adaptation and scientific-policy synergies to address Africa\u2019s development paradoxes. Our analysis advances contributions for aligning regional inequality studies with SDG implementation in low-resource contexts.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.29333\/ejosdr\/16772","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,18]],"date-time":"2025-08-18T17:32:09Z","timestamp":1755538329000},"page":"em0327","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Impact of regional inequalities on sustainable development strategies in Africa: A systematic literature review analysis of economic, social, and environmental challenges"],"prefix":"10.29333","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0057-0065","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Waldemar S\u00e9rgio","family":"Tavares","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidade de Tr\u00e1s-Os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, PORTUGAL"},{"name":"CETRAD, Vila Real, PORTUGAL"},{"name":"Escola Superior Pedag\u00f3gica do Cuanza Norte, N'dalatando, ANGOLA"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2762-6965","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Leonida Tom\u00e1s","family":"Correia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidade de Tr\u00e1s-Os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, PORTUGAL"},{"name":"CETRAD, Vila Real, PORTUGAL"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1257-412X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria da Concei\u00e7\u00e3o Peixe","family":"Rego","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Economia, Universidade de \u00c9vora, \u00c9vora, PORTUGAL"},{"name":"Centro de Estudos e Forma\u00e7\u00e3o Avan\u00e7ada em Gest\u00e3o e Economia, Universidade de \u00c9vora, \u00c9vora, PORTUGAL"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5112-348X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tiago","family":"Loiola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CETRAD, Vila Real, PORTUGAL"},{"name":"Universidade Federal de Rond\u00f4nia, Rond\u00f4nia, BRAZIL"}]}],"member":"11882","reference":[{"key":"508065","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Adeleye, B. 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