U NEP

ROA News
ROA News is a Newsletter of the Regional Office for Africa (ROA) at UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya

No 13 July 2008

Linking Africa to Copenhagen:

African Ministers Map the Way to a
Comprehensive Strategy for a Climate Change
Regime Beyond 2012
T he 12th session of the African
Ministerial Conference on the
Environment was held from 7-12
June 2008 at the Sandton International
Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South
Africa. The main objective of this session
was to provide a platform for environment
ministers to review the progress made in
the implementation of the action plan
for the environment initiative of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) with the view to enhancing its
implementation.
Mr. Marthinus van Schalkwyk, President of Mr. Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director
AMCEN
The twelfth session also provided an op-
portunity for environment ministers to ad- mate change. On assuming the presidency, monizing programmes and initiatives in
dress emerging environmental challenges Mr. Marthinus van Schalkwyk emphasized Africa, especially those related to climate
in Africa, particularly issues related to cli- that AMCEN had a key role to play in har- change. Expressing concern about the ap-

C on t en t s
Linking Africa to Copenhagen: African Ministers Map the Way to a
Comprehensive Strategy for a Climate Change Regime Beyond 2012
Interview with Peter Acquah, Secretary of the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment
Africa’s Climate Roadmap: from Johannesburg to Copenhagen
African Civil Society’s Participation: Communiqué of African Civil
Society Organizations (CSOs) to the 12th Session of AMCEN
Africa’s Vision for International Environmental Governance
Third Africa Environment Outlook Process and the Africa
Environment Information Network
Implementation of the Action plan for the Environment Initiative
of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
Africa Environment Day’s Celebrations Go Regional
Enhancing Environmental Education and Technology-supported
Learning in Africa
Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment
Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Management
African Ministerial Conference on the Environment Johannesburg
Declaration on the Environment for Sustainable Development
Fifth African Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and
Production (ARSCP-5)
Special Conference of Parties to the Abidjan Convention Brings
New prospects for Coastal and Marine Environment in the Atlantic
Coast of Africa
Climate Change Grips Finance and Development Ministers
First Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment
in Africa
China Africa Cooperation
Launching Bridges Across from Latin America to Africa
University Students from Colombia visit UNEP 28
Mr. Marthinus van Schalkwyk, President of the African
1 Ministerial Conference on the Environment, Minister of
2 Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa
3
“During our Presidency of AMCEN, South Africa will seek to strengthen and support the
7
implementation of the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation across the African Continent.  It
9
is in this very venue of the Sandton Convention Centre that the global community gathered
10 under the slogan “people, planet, prosperity” to participate in the World Summit on Sustainable
Development more than five years ago. It is also here where the WSSD gave birth to the
11
Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.  At that time we recognized that poverty and global
12
inequality were the greatest threats to sustainable development. It is this very challenge
13 that faces us today in the face of even greater threats of climate change and environmental
14 degradation.
17
18 It is in particular in the climate change negotiations that Africa would need to stand together
22
over the next two years. Our message is that Africa will not be divided and will be well-prepared
for these negotiations. 
23
As South Africa assumes the Chair of AMCEN at this 12th Session, our commitment is to
24
strengthen AMCEN as the key African Ministerial Forum to lead policy dialogues and improve
25
co-ordination in the environmental sphere.  Our message for this gathering is that we are ready
27 to assist in shaping and building a cohesive African environmental agenda. We look forward to
doing so by working closely with all our colleagues and partners on the continent.

ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  • 

A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N

parent divide‑and‑rule policy followed

Mr. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director
by the developed countries in relation to
“AMCEN, as part of the African Union and as the driving force on the environment in New climate change, he stressed the need for
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), has a critical role in shaping current and future
choices. Africa is vulnerable to climate change, but does not have to be a victim of climate change. Africa to put in place agreed common
The defining moment for action and for influencing the future is now. Here in Johannesburg. positions on climate change, in order to
combat such divisive tactics, and pledged
The Bali Road Map - the two year negotiation under the climate change convention - has 18 the determination of South Africa to strive
months to run. A deep and decisive agreement must be achieved by the climate convention
meeting in Copenhagen in 2009. An agreement that is inclusive - that involves all nations with to attain the objectives of AMCEN.
common but differentiated responsibilities. An agreement that includes not only deep cuts in
greenhouse gases by developed countries. But one that addresses the needs and opportunities This special issue of ROA News highlights
for developing nations not least those in Africa. Opportunities for cleaner and renewable energies the major outcomes of the 12th Session of
of which Africa has abundant but untapped potential. Opportunities to include tropical forests - in
which Africa is also rich - in the suite of climate change solutions either via a fund or via inclusion AMCEN. p
in the carbon markets. Opportunities to ‘climate proof’ economies and in doing so contribute to
addressing poverty and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

If we fail to combat climate change, the recessions of today will be as nothing to those of the
future. But if we can navigate the Bali Road Map to a successful conclusion - putting an ever
higher price on carbon - there is every chance that we can unlock some and indeed more of
Africa’s huge potential.”

Interview with Peter Acquah,

Secretary of the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment
ROA News: the 12th session is over and is
viewed as an important milestone, not only in
the history of AMCEN…
Peter Acquah: Organizing the 12th session
posed a special challenge since a new for-
mat was used for this regular session of
AMCEN. This however offered a unique
opportunity for ‘UNEP to work as one’. I
wish to thank everyone for the invaluable
contribution towards the success of this
12th session of AMCEN. United Nations
Environment Programme’s team, led by the
Executive Director, made a remarkable im-
pact at the session. I had very positive feed
back from many delegations. As you may
recall when the new President of AMCEN,
Hon. Marthinus van Schalkwyk of South
Africa, formally announced the closure of
the 12th session, he proclaimed it a success
and publicly thanked UNEP and AMCEN
Secretariat for the professional way the ses-
sion was organized and substantively sup-
ported to make it a resounding (emphasis
mine) success.
ROA News: what are the major outcomes
that made this session so special?
P.A.: There were a number of significant
outputs for the 12th session and these in-
cluded the AMCEN Johannesburg Dec-
laration on Environment for Sustainable
Development; the President of AMCEN’s
summary on the ministerial policy dia-
logue on Climate change- Bali Action Plan;
Financing climate change and NEPAD en-
vironmental programmes and projects; and
International Environmental Governance in
the context of UN reforms; Eight Decisions
and the indicative Work programme for the
2009 – 2010 biennium. The eight Decisions
were made on the following issues:
• Implementation of the Action Plan for
the Environment Initiative of NEPAD
• Climate Change
• Constitution of AMCEN
• Status and use of the general trust fund
for AMCEN
• Chemicals and hazardous waste manage-
ment
• Environmental education and technol-
ogy – supported learning
• Africa Environment Day
• Africa Environment Outlook
The Decision on climate change is a land-
mark one and it offers an opportunity and a
major challenge to AMCEN Secretariat vis-
à-vis its implementation. The Decision were
in two parts; namely,
• Africa’s preparations for developing a
common negotiating position on a com-
prehensive international climate change
regime beyond 2012; and
• Comprehensive framework of African
climate change programmes
One of the highlights of this 12th session was
the launch of Africa - Atlas of Our Chang-
ing Environment by the out going President
of AMCEN (Minister of Environment of
Congo). This was a memorable event which
the world press covered extensively.
ROA News: During the 12th session the issue
of “half full-half empty” came up in relation
to the implementation of environmental
programmes /projects in Africa. Where do
you see Africa standing at this point?
P.A.: Some modest progress is being made
in Africa but African countries still need to
be encouraged to do more. This vexed ques-
tion of “is it half-full or half-empty” vis-à-vis
activities being undertaken in Africa was elo-
quently answered by Marco Gonzalez, Execu-
tive Secretary of the Montreal Protocol. In his
brief presentation at the Ministerial session,
he clearly illustrated the fact that the option
prevailing for Africa now is the “half full”. He
emphasized that Africa as a continent had
been a leader in the Montreal Protocol. He
went on to commend African States on their
implementation of and compliance with the
Protocol, noting Africa’s strong commitment
and willingness to play a significant role in
global environmental protection.
We should start celebrating our successes
even when we still have some challenges
confronting us. p

  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13


Africa’s Climate Roadmap:
from Johannesburg to Copenhagen
T
he United Nations Climate Change
Conference held in Bali, Indonesia,
in December 2007 resulted in the
agreement on the Bali Action Plan, which
set 2009 as the end date for negotiations on
strengthening the climate regime beyond
2012. The Bali Action Plan offered Africa
the opportunity to build consensus on the
complex issues of climate change and sus-
tainable development, to the benefit of the
continent. It was therefore critical for Afri-
can Ministers to lay the building blocks for
a clear position and appropriate strategy to
ensure Africa’s specific concerns and needs
are addressed in the ongoing negotiations
on the post Kyoto climate regime.
Africa must speak with one voice in ad-
vancing the continent’s interests in negoti-
ations for the climate regime beyond 2012
and on ways of enhancing implementa-
tion of the Framework Convention on
Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol
beyond Copenhagen, on the basis of the
established principles of equity and com-
mon but differentiated responsibilities and
respective capabilities. The roadmap is
therefore based on the continent’s shared
vision on adaptation and mitigation, us-
ing a sustainable development policies
and measures approach, supported and
enabled by finance, technology and ca-
pacity‑building. The President of AMCEN
will steer the African Roadmap process.
Given that intensive negotiations are
needed to achieve an outcome by the end
of 2009, Africa will identify the key politi-
cal messages to inform the global debate
and negotiating process, in terms both of
the commitments that it sought from the
international community, and also of the
actions that African countries would take
themselves.
For the development of an African com-
mon position as part of the African Road-
map to Copenhagen, an African high-level
expert panel on climate change will be
established, to include senior officials and
African focal points for the Framework
Convention on Climate Change, working
in collaboration with UNEP, NEPAD and
the Commission of the African Union.
The high-level expert panel will be man-
dated to develop a draft common position,
including a plan of action for building
consensus in the region and supporting
a focused and coordinated approach to
the climate change negotiations. AMCEN
had decided to establish a work plan with
milestones for the development of the
common position.
Algeria will host the first meeting of the
planned AMCEN high-level expert panel,
working towards the African ministerial
meeting on climate change to be held in
Algiers in October 2008. The final com-
mon position should be adopted at the
special session of AMCEN to be held in
2009 and later submitted to the African
Union Summit scheduled to be held in
June/July 2009.
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
In addition, a joint annual meeting of
the African Union Conference of African
Ministers of Economy and Finance and
the Conference of Ministers of Finance,
Planning and Economic Development of
the United Nations Economic Commis-
sion for Africa (ECA), to establish an Af-
rica climate‑change policy centre at ECA
is planned. This joint meeting will play an
important role in supporting the develop-
ment of an African consensus.
Ten Elements for the process
of developing a common
position as outlined by the
representatives:
• Africa agreed to put forward a shared
vision based on scientific evidence and
broad political consensus. That shared
vision would have several key elements:
the incorporation of Africa’s priorities
for sustainable development, poverty
reduction and attainment of the Mil-
lennium Development Goals in the fu-
ture climate‑change regime; Provision
of increased support under the regime
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  • 
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Yogesh Vyas, Lead Environmental Specialist, African Development Bank; and Sylvie Lemmet,
Director, Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, UNEP
for capacity-building, financing and
technology development and transfer
for adaptation and mitigation in Af-
rica; and the stabilization of emissions
in the atmosphere;
• With regard to the need to keep global
atmospheric concentrations of green-
house gases at a manageable level, Af-
rica would seek agreement on a future
global emissions reduction regime
with targets for all developed countries
to reduce their emissions, by 2020, to-
wards the upper end of the 25‑40 per
cent range for emissions reductions
below 1990 levels, and, by 2050, by be-
tween 80 and 95 per cent below those
levels, to achieve the concentration of
450 ppm of carbon dioxide equivalent
in the atmosphere. With developed
countries taking the lead in that regard,
developing countries would be able to
deviate substantially from “business-
as-usual” baseline emissions, enabled
and supported by finance, technology
and capacity-building from developed
countries, in a measurable, reportable
and verifiable manner;
• Higher priority should be on adapta-
tion in Africa in order to balance it
with mitigation on the international
negotiating agenda. The future regime
should emphasize assisting developing
countries with adaptation technolo-
gies, finance and capacity‑building.
The adoption and further develop-
ment of Africa’s indigenous knowledge
relating to sustainable development
and natural resource management are
critical for successful adaptation pro-
grammes in Africa;
• Significantly up scaled adaptation fi-
nancing, that is new and additional
  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
and that does not divert existing over-
seas development assistance away from
poverty eradication and other devel-
opment priorities, must be channeled
through the Kyoto Protocol’s Adapta-
tion Fund.
• Importance of a coherent financial ar-
chitecture for climate change, guided
by agreed principles and with equitable
governance; Simplification of proce-
dures and the removal of condition-
alities; Importance of climate‑friendly
investment flows. Africa must use the
opportunity created by the current ne-
gotiating processes to act immediately
and create enabling conditions for the
rapid transition of African countries
away from carbon‑intensive develop-
ment towards a low carbon economy
and society. Africa must also position
itself to build international competi-
tiveness within the emerging low-car-
bon global economy and must work to
structure the climate change regime in
a way that enabled it to build its own
competitive advantages and to reach
economic development and sustain-
able development goals while decar-
bonizing growth;
• With regard to the carbon markets and
the Clean Development Mechanism in
particular, engagement by all developed
countries in ambitious multilateral, le-
gally binding, absolute emission reduc-
tions is critical in securing the carbon
market. These carbon markets could
provide some incentives for available
commercial technologies but their
financing must be supplemented by
private sector financial flows and mas-
sively scaled-up public investment;
• Need to rectify the skewed distribution
of Clean Development Mechanism
projects at the international level, and
to rationalize financial and investment
frameworks and mechanisms. It is es-
sential to negotiate improvements to
the Clean Development Mechanism
rules to enable Africans to take advan-
tage of funds from the carbon market
to support sustainable development
and the transfer of climate-friendly
technologies to Africa. Institutional ca-
pacity-building, awareness-raising and
more active involvement of the private
sector in carbon trading is critical;
• National growth and poverty reduc-
tion aspirations remain key impera-
tives and could be supported through
increased investment and incentives
for technological innovations, includ-
ing incentives to support home-grown
technology. Representatives called for
direct access to funds and for the cre-
ation of mechanisms for the develop-
ment, transfer and uptake of mitiga-
tion and adaptation technologies;
• Paramount importance of regional
preparations for the Copenhagen meet-
ing in 2009 and regional strategies for
implementation. Representatives also
called for the involvement of women
and young people as well as the private
sector and civil‑society organizations
in climate strategies at all levels, par-
ticularly in the areas of education and
awareness‑raising and capacity‑build-
ing in order to ensure an effective Afri-
can response to climate change.
In regard to international cooperation and
solidarity, Africa should renew partner-
ships on an equitable basis with, among
others, the Group of Eight, China, India,
Japan, South America and the European
Union, through concrete projects in Africa
Jian Liu, UNEP
 A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N

Gustavo Man*ez i Gomis, UNITAR; Merle Sowman, University of Cape Town; Zaheer Fakir (South Africa); Berhanu Solomon Genet (Ethiopia); Mohamed
Hamouda (Libya); Mary Fosi Mbantenkhu (Cameroon); and Hany Shalaby, African Development Bank

to deal with the global problem of climate
change at the continental and sub regional
levels. (Decision 2 of the 12 session on Cli-
mate Change is available on: http://www.
unep.org/roa/Amcen/Amcen_Events/
12th_Session_AMCEN/docs/AMCEN-
Ministerial-Segment-Report.pdf )
Comprehensive Framework
for African Climate Change
Programmes
In response to the need to integrate Africa’s
existing climate change initiatives and pro-
grammes under a consolidated framework
to ensure coordination and coherence in
the implementation and review of climate
change initiatives and sustainable develop-
ment plans in Africa at all levels, African
Ministers of Environment, decided to cre-
ate a comprehensive framework of African
climate change programmes, bringing to-
gether existing and new intergovernmental
decisions and initiatives and programmes
in a consolidated manner, to be imple-
mented at the regional, sub regional, na-
tional and local levels. This decision was
prompted by their concerns about the sci-
entific conclusions contained in the fourth
assessment report of the Intergovernmen-
tal Panel on Climate Change, particularly
as they relate to the social, economic and
environmental impacts of climate change
in Africa and the fact that, while Africa
has contributed the least to the increas-
ing concentration of greenhouse gases in
the atmosphere, it is the most vulnerable
continent to the impacts of climate change
and has the least capacity to adapt.
is far from sufficient, it is essential to de-
velop further and supplement these initia-
tives through a comprehensive framework
of programmes to meet the challenges of
climate change in Africa. This framework
is also in line with the adoption by the Af-
rican Union of the Tunis Declaration and
action plan and the decision to determine
the rationale and modalities for establish-
ing an African panel on climate change,
and in particular the Declaration on Cli-
mate Change and Development in Africa,
in which the heads of State and Govern-
ment requested the Commission of the
African Union to consult the African Min-
isterial Conference on the Environment
with a view to establishing the necessary
mechanisms to follow up on the imple-
mentation of the Declaration.
Indicative conceptual outline of
a comprehensive framework
of African climate change
programmes
Africa’s priorities are to implement climate
change programmes in such a way as to
achieve sustainable development, in par-
ticular to alleviate poverty and attain the
Millennium Development Goals, with em-
phasis on the most vulnerable groups, such
as women and children. Given that Africa
is the most vulnerable region with the least
adaptive capacity, adaptation is the most
immediate priority. There is a need, how-
ever, for global mitigation of greenhouse
gas emissions as a primary mechanism to
prevent long-term climate change impacts
on this region. In addition, effective imple-
mentation of mitigation measures offers
opportunities for Africa to increase its eco-
nomic competitiveness along a sustainable
path of low-carbon development.
The following indicative outline covers the
two implementation areas of adaptation
and mitigation supported and enabled by
finance, capacity-building and technology.
The successful implementation of the ad-
aptation and mitigation areas of work will
require the full participation of all stake-
holders, including the full involvement
and empowerment of, and partnership
with, civil society.

The African Union and related African

intergovernmental bodies are establishing
initiatives to meet the challenge of climate
change, but since progress in responding
to the challenge of climate change in Africa
Informal consultations before the opening of the session. L-R: Jackson Kiptanui Kiplagat, Assistant
Minister for Environment and Natural Resources (Kenya); Amb. Ali Goutali, Ambassador of Tunisia
to South Africa (Tunisia); Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director; and Juliette Biao Koudénoukpo,
Minister of Environment and Protection of Nature (Benin).

ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 12  •  

A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Prof. Ogunlade Davidson of University of Sierra
Leone
Adaptation
Areas of focus:
• Disaster reduction and risk manage-
ment: including early warning, pre-
paredness, emergency response and
post‑disaster recovery;
• Sectoral planning and implementation:
adaptation in key sectors including wa-
ter, agriculture, coastal zones, health,
infrastructure, biodiversity and ecosys-
tems, forests, energy, urban manage-
ment and tourism, taking into account
the cross-sectoral implications;
• Building economic and social resilience
through the diversification of econo-
mies to reduce dependence on climate-
sensitive sectors, including through the
use of indigenous knowledge and prac-
tices and the strengthening of commu-
nity organizations.
Mitigation
Key areas of mitigation work:
• Energy sector: Including scaling up
investment to provide access to afford-
able cleaner energy, especially for rural
communities; development of appro-
priate alternative energy sources; poli-
cies and measures to increase energy
efficiency; precautionary approach to
the development of biofuels for miti-
gation and energy security;
• Reduced emissions from deforesta-
tion and forest degradation (REDD):
Including the development of mar-
ket‑based mechanisms to reward or
provide incentives for forest conserva-
tion or the avoidance of deforestation
and sustainable forest management
practices;
  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
• Land-use, land-use change and forest-
ry: As the primary source of emissions
in Africa, this represents one of the key
areas for mitigation work in the conti-
nent, which includes best practices to
enhance carbon sequestration and re-
duced emissions;
• Using and maximizing opportunities
from the international carbon market:
Africa to call for binding ambitious
targets for developed countries to se-
cure the price of carbon. Key areas of
work for Africa include reforming the
rules of market mechanisms such as
the Clean Development Mechanism
to increase accessibility by African
countries, the full implementation of
the Nairobi Framework and build-
ing capacity in Africa to gain access
to the available financial mechanisms
(the Clean Development Mechanism,
Global Environment Facility, the
World Bank and the African Develop-
ment Bank, among others).
Supporting and enabling
measures
Key areas:
1. Capacity‑building
• To enable human resource development
through focused training, mentoring
and learning-by-doing approaches,
among other measures
• To empower relevant institutions at
various levels
• To enhance observation, research and
knowledge management
• To strengthen communication, educa-
tion and awareness‑raising at all levels,
especially at the local and community
levels
• To strengthen and use the regional
networks of information and knowl-
edge‑sharing
• To develop tools, methods and tech-
nologies and support their application
• To encourage and strengthen partici-
patory and integrated approaches in
planning and decision‑making, in-
cluding the meaningful participation
of civil society
• To share experiences, information and
best practices of African countries
• To assess, strengthen and mobilize the
capacities of existing relevant facilities
and institutions in Africa
2. Finance
• Scaling up sources of financing, includ-
ing: National or domestic investment;
Multilateral funding: grant, loan and
concessional; Bilateral investment and
donor funding; Insurance and other
risk management instruments; Pri-
vate sector instruments; Market-
based instruments, e.g., carbon fi-
nance
• Improving access to financing through
rationalizing the ever-growing number
of funds (including eliminating du-
plications and harmonizing the gov-
ernance of these funds, among other
things to reduce conditionalities to
disbursement of the funds); stream-
lining bureaucratic procedures and
reducing transaction costs
3. Technology development and
transfer
Key areas of work:
• Enhancing technology development
and transfer, including hard technolo-
gies (e.g., drip irrigation, water harvest-
ing, drought‑resistant crop varieties,
renewable energy technologies, building
technologies, etc.) and soft technologies
(e.g., knowledge, systems, procedures,
best practices)
• Addressing technology transfer bar-
riers, including rules of trade tariffs,
intellectual property right-barriers and
technical trade barriers (standards,
ecolabelling)
• Enhancing and supporting the research
and development capacity in African
countries to foster the development
and local manufacture of cleaner miti-
gation and adaptation technologies
• Enhancing technology cooperation
between African countries and oth-
ers, particularly the Africa-European
Union joint strategy, Africa-China, Af-
rica-India, Africa-South America and
the Tokyo International Conference on
African Development cooperation pro-
gramme with Japan, including through
encouraging member States to develop
specific programme proposals and
submit proposals for consideration.
(Decision 2 of the 12 session on Climate
Change and all annexes are available on:
http://www.unep.org/roa/Amcen/Amcen_
Events/12th_Session_AMCEN/docs/AM-
CEN-Ministerial-Segment-Report.pdf p

African Civil Society’s Participation
Communiqué of African Civil Society Organizations
(CSOs) to the 12th Session of AMCEN
A
frican CSO5 met in Johannesburg
from 6-7 June 2008 to deliberate
on climate change, particularly
the outcome of the Bali Conference and
the NEPAD Environment Initiative.
This meeting provided an opportunity to
start developing a common1 unified and
consultative process of including major
groups in -forging an African voice in in-
ternational climate change negotiations
for a post-Kyoto regime
In this regard, African CSOs recognize and
acknowledge the efforts by AMCEN and the
NEPAD Environment Initiative in trying to
mainstream environmental concerns in the
African development agenda.
Mindful of the fact that climate change is the
defining human development and security
issue of our generation and that millions of
Africans are being forced to cope with the
impacts of climate change; and consider-
ing the fact that Africa contributes the least
to greenhouse gas emissions and yet those
responsible for causing the problems of cli-
mate change appear to always come to ne-
gotiations driven first and foremost by eco-
nomic interests, then political hegemony
and lastly environmental concerns.
African CSOs recommend the following:
• The right to energy includes S right to
emit an equal amount of carbon, per
person, on a planetary basis. Over-emit-
ters should compensate those who save
on emissions. The roles of men and
women in energy use are different, and
no new burdens for energy provision
should be imposed on women.
• The polluter pays principle should appJy
to historical greenhouse gas emissions as
well as current emissions. The payment
should be mandatory compensation.
A M C E N
Johannesburg, RSA, 7-12 June 2008
An effective African response to climate change will incude Civil Society’s participation in climate
strategies at all levels
• The need by African policy makers to
prioritize climate change as a sustain-
able development issue with en African
perspective.
• Special attention should be given to
marginalized groups such as women,
children, rural folk, and the pastoralists.
• We are opposed to the multiplicity of
funding mechanisms addressing adap-
tation Issues. All other adaptation funds
should channel their contributions
through the fund established at Bali.
• That, in order to achieve the Millen-
nium Development Goals and reduce
impacts of climate change, African gov-
ernments should enhance the capacity
for adaptation at all levels (institutional,
human, financial, technological) includ-
ing improving the national and regional
systematic observation networks and
early warning systems.
• That the best way to address the impacts
of climate change on the poor is by in-
1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
tegrating adaptation responses into pre-
disaster and development planning.
• That there is an urgent need for African
countries to assess the effectiveness of
the Clean Development Mechanism as a
means of mitigation, financing and de-
livering sustainable development as well
as assessing who benefits. We must use
the lessons from this to inform the post-
Kyoto framework
In view of the above, we specifically rec-
ommend the following:
• AMCEN must strengthen and support
national and regional civil society net-
works working on climate change and
make them key stakeholders in all cli-
mate change response measures.
• AMCEN should lobby for increased
funding for adaptation in key global
negotiation bra. They should make it
clear that adaptation finance is sepa-
rate from the normal development co-
operation assistance as well as Official
Development Assistance.
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Mithika Mwenda, Climate Network (South Africa)
• African governments must ensure that they have, and Imple-
ment, national adaptation strategies that guarantee the protec-
tion of vulnerable communities especially women and chil-
dren.
• African governments should build the capacity of local scien-
tists and engineers with a view to strengthening indigenous
technology suitable for their environment and economy.
• African governments should formulate economic and legal
policy frameworks that promote environmentally sound tech-
nology.
• Alternative energy sources, including biogas digesters, judicious
use of fuelwood and improved charcoal technology should be
supported. Poor rural communities who use energy sparingly
and efficiently should be rewarded. We advise caution on bio-
fuels to ensure that food security is not threatened. We reject
nuclear energy and the harmful effects of uranium mining.
• Mitigation measures should be considered within the principle
of common but differentiated responsibilities where develop-
ing nations have a right to development. However, African
  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
governments should resist the inflow of energy-Intensive and
other industries which pollute the environments in which peo-
ple live. African governments need to judge ‘growth” in terms
of human wellbeing rather than gross domestic product.
• African countries must demonstrate their commitment to the
NEPAD Environment Initiative and other African funding
initiatives by first fulfilling their financial obligations to those
initiatives.
• Developed countries should fulfill their financial commit-
ments under the Climate Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.
Such funding flows should be predictable, reliable, additional
and reportable.
• In addition to existing commitments, developed countries
should commit at least 1% of their GDP to the climate change
adaptation fund and establish an emergency fund to deal with
climate change related disasters.
• A special and less bureaucratic funding window should be cre-
ated to be accessed only by national African CSOs for climate
change adaptation activities at the continental and national
levels.
• The proposed World Bank Climate Investment Funds (CIFs)
should be re-directed to the existing funding mechanisms al-
ready existing under the UNFCCC (e.g. The Adaptation Fund,
SCCF, and the LUC Fund).
• AMCEN should call for the cancellation of African foreign
debts to free funds for climate change adaptation activities. In
this regard, we are opposed to the re-indebting of the African
people by way of climate change adaptation loans.
In conclusion, we as African civil society call on our govern-
ments to take responsibility for protecting African people from
the worst ravages of the climate change crisis. This is not a crisis
of Africa’s making, but it could be Africa’s undoing. We therefore
appeal to African governments to speak and act with one voice in
demanding global action on climate change. p
Johannesburg, 7th June 2008

Africa’s Vision for International Environmental
Governance
Alf Wills (South Africa); Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP; Momodou Cham, Minister for the Environment, Gambia and Peter Acquah, UNEP ROA
I n response to the challenge posed by the
proliferation of agreements and con-
ventions which demand ever-increasing
resources and capacity to ensure their effec-
tive implementation, it is essential to engage
the African Union and, through that body, to
build capacity to ensure the national opera-
tionalization of multilateral and regional en-
vironmental conventions and agreements, in
particular the Convention for the Protection,
Management, and Development of the Ma-
rine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern
African Region, the Convention for Coopera-
tion in the Protection and Development of
the Marine and Coastal Environment of the
West, Central and Southern African Region,
the African Convention on the Conservation
of Nature and Natural Resources and the Ba-
mako Convention on the Ban of the Import
into Africa and the Control of Transbound-
ary Movement and Management of Hazard-
ous Wastes within Africa. The full implemen-
tation of UNEP Governing Council decision
SS.VII/1 on international environmental gov-
ernance – often referred to as the “Cartagena
package” – is also important.
AMCEN should participate in the global
discussion on international environmental
governance and bring an African vision to the
negotiation process. In this regard, there is a
need to establish a think tank as a working
group to guide Africa’s position in and input
on international environment governance.
The AMCEN President and Bureau are urged
to consider establishing a process to prepare
a consolidated African position on that sub-
ject and to convene preparatory processes to
ensure the enhanced participation of African
negotiators in international meetings on in-
ternational environmental governance.
The strategic role of AMCEN in regional gov-
ernance and its cooperation with the growing
intergovernmental machinery in Africa, such
as the African Ministers’ Council on Water,
the Forum of Energy Ministers in Africa and
the structures of the African Union should be
examined.
AMCEN may need to review its institutional
and governance structures and take measures
to structure the agenda of meetings to focus on
strategic political issues, related to the environ-
ment in particular, and to encourage participa-
tion at the highest level. There is a strong sense
that AMCEN should play a key role in taking
Africa’s environmental agenda to the interna-
tional community, and, through the structures
of the African Union, act as Africa’s environ-
mental conscience and voice. It is essential that
AMCEN provides Africa with the opportunity
to drive the global agenda and not to be its vic-
tims. The proposal was supplemented by the
suggestion for AMCEN also to tackle issues of
national environmental governance and work
towards greater harmonization of environ-
mental policies and programmes.
Representatives called for a review of the
role of African ministers of environment and
their contribution to the sustainability agen-
da. They underscored the need to bring the
global debate on environmental issues to the
forefront of the developmental debate and
to ensure that environment concerns were at
the heart of political and economic decision-
making at the national and global levels. They
highlighted the need to make the notion of
sustainability central to ministries of envi-
ronment and to use those notions as the basis
for a future role for UNEP in that field. It was
emphasized that form must follow function.
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
There is also a need for stronger involvement
of ministries of finance and of foreign af-
fairs to support the AMCEN programme at
the national level. Representatives also high-
lighted the need to engage with ambassadors
in Nairobi and New York.
Representatives called for a review of envi-
ronmental financing and, in particular, the
role of GEF. They also called for the effective
mobilization and use of resources (finance,
technology, knowledge and capacity) for ac-
tual implementation of environmentally sus-
tainable development interventions.
Many representatives supported the idea of
transforming UNEP into a central, rather
than marginal, player at the intergovernmen-
tal level. In relation to enhancing the leader-
ship role of UNEP within the United Nations
system, representatives suggested a number of
innovative measures, such as enhancing the
role of the Governing Council/Global Minis-
terial Environment Forum in providing pol-
icy advice and guidance; Establishing UNEP
as authoritative voice on the environment by
strengthening scientific knowledge and assess-
ment capacity; Bridging the gap from science
to policy implementation; Renewing the focus
on capacity-building for implementation; Se-
curing predictable, adequate and stable finan-
cial resources; Intensifying awareness-raising
and environmental education, in cooperation
with regional structures and national Gov-
ernments, with a view to creating bottom-up
community-driven environmental agendas;
Conferring fresh mandates to ensure coor-
dination and cooperation at the multilateral
environmental agreements and inter-agency
levels. p
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Third Africa Environment Outlook Process and the
Africa Environment Information Network
F
ollowing the successful production
of the publication Africa: Atlas of
Our Changing Environment within
the framework of the Africa Environ-
ment Outlook process and the progress
made by the United Nations Environment
Programme to prepare the third Africa
Environment Outlook report, as well as
UNEP’s decision and the support of the
development partners to enhance the role
of the Africa Environment Information
Network and integrated environmental
assessment in the United Nations country
programming processes, African Ministers
of Environment reaffirmed their commit-
ment to the Africa Environment Outlook
process as a tool for monitoring sustain-
able development in Africa and a frame-
work for environmental reporting at the
national and sub regional levels.
This decision is also based on the effective
implementation of an Africa environment
information network and its increasing
contribution to building the capacity for
the implementation of national develop-
ment programs, including poverty reduc-
tion strategies within the United Nations
development assistance frameworks and
introducing state of the art technology,
such as remote sensing to monitor envi-
ronmental changes in Africa and to sup-
port decision-making.
10  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
Concretely, African ministers requested
the Executive Director of the United Na-
tions Environment Programme to contin-
ue to mobilize financial resources to build
the capacity of African countries in inte-
grated assessment and reporting, includ-
ing environmental data and information
management and to continue to support
the production of the third Africa Envi-
ronment Outlook report and the produc-
tion of the publication Africa: Atlas of Our
Changing Environment on a regular basis,
and to assist countries to develop national
atlases; as requested by the African Minis-
terial Conference on the Environment at
its eleventh session. In order to mobilize
resources for the Africa Environment Out-
look, Africa Environment Information
Network and the atlas processes, the Exec-
utive Director of UNEP is invited to liaise
with secretariats of relevant conventions
and other international organizations.
Ministers called upon Governments to
take advantage of earth observation tech-
nologies, such as remote sensing, support-
ed by the United Nations Environment
Programme to undertake regular national
integrated environmental assessments to
strengthen the strategic positioning of
the national environmental agencies and
departments in national development
planning processes such as the poverty
reduction strategies and United Nations
development assistance frameworks.
They urged the secretariat of the African
Ministerial Conference on the Environment
increasingly to involve the scientific com-
munity, non-governmental organizations
and the private sector in integrated environ-
mental assessment and reporting and the
related capacity-building activities;
At its eleventh session held in Brazzaville,
Congo in May 2006 AMCEN requested
UNEP to assist it in preparing a third Af-
rica Environment Outlook. The Africa En-
vironment Outlook process incorporates
the Africa Environment Information Net-
work (AEIN) and early-warning activities,
particularly in the Great Lakes region.
The eleventh regular session of AMCEN
requested the Executive Director of UNEP
to continue mobilizing financial support
for capacity-building through the Africa
Environment Outlook and the Africa En-
vironment Information Network process-
es and to support the production of the
third Africa Environment Outlook report
as one of the main components of the
programme of work of AMCEN. In this
regard, an inception meeting for Africa
Environment Outlook 3 was held in Cairo,
Egypt from 1 to 2 August 2007. This was
a scoping meeting aimed at establishing
the principal focus for the report (AEO-3)
taking into account the “current environ-
ment and development debate in the Af-
rica region and other global processes”. p

Implementation of the Action plan for the
Environment Initiative of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development
T
he effective implementation of
the Environment Initiative of the
NEPAD was the overall theme for
the 12 session of the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment. African
Ministers of Environment, after extensive
discussions, decided to request the Com-
mission of the African Union to provide
high-level political support to the suc-
cessful implementation of the action plan
for the environment initiative of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development and
to strengthen its environment section and
those of the relevant technical units of the
regional economic communities to enable
them to carry out their responsibilities of
the action plan for the environment ini-
tiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development.
They also resolved to urge development
partners to assist in providing required
resources for the implementation of sub
regional environmental action plans by
the regional economic communities and
to provide financial support for the imple-
mentation of the projects and programmes
of the Action Plan at the sub regional and
national levels. Development partners are
also requested to provide support to the
United Nations Environment Programme
for the reactivation of the Partnership for
the Development of Environmental Law
and Institutions in Africa; ministers in-
vite UNEP to benefit from the experiences
within African countries in the field of en-
vironmental law institutions.
Hany Shalaby, African Development Bank; Sylvie Lemmet, UNEP; Halima Tayo Alao (Nigeria); Peter
Acquah, UNEP ROA; and Sekou Toure, Global Environment Facility
Countries are also urged to implement the
projects of the action plan in conformity
with the spirit of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development.
Ministers also requested the United Na-
tions Environment Programme to provide
technical support to the regional econom-
ic communities in the implementation of
the sub regional action plans for the en-
vironment initiative of the New Partner-
ship for Africa’s Development; The United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa
is also called to enhance its facilitation of
United Nations agency consultations, co-
ordination and cooperation in respect of
the thematic cluster concerned with the
environment, population and urbaniza-
tion, together with sub‑clusters concerned
with water, energy, biotechnology, biosafe-
ty and post-conflict environmental recon-
struction and other relevant sub-clusters;
African ministers agreed to maintain effec-
tive communication between the African
Ministerial Conference on the Environ-
ment and the relevant organs of the Afri-
can Union, including the secretariat of the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development
and the regional economic commissions;
and to enhance the ratification and imple-
mentation of the revised Algiers Conven-
tion on the Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources and other relevant con-
ventions for the effective management of
natural resources.
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Financing for NEPAD
implementation and Secretariat
functions
The perennial problem of financial con-
straints continues to hamper the realiza-
tion of the full potential of AMCEN. The
twelfth session noted that enhanced secre-
tariat functions and the implementation
of its programmes, in particular the action
plan for the environment initiative of the
New Partnership for Africa’s Development,
will require additional human and finan-
cial resources. In order to address these
challenges, African Ministers identified the
following needs, gaps and opportunities:
Regarding enhancing the work of the sec-
retariat, there is an urgent need for coun-
tries that have not contributed to the gen-
eral trust fund of AMCEN to endeavour to
contribute to the fund to enable the Con-
ference to scale up its activities. Countries
that have contributed but have outstand-
ing contributions to make are urged to
make every effort to pay their outstanding
contributions to the general trust fund of
AMCEN.
In order to gain access to financing mech-
anisms, there is a need to simplify the
various mechanisms for the expeditious
allocation of funds once country and re-
gionally driven needs had been identified.
New reforms and simplification of pro-
cedure, including the reduction of con-
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  11
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Halima Tayo Alao, Minister for Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Nigeria, chaired
Policy Dialogue II
ditionalities, must be adopted as a matter
of urgency as most developing countries
lacked access to adequate sources of fund-
ing. Partnerships between the public and
private sectors should be enhanced and
strengthened. Capacity-building and the
development of technology were also
identified as priorities.
Regarding the financing of environment
programmes, there is a need to refocus
the discussion on how Africa could en-
sure the sustainable use and management
of its rich environmental resources. The
environment should take centre stage in
economic and development activities, in
order to ensure true sustainable develop-
ment where all three pillars – economic,
social and environmental – were placed on
an equal and integrated footing.
In the context of climate change, a suite of
funding mechanisms, investment struc-
tures and policy tools would be required
to overcome barriers associated with the
various types of technology and stages of
technology development. For the wider de-
ployment for existing technology, the price
gap must be closed. For retrofitting, refur-
bishment and rehabilitation projects, the
challenge is to overcome the overcapitaliza-
tion risk. Venture capital would be required
for bringing near-commercial technologies
to the market, whereas public-private in-
vestment would be required for technology
research and development of a longer term
nature. African countries are called to also
source funds from outside the convention
process. In addition, Africa should insist on
an effective and equitable carbon price. Fi-
nancing for adaptation must be additional
to the existing commitment of developed
countries to provide 0.7 per
12  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
The need to take full advantage of the NE-
PAD capital flows initiative was stressed
and the African Development Bank urged
to provide additional environmental fi-
nance.
The need to increase domestic resource
mobilization was also emphasized. Re-
source mobilization efforts often fell short
for a number of reasons. For example, ac-
cessibility of many of the global funding
mechanisms continued to be a problem,
and funding for NEPAD programmes
might not necessarily be a priority for
Governments faced with competing de-
mands for finance. One approach would
be to consider integrating environmental
priorities into national planning processes
to attract support from national budget-
ary allocations. cent of gross domestic
product to development assistance.
The twelfth session urged African De-
velopment Bank to formally clarify its
position on the long-standing request by
AMCEN and the African Union for the
establishment of the African Environment
Facility.
The important role of GEF is recognized.
However it should undertake a serious
review of its co-financing principles, and
use vulnerability criteria in the allocation
of resources based on countries’ needs and
priorities. The World Bank’s proposals
on new climate investment funds are also
noted.
African ministers recognized the need for
them to plan in an integrated way and
identify their own national needs and pri-
orities for support.
p
Africa
Environment
Day’s
Celebrations
Go Regional
Babagana Ahmadu, Director for rural
Economy and Agriicullture, African Union
Commission (AUC)
T
he celebration of the Africa
Environment Day gained new
impetus as African Ministers
of Environment, renewing the com-
mitment of the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment to
promoting environmental awareness
at all levels of the continent decided
that every year one country will host
the continental celebration of Africa
Environment Day, on a regional ro-
tation basis. The Commission of the
African Union and its cooperation
partners will be requested to work
with the hosting State to make ad-
equate preparations for the occasion.
The Africa Environment Day was in-
stituted by a decision by the Council
of Ministers of the Organization of
African Unity calling upon all mem-
ber States to celebrate Africa Envi-
ronment Day on March 3. p

Enhancing Environmental Education and Technology-
supported Learning in Africa
T
he enhancement of Africa’s human
resources through the provision
of more and better education and
training, especially in information and
communications technology is a commit-
ment by the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development. In addition, African Min-
isters of Education, in 2006, vowed to
implement the United Nations Decade of
Education for Sustainable Development
and, in particular, to support the develop-
ment of strategies for its implementation
in their respective countries within the
framework of the African Union’s Second
Decade on Education, and to ensure that
principles of sustainable development
are included in educational development
frameworks, programmes and activities at
all levels.
Opportunities and challenges for envi-
ronmental institutions and universities in
adopting technology-supported learning
in Africa were presented at the 12th Session
of AMCEN as a way to promote and sup-
port environmental education programmes
as a highly effective tool for building an
environmentally sensitive and responsive
populace capable of partnering with Gov-
ernments in achieving established policy
goals and targets.
As a result, African Ministers decided to en-
courage Governments, through their prin-
cipal environmental authority, to facilitate
inter-ministerial cooperation to undertake,
among other things, the following key ac-
tions in the area of environmental educa-
tion and technology-supported learning:
• An assessment of existing environmen-
tal education strategies, needs and chal-
lenges facing Governments in the area
of technology-supported learning;
• The development of a strategic ap-
proach to mainstreaming environmen-
tal education across all relevant gov-
ernmental institutions, including the
design of programmes suitable for the
primary, secondary and tertiary educa-
tion sectors; and fostering cooperation
with the non-formal environmental
education sector;
• The development of an action plan
for technology-supported learning in
conjunction with the Human Resourc-
es, Science and Technology Depart-
ment of the African Union (including
e‑learning) in follow-up to the strate-
gic approach
A Small group of members of the African
Ministerial Conference on the Environ-
ment will be constituted to undertake, on
a trial basis, the development of 1–2 year
pilot action plans for technology-sup-
ported learning. Governments undertak-
ing the pilot action plans will provide an
interim report to the African Ministe-
rial Conference on the Environment at its
thirteenth session and a final report to the
African Ministerial Conference on the En-
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
vironment at its fourteenth session on the
status of their implementation. Ministers
also invited countries to establish an Afri-
can environmental e-learning network to
share expertise, best practices and content
and to identify a coordinating hub.
In this process, the Executive Director of
the United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme is invited to provide strategic
guidance and technical advisory services
and identify partnerships involving inter-
national organizations, the donor com-
munity, the private sector and centres of
excellence that will support the imple-
mentation of the pilot set of action plans.
In addition, UNEP and the United Na-
tions Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) are requested to
enhance greater stakeholder involvement
including non-governmental organiza-
tions, scientific organizations, nature clubs
and local communities in the e‑learning
programme and in dissemination and ex-
change of information. They are also re-
quested, in collaboration with multilateral
development partners to strengthen their
cooperation within the framework of the
United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development and other mul-
tilateral development partner, in order to
provide their technical support and ex-
pertise to African countries to implement
effectively and develop e-learning on en-
vironmental education for sustainable de-
velopment. p
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  13
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N

Africa: Atlas of Our C

A
frica’s rapidly changing environ-
mental landscape, from the disap-
pearance of glaciers in Uganda’s
Rwenzori Mountains to the loss of Cape
Town’s unique ‘fynbos’ vegetation, was
presented to the African Ministerial Con-
ference on the Environment (AMCEN) at
the opening of its’ 12th session.

The Atlas, compiled on behalf of the

ministers by the UN Environment Pro-
•
gramme (UNEP), underlines how devel-
opment choices, population growth, cli-
mate change and, in some cases, conflicts
are shaping and impacting the natural
and nature-based assets of the region.

The nearly 400-page long publication Af-

rica: Atlas of Our Changing Environment
features over 300 satellite images taken in
every country in Africa in over 100 loca-
tions. The Africa Atlas is the first to use
high quality satellite images for all 53 Af-
rican countries, providing an important
tool for raising public awareness and sup-
porting policy making and action. The
‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs, some of
which span a 35-year period, offer strik-
ing snapshots of local environmental
transformation across the continent.
In addition to well-publicized changes,
such as Mount Kilimanjaro’s shrinking
glaciers, the drying up of Lake Chad and
falling water levels in Lake Victoria, the
Atlas presents, for the first time, satellite
Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director, and André Okombi Salissa, outgoing President of AMCEN
(Republic of Congo), officially launching Africa: Atlas of our Changing Environment, during the
opening ceremony of AMCEN-12.
images of new or lesser known environ- • The disappearance of a large portion
mental changes and challenges including: of Madagascar’s South Malagasy spiny
• Disappearing glaciers in Uganda’s forest between 1973 and 2003 as a result
Rwenzori Mountains, which decreased of farming and fuelwood gathering.
by 50 per cent between 1987 and 2003. • The northern edge of Cape Town, which
• The widening corridors of deforesta- has seen much of its native ‘fynbos’ veg-
tion that have accompanied expanding etation replaced with farms and subur-
roads in the northern Democratic Re- ban development since 1978. ‘Fynbos’
public of the Congo since 1975. New make up 80 per cent of the plant variet-
roads threaten to bring even greater ies in the Cape Floristic Region, an area
traffic to this biologically rich rain- with over 6,000 plant species which are
forest and further fuel the bushmeat found nowhere else in the world and
trade. are an economic asset for tourism.

Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director; André Okombi Salissa, outgoing President of AMCEN (Republic of Congo); and Marthinus Van Schalkwyk,
Minister of Environment and Tourism (South Africa)

14  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13

 A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N

Changing Environment
The loss of trees and shrubs in the fragile • A new management plan for the Ite-
environment of the Jebel Marra foothills zhi-tezhi dam in Zambia has helped to
in western Sudan as a result of popula- restore the natural seasonal flooding
tion growth due in part to an influx of of the Kafue flats, as shown in the 2007
refugees fleeing drought and conflict in satellite image.
neighbouring Northern Darfur. • The expansion of wetlands result-
• The dramatic expansion of Senegalese ing from a restoration project in and
capital Dakar over the past half cen- around Diawling National Park is
tury from a small urban centre at the helping to control flooding and im-
tip of the Cap Vert Peninsula to a met- prove livelihoods in Mauritania.
ropolitan area with 2.5 million people has produced a dramatic rebound in • New policies and improved enforce-
spread over the entire peninsula. the natural ecosystem. The park has ment have significantly reduced un-
seen the reintroduction of the Scimi- sustainable exploitation of the forests
The Atlas, compiled in cooperation with tar-horned oryx (Oryx dammah) of Mount Kenya, which is a crucial
researchers and organizations in Africa which is currently on the verge of ex- area for water catchment and hydro-
and elsewhere, offers a sobering assess- tinction. power generation.
ment of thirty-six years of environ-
Contd. on page xx
mental change, including: “The swell of
grey-coloured cities over a once-green
countryside; protected areas shrinking as
farms encroach upon their boundaries;
the tracks of road networks through for-
ests; pollutants that drift over borders of
neighboring countries; the erosion of del-
tas; refugee settlements scattered across
the continent causing further pressure on
the environment; and shrinking moun-
tain glaciers”.

The satellite images also highlight positive

signs of management that is protecting
against and even reversing environmental
degradation, say the authors.

• Action on overgrazing in the Sidi Toui

Fatoumata Keita Ouane of the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
National Park, southeastern Tunisia Pollutants and Mounkaila Goumandakoye, New Director UNEP-ROA

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and

UNEP Executive Director
“As shown throughout the Atlas, there are many places across Africa where
people have taken action – where there are more trees than thirty years ago,
where wetlands have sprung back, and where land degradation has been
countered. These are the beacons we need to follow to ensure the survival of
Africa’s people and their economically important nature-based assets.”

“The Atlas also however clearly demonstrates the vulnerability of people

in the region to forces often outside their control, including the shrinking
of glaciers in Uganda and Tanzania and impacts on water supplies linked
with climate change. These underline the urgent need for the international
community to deliver a new climate agreement by the climate change
convention meeting in Copenhagen in 2009—one that not only delivers deep
emission reductions but also accelerates the flow of funds for adaptation
and the climate proofing of economies”.

ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  15

A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment
• Farmer initiatives focusing on the
planting and protection of trees have
led to significant land revitalization
in Tahoua Province, Niger. A recent
study revealed that there are now 10
to 20 times more trees across three
of Niger’s southern provinces than
there were in the 1970s.
• A review of forest concessions in Li-
beria has helped protect the forest in
Sapo National Park from logging as
well as illegal mining and poaching.
Main Findings and Key
Concerns
Between 1990 and 2004, many Afri-
can countries achieved some small but
promising environmental improve-
ments, mainly in the field of water and
sanitation, according to the Atlas. A few
countries have expanded protected areas
– currently numbering over 3,000 across
the continent.
However, loss of forest is a major con-
cern in 35 countries, including the
Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Malawi, Nigeria and Rwanda, among
others. This is closely followed by bio-
diversity loss – which is occurring in 34
countries such as Angola, Ethiopia, Ga-
bon and Mali.
Land degradation, similarly, is a major
worry for 32 countries in Africa includ-
ing Cameroon, Eritrea and Ghana. Other
problems include desertification – in
Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya and Niger
among others – as well as water stress,
rising pollution and coping with rapid
urbanization.
Africa is losing more than four million
hectares of forest every year – twice the
world’s average deforestation rate, says
the Atlas. Meanwhile, some areas across
the continent are said to be losing over 50
metric tones of soil per hectare per year.
The Atlas also shows that erosion and
chemical and physical damage have
degraded about 65 per cent of the con-
16  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
tinent’s farmlands. In addition, slash and
burn agriculture, coupled with the high
occurrence of lightning across Africa, is
thought to be responsible for wild fires.
Over 300 million people on the continent
already face water scarcity, and areas expe-
riencing water shortages in Sub-Saharan
Africa are expected to increase by almost
a third by 2050.
Climate change is emerging as a driving
force behind many of these problems and
is likely to intensify the already dramatic
transformations taking place across the
continent.
Although Africa produces only four per
cent of the world’s total carbon dioxide
emissions, its inhabitants are poised to
suffer disproportionately from the conse-
quences of global climate change.
Africa’s capacity to adapt to climate change
is relatively low, with projected costs esti-
mated to reach at least 5-10 per cent of
GDP.
Finally, transboundary issues are a key
feature of Africa’s environment, from in-
ternational river basins to cross-border air
pollution.
Refugee migrations are also causing fur-
ther pressure on the environment, with
major population movements due to
conflict but also increasingly as a result
of food and water shortages. Cooperative
approaches involving several bordering
countries are becoming essential for the
Contd. from page xx
conserving and enhancing of shared eco-
systems if they are to remain productive
into the 21st century.
Taking advantage of the latest space tech-
nology and Earth observation science,
including the 36-year legacy of the US
Landsat satellite programme, the Atlas
serves to demonstrate the potential of
satellite imagery data in monitoring eco-
systems and natural resources dynamics.
This in turn can provide the kind of hard,
evidence-based data to support political
decisions aimed at improving manage-
ment of Africa’s natural resources.
The publication is the fruit of collabora-
tive work between UNEP and partners
including the African Ministerial Con-
ference on the Environment (AMCEN),
the US Geological Survey, Global Earth
Observations (GEO) Secretariat, United
States Agency for the International De-
velopment (USAID), the World Resourc-
es Institute (WRI), Belgian Development
Cooperation, the University of Maryland,
South Dakota State University, the South-
ern African Development Community,
the African Association for Remote Sens-
ing of the Environment (AARSE), Re-
gional Centre for Mapping of Resources
for Development (RCMRD), EIS-AFRI-
CA, Environmental Systems Research In-
stitute (ESRI), DigitalGlobe and GeoEye.
Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environ-
ment contains 316 satellite images taken
in 104 locations in every country in Afri-
ca, along with 151 maps and 319 ground
photographs and a series of graphs il-
lustrating the environmental challenges
faced by the continent.
All the materials in the Atlas are non-
copyrighted and available for free use.
Individual satellite images, maps, graphs
and photographs, can be downloaded
from http://na.unep.net/AfricaAtlas
The Atlas can also be purchased at www.
earthprint.com p

Chemicals and Hazardous Waste Management
I
n the Johannesburg Plan of Imple-
mentation adopted at the World Sum-
mit on Sustainable Development,
countries agreed on a common objective
to “achieve by 2020 that chemicals are used
and produced in ways that lead to the min-
imization of significant adverse effects on
human health and the environment”. The
twelfth session of the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment, recog-
nizing the direct adverse effects of chemi-
cals on public health and the environment,
including loss of productivity and income
owing to ill health, and noting that the
chemical-related conventions are key to
the successful attainment of the objectives
of the World Summit on Sustainable De-
velopment and the Strategic Approach to
International Chemicals Management has
adopted a decision on chemicals and haz-
ardous waste management.
This would strengthen the initial capac-
ity-building activities for implementing
the Strategic Approach to International
Chemicals Management through the
Quick Start Programme in which African
countries have been active through the
nomination of national focal points, the
development of an African regional plan
of action and submission of project fund-
ing requests under the Quick Start Pro-
gramme and other related activities.
African environment ministers have spe-
cifically decided to prioritize sound chem-
ical management in regional, sub regional
and national environmental planning, sus-
tainable development and poverty reduc-
tion strategies; provide high-level political
support to the development and imple-
mentation of the national implementa-
tion plans for the Strategic Approach to
International Chemicals Management and
chemicals-related conventions. They will
also develop effective chemicals manage-
ment infrastructures, using the assistance
mechanisms available under the Strate-
gic Approach to International Chemicals
Management Quick Start Programme and
chemicals-related multilateral environ-
mental agreements.
Governments are called upon to promote
at the national level an integrated approach
to the implementation of these three con-
ventions as a set of tools to assist countries
in taking a holistic or life cycle approach
to the sound management of chemicals.
This will be done through the prevention
of unwanted trade in hazardous chemi-
cals that cannot be managed safely at the
national level; access to information on
banned or severely restricted chemicals;
Promotion of coordination and links
with public health structures; Identifying
persistent organic pollutants and other
toxic and hazardous chemicals in use or as
wastes for sound management.
African Governments will also be called to
promote at the national level the establish-
ment of an institutional framework and
strengthening of national capacity within
an integrated programme for the sound
management of chemicals and the imple-
mentation of the Strategic Approach to
International Chemicals Management.
African Governments are urged to pro-
mote synergies among the various initia-
tives for the sound management of chemi-
cals and hazardous waste, to participate in
the African Stockpiles Programme and to
recognize it as the continental programme
for the safe disposal of obsolete pesticides.
Sub regional and regional economic com-
munities and regional economic integra-
tion organizations are also invited to co-
operate with convention secretariats and
the Strategic Approach to International
Chemicals Management secretariat for
successful regional delivery.
Recognizing that financial and technical
support is essential to developing coun-
tries to deliver their commitments un-
der existing policies and instruments for
the sound management of chemicals and
hazardous waste, the donor countries, the
Global Environment Facility and other
donors are equally be called to support
the work of regional centres as centres
of excellence for regional capacity-build-
ing and technology transfer and the work
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
of national civil-society organizations in
raising awareness of populations of the
effects of chemicals and to make available
new and additional resources for expand-
ing the chemical management portfolio of
the Global Environment Facility beyond
persistent organic pollutants.
A special request is directed to the Chief
Executive Officer of the Global Environ-
ment Facility, with the support of the
Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme, to make funds
available to support least developed coun-
tries in reaching the capacity necessary to
initiate implementation of the Stockholm
Convention and other chemical manage-
ment instruments and programmes;
The International Conference on Chemi-
cals Management is invited to consider
the adoption of a sustainable financial
mechanism for the Strategic Approach to
International Chemicals Management in
attaining the 2020 chemicals safety goals
at its second session.
UNEP as a key partner will play an impor-
tant role. The 12 session of AMCEN calls
on the Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme to fa-
cilitate the promotion of regional and
sub regional cooperation and exchange of
experiences and to make use of regional
centres to define projects of regional scope
and to support countries’ efforts to partic-
ipate effectively in international meetings
and activities relating to the sound man-
agement of chemicals.
The secretariat of the African Ministe-
rial Conference on the Environment, in
conjunction with the conventions secre-
tariats and the secretariat of the Strate-
gic Approach to International Chemicals
Management will periodically review the
progress of integration of sound chemical
management into national planning strat-
egies and programmes and implementa-
tion of the conventions and the Strategic
Approach to International Chemicals
Management in African countries and to
report back to the Conference. p
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  17
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
African Ministerial Conference on the Environment
Johannesburg Declaration on the Environment for
Sustainable Development
Having met in Johannesburg, South
Africa, from 10 to 12 June 2008 at the
twelfth session of the African Ministe-
rial Conference on the Environment,
Reinforcing the role of the African
Ministerial Conference on the Envi-
ronment in providing political guid-
ance and leadership for environmental
management and advocacy in Africa,
Noting the close linkages between the
success of policies and actions for the
protection of the environment and
the success of national programmes
to combat poverty and promote equi-
table human development,
Recalling the outcomes of major Unit-
ed Nations conferences and summits,
African Union summits and related
African meetings, in which the spe-
cial challenges facing Africa have been
identified and commitments made to
support Africa in achieving sustain-
able development,
Concerned by the increasing number
of environmental challenges facing
Africa and the continent’s vulner-
ability to global climate change, the
increasing need for capacity‑building
and technology transfer and the inad-
equate financial and technical resourc-
es to meet these challenges,
Concerned also by the fact that Africa
is the most vulnerable region with
the least capacity to adapt to climate
change and that, while Africa contrib-
utes the least, it suffers most from the
impacts,
18  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
We, African Ministers of Environment,
Concerned further by the impact on
women of environmental degradation
and recognizing the importance of
mainstreaming gender in all environ-
mental policies, strategies and related
programmes,
Noting progress made so far in imple-
menting the action plan of the envi-
ronment initiative of the New Part-
nership for Africa’s Development as
presented at the twelfth session of the
African Ministerial Conference on the
Environment,
Noting also the progress made so far by
African countries in the implementa-
tion of the Strategic Approach to In-
ternational Chemicals Management
and the chemicals conventions,
Acknowledging the need for African
countries to comply with and enforce
their international environmental
obligations and commitments under
multilateral environmental agree-
ments through effective regional and
national implementation,
Noting with appreciation the support
provided by the United Nations Envi-
ronment Programme, the Global En-
vironment Facility and other partners
to the regional economic commissions
to enable them to prepare their sub re-
gional environmental action plans, as
presented at the twelfth session of the
African Ministerial Conference on the
Environment,
Recalling further that, at its seven-
teenth session, the United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Develop-
ment is focusing on the thematic clus-
ter of agriculture, rural development,
land and drought and desertification,
particularly in Africa,
Recognizing the efforts and progress
made so far regarding environmental
assessment in Africa and in increasing
the awareness and capacity of African
professionals in environmental assess-
ment and management in support of
the action plan for the environment
initiative of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development,
Recognizing with appreciation the im-
portant role that the private sector and
the civil society play in sustainable de-
velopment,
Recalling the special effort needed by
African countries to attain the Millen-
nium Development Goals and the 2010
targets for reducing biodiversity loss,
Recalling the commitments made at
the two partners’ conferences on the
environment initiative of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development
held in Algiers, in December 2003, and
in Dakar, in March 2005,
Hereby declare our resolve:
To continue implementing fully the
action plan for the environment initia-
tive of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development and the sub regional en-
vironmental action plans;
To urge the President of the African

Ministerial Conference on the En-
vironment to strengthen efforts to
forge cooperative links with the rel-
evant structures of the African Union
and other relevant African ministerial
bodies with a view to harmonizing in-
stitutional arrangements, policies and
programmes;
To urge the President of the African
Ministerial Conference on the Envi-
ronment to strengthen the relation-
ship with United Nations agencies,
particularly the United Nations Envi-
ronment Programme and other rel-
evant international institutions and
bodies, through constant liaison with
the Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme
and the secretariats of relevant inter-
national institutions on issues related
to the environment;
To urge Africa’s development part-
ners to support the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment, the
Commission of the African Union, the
secretariat of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development and the regional
economic communities in implement-
ing their environmental action plans;
To call upon Governments to support
capacity‑building in the area of tech-
nology‑supported learning to enhance
the delivery of environmental educa-
tion, training and awareness‑raising;
To call upon African countries and
development partners to mainstream
gender issues into national and sub
regional environmental programmes
and to initiate programmes aimed at
promoting gender‑sensitive capaci-
ty‑building in relation to the environ-
ment;
To call upon African countries to
participate effectively in upcoming
negotiations on key multilateral en-
vironmental agreements, particularly
those related to biodiversity, climate
change, chemicals, land degradation
and drought and desertification;
To call upon African countries to
participate fully and effectively in the
various capacity-building and en-
hancement activities for the imple-
mentation of multilateral environ-
mental agreements, including the Bali
Strategic Plan for Technology Support
and Capacity-building and the Euro-
pean Commission programme on ca-
pacity-building related to implemen-
tation of multilateral environmental
agreements in African, Caribbean and
Pacific countries;
To call upon the Global Environment
Facility and the TerrAfrica initiative
to continue to support efforts being
made by African countries to promote
sustainable land management in the
context of their national poverty erad-
ication strategies, and their efforts to
disseminate the good lessons learnt to
other countries for greater continental
impact;
To urge the secretariats of the Rio
conventions to ensure that synergies
between climate change and efforts
to combat land degradation, deserti-
fication and biodiversity loss are opti-
mized to take advantage of gains made
through these actions, particularly in
Africa;
To call upon the African group of the
United Nations Framework Conven-
tion on Climate Change, working with
the African Ministerial Conference
on the Environment, the United Na-
tions Environment Programme, the
Commission of the African Union,
the United Nations Economic Com-
mission for Africa and other relevant
intergovernmental institutions, to de-
velop a common African position on
the comprehensive international cli-
mate‑change regime beyond 2012, and
further to call upon Governments of
Africa to support the process actively;
To commit ourselves to creating a
comprehensive framework of African
climate change programmes, bringing
together existing and new intergov-
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
ernmental decisions, initiatives and
programmes in a consolidated man-
ner, to meet the pressing challenges of
adaptation and mitigation and to meet
the urgent needs for capacity-building,
finance and technology in this region;
To invite the President of the Afri-
can Ministerial Conference on the
Environment, with the assistance of
the secretariat of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertifica-
tion and the United Nations Environ-
ment Programme, to develop a road
map for the implementation of the
10-year strategic plan and framework
to enhance the implementation of the
United Nations Convention to Com-
bat Desertification;
To request the secretariat of the United
Nations Convention to Combat De-
sertification, the United Nations En-
vironment Programme, other United
Nations specialized agencies and the
African Development Bank to support
the continuing regional coordination
efforts to implement the action pro-
grammes at all levels, including the
development of initiatives such as the
Great Green Wall for the Sahara and
the Sahel, extending such programmes
to similar sub regions of North-East
Africa and Southern Africa;
To request the Commission of the Af-
rican Union to take a leadership role
in spearheading the development and
implementation of biosafety strate-
gies and policies and institutionalizing
biosafety in its programmes;
To call upon Governments to enhance
support for the Convention for the
Protection, Management and Devel-
opment of the Marine and Coastal
Environment of the Eastern African
Region and the Convention for Co-
operation in the Protection and De-
velopment of the Marine and Coastal
Environment of the West and Central
African Region as frameworks for
implementation of the marine and
coastal component of the environ-
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  19
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
ment initiative of the New Partnership
for Africa’s Development;
To call upon Governments to adopt
integrated management approaches
to freshwater resources and to devel-
op regional and national policies and
management measures to mitigate the
impact of human activities on fresh-
water resources;
To mainstream climate change adapta-
tion measures into national and, where
appropriate, regional development
plans, policies and strategies with a
view to ensuring adequate adaptation
to climate change in such areas as wa-
ter resources, food and energy security
and management of coastal and ma-
rine resources;
To request the United Nations agen-
cies, Bretton Woods institutions, Afri-
can Development Bank and other de-
velopment partners to support African
countries in taking measures to build
economic and ecosystem resilience
against climatic variability and change
and to implement effectively the Bali
Action Plan adopted at the thirteenth
session of the Conference of the Par-
ties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change;
To call for the modification of the
Clean Development Mechanism to
enhance its contribution to sustain-
able development efforts on the conti-
nent and to provide increased support
for the introduction of climate change
mitigation measures and technologies
in African countries;
To request the African Union to con-
sider convening an African leaders’
summit on climate change to be held
back-to-back with the summit of the
African Union to be held in 2009;
To support the bid by South Africa
to host the seventeenth session of the
Conference of the Parties to the Unit-
ed Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change and the seventh ses-
20  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
sion of the Meeting of the Parties to
the Kyoto Protocol to the United Na-
tions Framework Convention on Cli-
mate Change in 2011;
To ensure that climate change adap-
tation imperatives are aligned more
closely across regions and countries
and to foster regional and internation-
al cooperation to develop appropriate
adaptation financing mechanisms;
To support the transboundary conser-
vation of natural resources, to share
best practices and lessons learnt in Af-
rica and to request international sup-
port to ensure the continued success
and survival of transboundary conser-
vation efforts;
To encourage African countries to es-
tablish regional mechanisms and ini-
tiatives to prevent, control and man-
age invasive alien species infestation in
Africa;
To call upon the African Union and
the United Nations Environment
Programme to support African ne-
gotiators in the negotiation of a new
international regime on access and
benefit‑sharing;
To request the Executive Director of
the United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme to continue with the prepara-
tion and production of the publication
Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environ-
ment;
To renew our commitment to the en-
dorsement of the Africa Environment
Outlook process as a monitoring and
reporting tool for sustainable environ-
mental management and a framework
for national, sub regional and regional
integrated environmental assessment
and reporting, noting with apprecia-
tion the implementation of the Africa
Environment Information Network at
the national, sub regional and regional
levels to strengthen access to reliable
environmental data and information
in Africa;
To renew our commitment to the con-
tinued promotion of capacity-building
and strengthening of environmental
assessment systems in line with the rec-
ommendations made at the workshop
of African experts on effectiveness of
environmental assessment systems
and to urge development partners to
support the implementation of those
recommendations;
To urge the International Conference
on Chemicals Management, at its sec-
ond session, to give priority to the es-
tablishment of a sustainable financing
mechanism for the implementation of
the Strategic Approach to Internation-
al Chemicals Management;
To call on the Inter-Organization Pro-
gramme for the Sound Management of
Chemicals, the United Nations Devel-
opment Programme, the World Bank,
development partners and regional
economic communities to give prior-
ity to the needs of African countries
in the effective implementation of the
Strategic Approach to International
Chemicals Management;
To advocate the sustainable use of
chemicals and to commit ourselves to
the sound management of chemicals
and hazardous wastes in pursuit of the
goals and objectives of the Strategic
Approach to International Chemicals
Management and the chemicals-re-
lated conventions;
To call upon African Governments to
develop and implement appropriate
policy and institutional frameworks for
sustainable solid-waste management;
To call upon those countries that
have not yet ratified the chemical-re-
lated conventions, namely, the Basel
Convention on the Control of Trans-
boundary Movements of Hazard-
ous Wastes and their Disposal, the
Rotterdam Convention on the Prior
Informed Consent Procedure for
Certain Hazardous Chemicals and
Pesticides in International Trade the

Bamako Convention on the Ban of the
Import into Africa and the Control of
Transboundary Movement and Man-
agement of Hazardous Wastes within
Africa and the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants, to do
so and to urge African development
partners to assist and support African
countries in the implementation of
such conventions;
To call upon Governments to acceler-
ate the ratification of the African Con-
vention on the Conservation of Nature
and Natural Resources to permit the
entry into force of the convention and
secure a fully comprehensive and rep-
resentative network of protected areas
and other natural resources in Africa,
To call upon the Commission of the
African Union, Governments and
all stakeholders to work together to
ensure the development and imple-
mentation of an African ecolabelling
mechanism based on African experi-
ences and lessons;
To request the President of the African
Ministerial Conference on the Envi-
ronment to follow up on the conclu-
sions and recommendations of the
fifth African Roundtable on Sustain-
able Consumption and Production;
To encourage African countries to
celebrate Africa Environment Day to
raise awareness of the environmental
challenges facing the continent;
To support the African Network of
Environmental Journalists in its ef-
forts to raise the awareness of African
decision makers regarding major en-
vironmental issues and the challenges
arising there from and to encourage
the network to continue its activities,
in particular the involvement of the
African press in efforts to further the
environmental cause;
To urge Governments to take neces-
sary action to ensure that the general
trust fund of the African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment is
replenished during the intersessional
period;
To urge the Global Environment Fa-
cility to allocate new and additional
resources through the persistent or-
ganic pollutants focal area and any ad-
ditional mechanism that might be cre-
ated to support the implementation
of the chemicals‑related conventions
and to develop the capacities needed
to achieve sound chemicals manage-
ment;
To invite donor countries to provide
bilateral and multilateral aid funding
to facilitate the effective implementa-
tion of national obligations under the
chemicals‑related instruments, includ-
ing the Stockholm, Rotterdam and Ba-
sel conventions;
To request the President of the Afri-
can Development Bank to clarify its
position on the request by the African
Ministerial Conference on the Envi-
ronment and the African Union to
host the African Environment Facility
at the Bank;
To call upon the Global Environment
Facility to continue to give high prior-
ity to African countries and to allo-
cate financial resources based on the
needs and priorities of countries and
not merely on ex-ante allocation sys-
tems such as the resource allocation
framework and to request the Facility
to improve its procedures and to revise
its co-financing policy to give African
countries easier access to its financial
resources;
To urge all donors to the Global En-
vironment Facility trust fund to con-
tribute to a substantially higher and
robust fifth replenishment;
To commit ourselves to the issues
highlighted at the twelfth session of
the African Ministerial Conference on
the Environment and to give effect to
the decisions adopted at that session;
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
To mandate the President of the Afri-
can Ministerial Conference on the En-
vironment to submit the report of the
twelfth session of the Conference, in-
cluding the Johannesburg Declaration
and its other annexes, to the Executive
Council of the African Union;
To mandate the President of the Af-
rican Ministerial Conference on the
Environment to submit the President’s
summary of the ministerial policy dia-
logue to the Group of Eight at its sum-
mit meeting, to be held in Hokkaido,
Japan, in July 2008, to the United Na-
tions General Assembly at its special
high-level meeting on Africa’s devel-
opment needs, scheduled to be held in
New York in September 2008, and for
consideration at the meetings in the
Monterrey process on financing for
development.
To pay tribute to the President and
people of South Africa for the warm
welcome and the hospitality extended
to participants, the excellent facilities
made available and their generous sup-
port to the African Ministerial Confer-
ence on the Environment at its twelfth
session, which contributed greatly to
its success. p
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  21
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Fifth African Roundtable on Sustainable
Consumption and Production (ARSCP-5)
The main objective of the Roundtable was to take stock of what has been done in the development and implementation of the African 10-Year
Framework of Programs on Sustainable Consumption and Production which was approved by AMCEN in March 2005 and discuss the elements
Key conclusions and
recommendations of the
Fifth African Roundtable on
Sustainable Consumption and
production
1. Africa as a region is at the forefront of
the global Marrakech process on the
10-Year Framework of Programs as it
has: i) a regional framework program
that is approved by AMCEN and in-
cluded in its work plan, ii) created a
regional institutional mechanism by
establishing the African Roundtable
on Sustainable Consumption and
Production (ARSCP) as a regional fo-
cal institution, and iii) the Marrakech
Taskforce on Cooperation with Africa
supported by the Federal Ministry of
Environment of Germany as the only
region-focused taskforce under the
global support mechanism.
2. The experience presented from the
four pilot countries on the develop-
ment of national and local sustain-
able consumption and production
programs taking existing national
development policies as a basis, strat-
egies and action plans has proven to
be an effective way of demonstrating
the contribution of SCP to national
sustainable development objectives.
3. Besides its direct contribution to-
wards promoting resource-efficiency
at all levels of production and con-
sumption, the development and
implementation of an SCP program
could also be instrumental in pro-
moting synergies amongst the key
development sectors outside the
Ministry of Environment. In this
context, it is recommended for Af-
rican Ministries to designate a focal
point unit for SCP that facilitates the
inter-sectoral cooperation in the con-
text of SCP program development
and implementation.
22  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
of the way forward.
4. The effective development and imple-
mentation of sustainable consump-
tion and production in African coun-
tries could be significantly facilitated
through the mainstreaming of SCP
in the priorities and decision making
criteria of bilateral and multilateral de-
velopment financing agencies. Hence
development partners are called upon
to mainstream SCP approach in their
bilateral financing procedures.
5. The proposed launching of the African
Ecolabelling Mechanism (AEM) under
the general guidance of the African
Union Commission and with a secre-
tariat based at the African Organiza-
tion for Standardization (ARSO) is be-
lieved to contribute towards improving
the environmental and social profile of
African products and expand market
access for African products.
6. The sessions on sustainable public pro-
curement, sustainable building and
construction and sustainable lifestyles
which were organized in partnership
with the respective Marrakech Taskforc-
es led by Switzerland, Finland and Swe-
den respectively have clearly shown the
linkage and contribution of the work
under these taskforces to the African 10-
YFP and the outcomes from the sessions
are expected to lead to some concrete
follow-up activities in the region.
7. Development and implementation of
region-relevant education and aware-
ness programs covering all levels of the
society including youth groups consti-
tute an important instrument to ad-
dress the existing lack of awareness on
the contribution of SCP and create the
required capacity for promoting sus-
tainable consumption and production
in the region.
8. The promotion of efficient develop-
ment and utilization of African re-
sources with a particular focus on en-
ergy, water and mineral resources is of
high importance to the region. In this
context, the promotion of resource
efficiency and demand-side manage-
ment programs need to be given high
consideration by all African countries.
9. The organizational support that has
been provided by UNEP together with
the political leadership and support
provided by AMCEN and the financial
support provided by the Marrakech
Taskforce on Cooperation with Africa
have been highly instrumental for the
achievements that have been registered
so far and for the significant level of in-
terest amongst development partners
to work with the region.
10. Considering that sustainable con-
sumption and production is one of the
th
thematic focus of the 18 Session of the
Commission for Sustainable Develop-
ment (CSD-18), it is recommended for
the African Roundtable on Sustainable
Consumption and Production (AR-
SCP) to take the leading role in prepar-
ing the Regional Review Report on sus-
tainable consumption and Production
for the CSD-18 under the guidance of
AMCEN and UNEP and in close con-
sultation with other UN Agencies in-
cluding UNIDO and UNECA.
The Fifth African Roundtable on Sus-
tainable Consumption and Production
(ARSCP-5) consisted of seven plenary
sessions and six parallel sessions that cov-
ered activities and issues related to the
African 10-Year Framework of Programs
(10-YFP). the African Roundtable on Sus-
tainable Consumption and Production
was organized by the UN Environment
Programme, in collaboration with the Af-
rican Ministerial Conference on Environ-
ment and the UN Industrial Developmentth
Organization, as a pre-session to the 12
Session of AMCEN from 04 to 06 June

2008 at the Development Bank of South
Africa (DBSA) Training Center in Mid-
rand South Africa. The Roundtable was
attended by more than 100 participants
from 33 countries.
The overall objective of the ARSCP-5 is
to review the lessons from the on-going
activities related to the African 10-YFP on
sustainable consumption and production
and identify the key steps that needs to be
taken in order to strengthen sustainable
consumption and production activities in
the region. The specific objectives include
reviewing and discussing the outcomes
from the various activities undertaken
in the context of the African 10 Year
Framework Programme on Sustain-
able Consumption and Production and
identify ways of strengthening them;
exploring existing sub-regional, regional
and international collaboration pro-
grammes and mechanisms and ways
of effectively utilizing and replicating
them in encouraging sustainable con-
sumption and production in Africa;
and finally reviewing the report from the
Secretariat of the ARSCP and propose
ways on further strengthening the activi-
ties of the ARSCP.
The Marrakech Process is a global multi-
stakeholder process to promote sustain-
able consumption and production (SCP)
and to work towards a ‘Global Frame-
work for Action on SCP, the so-called 10-
Year Framework of Programmes on SCP.
Today more than ever, in a context of
climate change, it has become clear that
our global community urgently needs to
adopt more sustainable lifestyles to both
reduce the use of natural resources and
CO2 emissions. This is crucial in order
to decouple economic growth from envi-
ronmental degradation, in both develop-
ing and developed countries; as well as
to create the ‘space’ for the poor to meet
their basic needs.
The United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme (UNEP) and the United Nations
Department for Economic and Social Af-
fairs (UN-DESA) are the leading agen-
cies of this global process, with an active
participation of national governments,
development agencies, private sector, civil
society and other stakeholders. p
A M C E N
Special Conference of Parties to the
Abidjan Convention Brings New
prospects for Coastal and Marine
Environment in the Atlantic Coast of
Africa
Momodou Cham, First Vice Chair of the Bureau to the Abidjan Convention; H.E. Rejoice
Mabudafhasi, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Environment (South Africa); Achim Steiner, Executive
Director, UNEP; and Ibrahim Thiaw, Director, UNEP Division of Policy Implementation
I
t is well known that the Abidjan Con-
vention area covers some of the most
productive coastal and marine eco-
systems in the world, rich in oil, gas and
mineral resources and with a great po-
tential for tourism. The coastal zones of
the convention area are hubs for intense
socio-economic activities, centres of hu-
man settlements, transport, industrial and
commercial activities.
In November 2007 the Abidjan Conven-
tion held its 8th Meeting of the Contract-
ing Parties (COP 8) in Johannesburg
South Africa. During COP8, the Con-
tracting Parties adopted decision CP8/8
to revitalize the Convention to ensure its’
effective implementation and established
a Working Group to oversee the revitaliza-
tion process. The Contracting Parties also
requested the Executive Director of the
United Nations Environment Programme
to facilitate the preparation of a set of rec-
ommendations and an action plan for a
phased transfer of the Secretariat to the
Convention from Nairobi to Cote d’Ivoire
which would ultimately lead to full owner-
ship by the Contracting Parties.
An Extraordinary Meeting of the Con-
tracting Parties was held back-to-back
with the 12th Session of the AMCEN in
Johannesburg to consider and decide on
the recommendations for revitalizing the
1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Abidjan Convention and to agree on mea-
sures to transform the Convention into a
tool for sustainable utilization of coastal
and marine resources for socio-economic
growth in the Convention area.
Discussions were based on the common
agreement that the current institutional
arrangements for the coordination of the
Abidjan Convention have achieved lim-
ited success, particularly in the coordina-
tion and implementation of the work pro-
gramme with the major regional initiatives
such as the large marine ecosystems and
other regional programmes. In addition,
the large area of the Abidjan Convention
requires sharing of up-to-date data and in-
formation among the Parties so as to pro-
mote better understanding of the range of
issues relating to protection and develop-
ment of the coastal and marine environ-
ment including climate change, ecosystem
goods and services. Furthermore, with the
inclusion of South Africa as a party to the
convention, it has become necessary to ex-
pand the scope and objectives to accom-
modate current and emerging coastal and
marine environmental issues.
Contracting Parties agreed to revitalize the
Abidjan Convention through enhanced
institutional arrangements and collabora-
tion, review of the mandate and objectives
of the Convention, transfer the functions
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  23
A M C E N 1 2 t h
S E S S I O N
Participants during the presentation of the Report on the Revitilisation of the Abidjan Convention
of the Regional Coordination Unit from
Nairobi to Abidjan, Strategies for improv-
ing contributions to the West and Central
African Trust Fund and Funding of the
Convention. In this regard, an Action Plan
for the Revitalization of the Abidjan Con-
vention was adopted.
By virtue of these decisions:
• The Commissions of the Large Marine
Ecosystem is granted special status as
advisors to the Secretariat of the Con-
vention in its work.
• The paragraph on “geographical cover-
age” of article 1 of the Convention is
amended to read: “This Convention
shall cover the marine environment,
coastal zones and related inland waters
falling within the jurisdictions of the
States of the West, Central and South-
ern African region, from Mauritania
to the Republic of South Africa, which
have become contracting parties to this
convention under conditions set forth
First Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and
Environment in Africa
Health Security through Healthy Environment
A
frican Health and Environment
Ministers will gather for the first
time ever from 26-29 August 2008
in Libreville, Gabon, to enhance political
commitment and investments required to
reduce environmental threats to health,
as part of their engagement towards sus-
tainable development in the region.
The first Inter-Ministerial Conference on
Health and Environment in Africa will be
hosted by the Government of Gabon, to-
gether with the World Health Organiza-
tion and the United Nations Environment
24  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
in article 27 and paragraph 1 of article
28 (hereinafter referred to as the con-
vention area).”
• The title of the convention is also
amended to accommodate the Repub-
lic of South Africa as follows: “Conven-
tion for Cooperation in the Protection,
Management and Development of the
Marine and Coastal Environment of the
Atlantic Coast of the West, Central and
Southern Africa Region and Protocol
concerning Cooperation in Combating
Pollution in Cases of Emergency.”
• The Executive Director of the United
Nations Environment Programme is
requested to transfer the functions of
the Secretariat to the Regional Coordi-
nation Unit in Abidjan as provided in
the Convention and the various deci-
sions of the conference of the parties
for effective implementation of the
Convention activities, and to continue
administrating the regional trust fund
and provide policy and administrative
Programme as co-organizers. The Confer-
ence will bring together participants from
a broad range of constituencies: health and
environment ministries, multilateral and
bilateral agencies, NGOs and civil society,
and the media.
This landmark conference will explore
ways to address health and environment
key priorities and linkages, in line with the
theme “Health security through healthy
environments” by means of integrated
health-environment approaches. The Con-
ference will seek an agreement on specific
support including implementation of
the action plan,
• In regard to the Action Plan for the Re-
vitalization of the Abidjan Convention,
the Contracting Parties and the Secre-
tariat are requested to develop partner-
ships with key stakeholders in the ma-
rine and coastal related sectors, such
as fisheries, ports and industries, with
a view to mobilizing technical and fi-
nancial resources for enhancing imple-
mentation of the Convention. They are
also urged to develop national policies
and legislation to enhance implemen-
tation of the Convention including on
the polluter pays principle. p
Highlights of the major outcomes of the 12th
session of AMCEN compiled by Angele Luh-Sy
All pictures courtesy of Earth Negotiations
Bulletin
The full report of the 12th session is available
on http://www.unep.org/roa/Amcen/Amcen_
Events/12th_Session_AMCEN/index.asp
actions required to leverage the necessary
changes in institutional arrangements and
investment frameworks for reducing en-
vironmental threats; and review existing
mechanisms and opportunities to address
health and environmental challenges fac-
ing Africa.
This Conference will be the first of a se-
ries of regular events to debate critical gaps
between health and environment, and to
mobilize campaigns that address health
and environment needs.
http://www.unep.org/health-env/

Climate Change Grips Finance and Development
Ministers
Climate change and its threat to Africa’s development was one of the themes that permeated discussion at the first joint meeting of the
African Union (AU) Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of
African Ministers of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (26-29 March 2008).
O
n climate change, the ministerial
meeting dealt with African per-
spectives for a post-2012 phase of
the Kyoto Protocol and also revisited the
issue in discussing the main theme of the
conference: “Meeting Africa’s New Devel-
opment Challenges in the 21st Century”.
The ministerial segment (31 March–2
April 2008) devoted the first day to com-
memoration of ECA’s 50th Anniversary
and high-level thematic debates that again
included the subject of climate change.
High-level participants
The ECA 50th Anniversary and the high-
level debate which was attended by min-
isters and high officials attracted a host of
dignitaries, among them Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi of the Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia, Former President of
Tanzania Mr. Benjamin William Mkapa,
AU Commission Deputy Chairperson
Mr. Patrick Mazimhaka, AU Commis-
sioner for Economic Affairs Mr. Maxwell
Mkwezalamba, Former ECA Executive
Secretary Prof. Adebayo Adedeji, and the
Director-General of The Energy and Re-
sources Institute (TERI) and Chairman of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri.
The current AU Chairman, President Jaka-
ya Kikwete of Tanzania, sent a message
that was read on his behalf by his coun-
try’s minister of finance. Messages were
beamed from UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon and African Development Bank
(AfDB) President Donald Kaberuka. The
contingent of senior UN personnel Dr.
Peter Piot (Director-General of UNAIDS),
Mr. Michel Jarraud (Secretary General of
the World Meteorological Organization),
Ms.Josette Sheeran (Executive Director of
the World Food Programme), Mr. Kanayo
F. Nwanze (Vice-President of the Inter-
national Fund for Agricultural Develop-
ment), and Mr. Luc Gnacadja (Executive
Secretary of the UN Convention to Com-
bat Desertification).
By Strike Mkandla
High level debate to mark the ECA 50th Anniversary
High-level thematic debate on
climate change
In his keynote address at the high-level
thematic debate Dr. Pachauri said that cli-
mate change would impede the ability of
African countries to achieve sustainable
development pathways as measured, for
example, by long-term progress towards
the Millennium Development Goals. The
phenomenon would adversely impact
basis needs: access to food and resources,
stable health conditions, and security of
settlements.
Dr Pachauri recounted key vulnerabili-
ties that would be exacerbated by climate
change: notably in the areas of human
health, food production, water resources,
and coastal areas. Climate change would
alter the ecology of some disease vectors,
such as in the case of malaria where there
is a potential of 5-7% increase in distribu-
tion and increased likelihood of epidem-
ics as the disease spreads to populations
where there is less resistance. Heat waves,
floods, storms, fires and droughts would
also increase deaths, disease and injury.
Dr. Pachauri noted that some African
countries already face semi-arid condi-
tions that make agriculture challenging.
Climate change would alter the conditions
A U - U N E C A
even further, leading to reductions in
yields, disappearance of some crops, and
significant falls in crop net revenues by the
turn of the century.
About 25% of Africa’s population or 200
million people currently experience high
water stress. By 2025 several countries will
exceed the limits of economically usable
land-based water resources, even without
factoring in climate change, Dr. Pachauri
said. Climate change will progressively
increase the risk of water stress. Another
projected impact is the sea-level rise, which
could have significant impacts on coastal
mega-cities because of the concentrations
of poor populations in potentially hazard-
ous areas. Africa’s vulnerability and lim-
ited adaptive capacity to climate change
is exacerbated by, among other things,
ecosystem degradation, frequent natural
disasters, conflicts and wars, and failure by
governments to respond effectively.
Speakers at the high-level debate touched
on many of the points in the keynote ad-
dress, such as the need for more aware-
ness and disaster preparedness, change in
lifestyles, good governance and empower-
ment, incorporating indigenous knowl-
edge, international and South-South coop-
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  25
A U - U N E C A
eration, policy coherence, and co-benefits
of climate change mitigation, and financ-
ing mechanisms opportunities for adap-
tation. There was some discussion on the
need for a new development paradigm. In
addition to contributions by ministers and
high-level government officials, there were
interventions by UN organizations, among
them ECOSOC President Ambassador Leo
Morores, the WMO Director-General, the
UNCCD Executive Secretary, the Vice Pres-
ident of IFAD, and Mr. Kilaparti Ramak-
rishna (Senior Policy Advisor, representing
the UNEP Executive Director).
African Climate Policy Centre
(ACPC) inaugurated
The Executive Secretary of ECA and Dr.
Pachauri in his capacity as Director-Gen-
eral of The Energy and Resources In-
stitute (TERI) based in India, signed an
agreement on the setting up of the Afri-
can Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) on 31
March after the centre was welcomed and
approved by the conference of ministers.
Earlier, the ECA had informed the Com-
mittee of Experts that the ACPC would
be established at ECA in partnership with
TERI, UNEP, WMO and the African Cen-
tre of Meteorological Applications for De-
velopment (ACMAD). Its primary remit
is to assist African countries in addressing
the challenge of climate change, through
policy research and capacity building, and
for the countries to benefit from carbon
trading and other mechanisms.
In its report the Committee made reference
to the NEPAD Environment Initiative, and
highlighted the linkage between climate
change, land degradation, desertification
and loss of biodiversity. It followed this by
stressing the need to adopt an integrated
and coordinated approach to the imple-
mentation of the three Rio conventions: UN
26  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13
Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD), and the UN Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD). It fur-
ther said African countries need technical,
financial and capacity building assistance in
the negotiation of a post-2012 climate re-
gime, and then called for this support and
for coordinated implementation.
In the high-level debate and prior to the
launch of the ACPC, Dr. Ramakrishna of
UNEP told the conference that during the
visit of UNEP’s Achim Steiner to ECA’s
Abdoulie Janneh in July 2007 the two ex-
ecutives had agreed to collaborate on the
economics of climate change. They had
called the phenomenon a “transforma-
tive factor”, on account of its impacts on
a broad range of key development inputs.
Dr. Ramakrishna proceeded to express
UNEP’s strong support for the centre,
noting that it would among other things
facilitate more mainstreaming of climate
change findings and data into economic
planning and development, including
preparedness of African economies for
extreme weather events induced by cli-
mate change (droughts and floods etc.).
He reiterated the Experts Committee’s
call for action to correct Africa’s under-
utilization of the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) and drew attention
to the efforts of a new UNDP/UNEP-
Risöe project in that regard.
Several speakers cautioned against the use
of food crops for biofuels, drawing atten-
tion to soaring food prices and riots in
several countries because of food short-
ages. It was suggested that some tree spe-
cies could be used both for biofuels and
for restoring degraded lands instead of
encroaching on arable land. Other renew-
able energy sources had also become more
viable, while there was also a lot of room
for energy efficiency and saving.
Decision on climate change
The joint conference [E/ECA/CM/41/2
and also AU/CAMEF/Rpt (III)] in Resolu-
tion-L2, Climate Change and Development
in Africa, expressed its appreciation to
the ECA, the AU, and the AfDB for their
development of the “Climate Informa-
tion for Development” (Clim-Dev Africa)
programme, and expressed its conviction
of the need to put in place institutional
mechanisms to assist in strengthening the
capacity of African countries and their
intergovernmental organizations to main-
stream climate-related issues into nation-
al, sub-regional and regional development
policies and programmes. The resolution
welcomed and endorsed the establishment
of the ACPC and urged ECA to take the
necessary action for its establishment.
Other themes and decisions
The overarching theme of meeting Africa’s
new challenges in the 21st century and
meeting the Millennium Development
Goals provided a wide canvass for subjects
tackled in the course of the ministerial
conference, in addition to statutory reports
and issues. Discussion covered issues such
as recent economic developments in Africa,
assessment of progress in regional integra-
tion, sectoral policy issues, topical social
and economic issues, and regional review
of financing for development. High-level
reflections on growth and employment
and on governance and the “Capable State”,
as well as thematic debates on empowering
the poor (led by Former President Mkapa)
and on HIV/AIDS (led by Dr. Peter Piot),
elicited much comment and lively polem-
ics. The strengthening of statistical capac-
ity once more featured in several contexts,
including the need for comparability of
categories used by different countries, and
progress made towards development of the
African Charter on Statistics.
At a dinner event facilitated by an NGO,
African Public Health Development, the
AU Commissioner for Social Affairs, Ad-
vocate Bience Gawanas, reminded par-
ticipants that the health status of popula-
tions is the most important indicator for
economic development. She called upon
ministers of finance to allocate adequate
resources to the social sector, and con-
cluded by calling for a joint special session
of the conferences of ministers of health
and ministers of finance, planning and
economic development in 2008/9. p

China Africa Cooperation
Young Africans Environmental Leaders in China for training In UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development
By Mohamed Abdel Monem and Mingyan Yu
Closing ceremony of the training sessions
U
NEP- Luohong Young Environmental Leaders Pro-
gramme (YELP) was established in 2006 with the kind
financial support from Mr. Luo Hong, a Chinese art-
ist. The key purpose of the programme is to provide specialized
leadership training to build the capacity of young environmental
scientists from developing countries in selected environmental
fields. This programme will run initially for 5 years starting from
2007. A two-week training session will be held annually targeting
selected region at the UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for
Sustainable Development (IESD), China. This training course for
Africa is the second YELP training after the first one that was or-
ganized for Asia Pacific region in September 2007.
Twenty three young African environmentalists from 16 African
countries representing ministries of environment, universities,
and NGOs converged at the UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environ-
ment for Sustainable Development (IESD), Shanghai, People’s
Republic of China 18-30 May 2008 to attend the Young Environ-
ment Leaders Programme for African countries on Environment
for Sustainable Development. This training programme was co-
financed by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China
(MOST) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
This program is considered as part of China-Africa cooperation
on environmental and its priority of capacity building and tech-
nology support to African countries contributing to implementa-
tion of the action plan for the environment initiative of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as well as the Bali
Strategic Plan.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Qian Han, representative of the
MOST, emphasized the importance of strengthening China-Af-
rica cooperation on environment as it provides opportunity for
both sides to learn from and complement each other. Mr. Mo-
hamed Abdel-Monem, UNEP /ROA representative gave a presen-
tation on Natural Resources and Conflicts in Africa, recognizing
that natural resources are sometime the cause and victim of con-
flicts in Africa, highlighting the current challenge of impact of
climate change that Africa is facing and increasing pressure on its
limited resources.
C H I N A - A F R I C A
Objective of this workshop was to build the African capacity in
the area of disaster risk reduction including early warning sys-
tems, prevention and response to disasters, meteorological and
cataclysmic disaster engineering and prevention and defense.
Other topics covered urban water resources management (drink-
ing water safety & treatment technology, waste water manage-
ment), solid waste management, public health risk management
and adaptation to climate change.
The Workshop provided a platform for the African participants
to exchange experiences, ideas and knowledge on environmental
challenges facing their countries, as they were requested to give
presentations on their own country’s environment situations and
their strategies and plans for disaster risk management.
Filed visits were organized for the participants as they were ex-
posed to different technologies and experience of China in the
field of disaster management and water treatment.
The training workshop was successfully ended with a closing cer-
emony on 29th May, 2008. Mr. Luo Hong, one of the sponsors of
this training, and Mr. Zhijia Wang, the representative of UNEP,
were present and delivered speeches. On behalf of all the partici-
pants, Dr. Khalid Riak Dthieu from Sudan gave an appreciation
speech. This training course took place one week after the dev-
astating earthquake in Wenchuan, when the whole country of
China was mobilized to help the recovery from the catastrophic
disaster. To express their sympathy and support to Chinese efforts
in combat with the earthquake, Dr. Khalid handed over a dona-
tion from the participants after his speech to Professor Fengting
Li, the vice dean of IESD. Then the ceremony was followed with a
song of prayer and the traditional dance from Kenya.
Although it ended, the workshop established linkages of collabo-
ration between the African participants and the Chinese experts
that will work as network for enhancing cooperation for improving
sustainable environment management in Africa as a whole. p
African participants visiting waste water treatment laboratory at the UNEP-
Tongji Institute
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13  •  27
Launching Bridges Across from Latin America to Africa
University Students from Colombia visit UNEP
A
group of 30 students from the Fac-
ulty of Finance, Government and
International Affairs of Colombia’s
Universidad Externado de Colombia” and
Kenya’s United States International Univer-
sity visited UNEP-ROA, as their first stop
from the airport, in their academic trip
through Africa. This important delegation
was led by Her Excellency Maria Victoria
Diaz De Suarez, Ambassador of the Repub-
lic of Colombia to Kenya.
The trip is meant to provide a good oppor-
tunity to Colombian students to broaden
their African experience and knowledge
and learn more about the work that UNEP
is doing in Africa, in a context of food cri-
sis fuelled by high prices of food crops and
market tensions, amid the ongoing debate
on biofuels.
This visit provided ROA team composed of
Nehemiah Rotich, Senior Programme Of-
ficer, Mohamed Abdel Monem, the Natural
Resource Programme Officer, Angele Luh-
Sy, the Information Officer, and Jacquie
Kegode, Programme assistant, with a good
opportunity to brief the visitors on UNEP’s
priorities and approaches in the region
to respond to the current and emerg-
ing challenges facing our continent. They
also informed the visitors about the ma-
jor outcomes of the recent 12th session of
the African Ministerial Conference on the
Environment relating to climate change, as
Africa is poised to be the most vulnerable
to its adverse effects.
Another important highlight of the brief-
ing was the importance of integrated as-
sessment and reporting through, the regu-
lar production of the Africa Environment
UNEP, Regional Office for Africa  http://www.unep.org/roa  Tel: (254-20)7624292  Fax: (254-20) 7623928
28  •  ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 13 ROA.Information.Officer@unep.org or Angele.Luh@unep.org
By Jacqueline Kegode and ALS
HE Maria Victoria Diaz De Suarez, Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia meeting with UNEP-ROA
Outlook report and the publication of the
Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment,
which was recently launched in Johannes-
burg. A copy of Atlas was presented to Am-
bassador Maria Victoria Diaz De Saurez.
The Atlas is a stunning 400-page Atlas of Af-
rica’s Changing Environment and is a unique
publication which brings to light stories of
environmental change at more than 100 lo-
cations spread across every country in Afri-
ca. Using current and historical satellite im-
ages, the Atlas provides scientific evidence
of the impact that natural and human ac-
tivities have had on the continent’s environ-
ment over the past several decades.
The Embassy of Colombia took this
opportunity to renew to the Regional Office
for Africa, the assurances of its highest
consideration. In her address, her Excellency
the Ambassador, Maria Victoria Diaz De
Suarez, spoke warmly of her relationship
with UN and said she had arranged the
meeting as she felt it would be a good
opportunity for the students to learn about
UNEP’s approach to environmental issues
in Africa and the world. She highlighted
the interest of this academic tour, which
was meant to bring out the commonalities
and shared experience between Colombia
and Africa.
In thanking Mr. Rotich, the Ambassador
said that the publication will be of immense
value to the students, and all those who
want to know more about Africa and who
care about the future of the continent.
She also felt the meeting with ROA was the
best way to promote the south-south coop-
eration due to the fact that Africa is a devel-
oping continent and information on UNEP
approach in this region would be educative.
She reiterated to the students that the best
way to learn was to actively seek informa-
tion and join UN networks on Colombia
such as the TUNZA Youth Group which
currently has a representative in Colombia.
The students will be in Kenya for a few days
and will visit several sites in the country
side before they continue on to other Africa
countries. p
PSS/08-41026/300/July 2008/jo