TITLE:
Designing an Integrated Circular Economy Model for Angola (MIECA): Environmental Innovation, Green Job Creation, and Economic Diversification
AUTHORS:
Alexandre Komba Muizu
KEYWORDS:
Circular Economy, Angola, Economic Diversification, Green Jobs, Environmental Governance, Circularity Indicators
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.10,
October
9,
2026
ABSTRACT: This article offers a critical synthesis of Conceção de um Modelo Integrado de Economia Circular para Angola (Komba Muizu, 2026), which designs an Integrated Circular Economy Model for Angola (MIECA). In response to Angola’s persistent dependence on oil revenues and the limited valorization of secondary resources, the author proposes a systemic framework articulating eight components—natural resources, production systems, responsible consumption, collection and reverse logistics, recovery, research and innovation, governance and financing, and monitoring and evaluation. A mixed-methods approach (qualitative and quantitative), deployed across five phases, produced four operational instruments: the National Map of Material Flows (NMMF), the Angolan Sectoral Circularity Matrix (ASCM), the Angola Circular Economy Index (ACEI), and the National Circularity Dashboard (NCD). The model underwent an exploratory, illustrative application in the province of Lunda Norte, selected for its representativeness across mining, agriculture, and urban activity; as the source manuscript does not report a realized sample size, response rate, or statistical outputs for this application, it is presented here as a proof-of-concept rather than as a statistically validated result. The findings point to a high potential for valorizing Angola’s resources, conditional on strengthening environmental infrastructure, institutional governance, and applied research. The article discusses the scientific and practical scope of MIECA, its methodological limitations, and directions for future research, including its extension to Angola’s twenty-one provinces.