U NEP

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

N° 8 June 2005

UNEP GC/GMEF 23
Protecting the Environment: The Thread that Runs
Through the Millennium Development Goals
The importance of a healthy environment for realizing the Millennium Development Goals took center stage when more than
100 environment ministers met at the world headquarters ofrdthe United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi,
Kenya for the 23 Governing Council.
A five-year review of the Goals, which cover poverty eradication and safe water supplies to promoting women and conserving
wildlife, will take place in New York in September at a Summit-level meeting of the UN General Assembly. The conclusions of
UNEP GC-23 and Global Ministerial Environment Forum will feed into the 2005 World Summit.
The meeting in Nairobi, involving environment ministers from six Continents, looked at how to bolster global, regional and
national environments so as to improve the prospects for achieving the Goals by the target date of 2015.

C o n t e n t s
UNEP GC/GMEF 23
1
Tsunami
10
Africa Environment Day
11
AMCEN
12
th
11 World Lakes Conference
15
Nairobi River Basin Project
16
World Environment Day 2005
17
AMCEN/AEO
President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Mr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director, UNEP addressing delegates
21 at the opening of GC/GMEF 23
Congo Basin Partnership
23
Ozone
T rd
he 23 Session of UNEP Governing
Council/Global Ministerial Environment
The GC concluded on major achievements
including, a set of decisions on Small lslands
26 Forum adopted decisions some of which Development States (SIDS), chemicals,
Industry have far reaching implications, an indication keeping the world environment situation
29 of the firm and unequivocal reaffirmation under review, strengthening environmental
Kyoto Protocol by Governments and Civil Society of the role emergency response and developing disaster
31 and mandate of UNEP and its leadership, prevention, prepared-ness, mitigation and
Children and Youth in regard to the Global Environmental early warning systems in the aftermath of
Agenda, in the wider context of the three the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, on
33
pillars of sustainable development. programme of work and budget, water
 U N E P G C / G M E F
UNEP Executive Director, and former President of GC/GMEF welcome President Kibaki and Minister of
Environment, Kenya, Mr. Kalonzo Musyoka at UNEP Hq
policy and strategy, IEG, Bali Strategic Plan
for technology Support and Capacity
Building,. The GC also concluded with the
President’s Summary. The debate and
decisions on the Millennium Develop-
ment Goals spotlighted the environmental
dimension of the MDGs, and it has given
UNEP a leading role in integrating and
advancing the environmental dimension
The Regional Office for Africa and UNEP HQ organised a series of meetings and events in the run up to and during
the 23rd Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum. A number of important reports were also launched
during this gathering, touching on Energy in Africa, heavy metals, tsunami, Geo Year book, and plastic bags and waste.
nd
2 African Expert Meeting on
10 Year Framework
Programme on Sustainable
Consumption and Production
T he Johannesburg Plan of Implementa-
tion calls for the development of a 10-year
Framework of Programmes on Sustain-
able Consumption and Production (SCP)
in support of regional and national
initiatives. The Marrakech Process to
develop this framework was launched at
the First International Experts Meeting in
June 2003. Subsequently, UNEP, in
consultation with UN DESA, organized
the First African Expert Meeting on the
10 Year Framework Programme on
Sustainable Consumption and Product-
2 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
2 3
in the overall efforts to promote the
realization of the MDGs. MDG 4-6 -
Established the direct linkages between
these MDGs and the Environment and
health nexus. MDG 8 – Established
UNEP’s role in strengthening partnerships
with various stakeholders including
private sector/civil society etc.
Highlights
ion in Casablanca (Morocco) in May 2004.
The first expert meeting identified key
priority areas for the promotion of
sustainable consumption and production
within the region and adopted the
Casablanca Declaration on Sustainable
Consumption and Production in Africa
th
which was later endorsed by the 10
Regular Session of AMCEN.
As a follow-up to the meeting in Casa-
blanca, UN DESA and UNEP in collabora-
tion with the AMCEN Secretariat and the
African Roundtable on Sustainable Con-
sumption and Production (ARSCP) organ-
ised this Second African Expert Meeting on
SCP in Nairobi, Kenya. The outcome from
this meeting will be submitted to AMCEN
The Council also welcomed the offer
extended by H.E. Mr. Zeng Peiyan, Vice
Premier of the People’s Republic of China,
to host the second intergovernmental
review (IGR) meeting of the Global
Programme of Action for the Protection
of the Marine Environment from Land-
based Activities (GPA) in 2006.
This important event is expected to focus,
amongst other things, on assessing how the
GPA can be further used to support
achievement of the goals and targets
associated with the Johannesburg Plan of
Implementation and the Millennium
Declaration. The IGR will also provide an
important opportunity for different
stakeholders at the international, regional
and national levels to plan the road to 2014-
2015, when the cluster of issues being
considered by the Commission on
Sustainable Development will include both
marine resources and oceans and seas.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to host
the next Special Session of the United
Nations Environment Programme’s
Governing Council. It is the first time that
this event will be held in the Arab world.
and subsequently presented to the Second
International Experts Meeting on the 10
Year Framework Programme that is sched-
uled to be held in September 2005 in Costa
Rica.
Preparation of the Second
Partners Conference on the
Implementation of the Action
Plan of the Environment
Initiative of the NEPAD
In view of the significance attached to the
environment as the third pillar of
sustainable development, the Second
Ordinary Assembly of the African Union
held in Maputo, in July 2003, endorsed the
Action Plan and the decision of AMCEN
to hold a meeting with Africa’s
development partners. The first Partners
Conference on the implementation of the
action plan of the environment initiative
of the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD) was therefore
held in Algiers, Algeria on 15 and 16
December 2003.
The objectives of the first Partners
Conference were to present the priorities
of the Region and seek the support of
Africa’s development partners for effective
implementation of the priority environ-
ment programmes and projects which had
been agreed upon by Africa in the
framework of NEPAD. The decision to
organise the second Partners Conference
was reached at the first Partners
Conference. This decision was reaffirmed
at the tenth regular session of AMCEN
held in Sirte, Libya in June, 2004.
Consistent with the practice of AMCEN,
a preparatory technical session was organ-
ized with the objectives to review the im-
plementation of the Action Plan since the
First Partners Conference, discuss the fi-
nancial resource mobilisation mecha-
nisms for the implementation of the
Action Plan and make further recommen-
dations to the ministerial session of the
second Partners Conference on the imple-
mentation of the Action Plan. Fourty par-
ticipants including representatives from
member States of AMCEN attended the
technical segment of the Partners Confer-
ence.
The African Business and
Sistainable Development
Roundtable
ROA took advantage of the GC/GMEF-
23 to organise a side-event on sustainable
development for the African Business.
This roundtable was meant to facilitate
dialogue between African Ministers and
business executive with a particular focus
on water and energy (See page 29).
The China-africa Conference on
Environment and Cooperation
The China-Africa Conference on the
environment was organised as part of the
U N E P
efforts by the Government of China and
UNEP to achive a strategic framework of
cooperation for implementation of the
Action Plan of the Environment Intitiative
of the NEPAD (See page 8).
Energy: Congo River to
generate electricity for Africa
Plans to harness the power of the mighty
Congo River to generate electricity are
being drawn up by one of Africa’s biggest
energy companies. This was announced
at the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) during the Govern-
ing Council. The scheme, which will
initially focus on the Inga Rapids, aims to
eventually generate more than enough
electricity to power Africa’s industrial-
isation. An estimated 526 million people
in Africa do not have access to electricity.
The situation in rural areas is expected to
become even worse over the next two
decades if current patterns continue.
According to the ministers and business
leaders attending the meeting, this water
and energy crisis threatening most of
Africa will only be solved if there is greater
investment in relevant infrastructure and
services by the private sector.
From building boreholes for water to the
development of solar power in remote
villages, business must play a key role in
working with local entrepreneurs, public
authorities and financing institutions in
Africa, concluded participants.
The plan was announced by Reuel Khoza,
chairman of the South African-based
power company Eskom Holdings. He was
among a delegation of business leaders
attending “Africa Business and Sustainable
Development” meeting which took place
at UNEP headquarters where environ-
ment minister from across the globe have
gathered for UNEP’s 23rd Governing
Council/Global Ministerial Environment
Forum.
Mr. Khoza said: “Africa urgently needs
energy to lift its people out of poverty and
deliver sustainable development. The
Congo River offers enormous opportun-
G C / G M E F 2 3
ities for doing this. We calculate that hydro
electricity from the Congo could generate
more than 40,000 megawatts, enough to
power Africa’s industrialization with the
possibility of selling the surplus to
southern Europe”.
The idea had been suggested in the past,
but that it was now gaining real political
momentum under the New Partnership
for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). The
plans envisaged engineering works that
would siphon off the river, divert it
through electricity-generating turbines,
before funneling the water back into the
Congo. At least half if not more of the
electricity can be generated in this way
which, according to Eskom, makes the
project environmentally-friendly.
Co-organised by UNEP with the Interna-
tional Chamber of Commerce (ICC),
World Business Council for Sustainable
Development (WBCSD) and the World
Energy Council (WEC), the meeting ex-
amined how the provision of water and
energy underpins the sustainable devel-
opment needs of Africa and can contrib-
ute to the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals and the Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation. http://www.
unep.org/Documents. Multilingual/
Default.asp?DocumentID =424&Article
ID=4738&l=en
Action on Heavy Metals
among Key GC Decisions
Governments took an important step
forward in reducing the health and
environmental risks from mercury. They
agreed to strengthen UNEP’s Finances and
Work in Areas from Water and Gender
Equality to Disaster Preparedness and
Scientific Assessment. Under an expanded
mercury programme, they have asked the
United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) to conduct a study on the amounts
of mercury being traded and supplied
around the world. Mercury, a heavy metal
linked with medical effects such as damage
to the nervous systems of babies, is used in
products such as fluorescent light bulbs,
dental fillings and thermometers.
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 3
 U N E P G C / G M E F
Action is also to be taken on improving the
communication of the risks of mercury to
vulnerable groups. These include pregnant
mothers whose babies may be at risk if they
eat too much mercury-contaminated fish
or marine mammals such as seals.
Governments also agreed to promote ‘best
available tech-niques’ for reducing mercury
emissions from chemical factories and other
industrial sites.
They agreed to develop partnerships
between governments, international
organizations, non-governmental organ-
izations and the private sector to reduce
mercury pollution with the first pilot
projects to be in place by September this
year. Likely partnerships include ones to
reduce emissions of mercury from coal
fired power stations, from chlor-alkali
plants and from pollution linked with gold
mining. An estimated 2,000 tonnes of new
mercury is released to the environment
annually, mainly from coal-fired power
stations, waste incinerators and as a result
of artisinal mining of gold and silver.
Under the partnerships, governments will
make experts and information on
environmentally-friendly techniques
available to those countries and industries
requesting assistance.
The partnership mechanism will also
focus on mercury wastes and surplus
stockpiles as well as promote research to
improve understanding on how mercury
moves around the planet. Governments,
who have been attending UNEP’s 23rd
Governing Council/Global Ministerial
Environment Forum, also agreed to
review the success of the new programme
in two years time. http://www.unep.org/
Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?
DocumentID=424&ArticleID=4740&l=en
A post-Tsunami Report by
UNEP Makes
recommendations on How to
Reduce Vulnerability to Future
Coastal Hazards
The destruction caused by the Asian
tsunami to the environment offers an
opportunity to rebuild in a manner that
preserves natural resources for the benefit
4 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
2 3
of the local communities who were
hardest hit by the disaster, a new report
entitled After the Tsunami - Rapid
Environmental Assessment by UNEP says.
Vulnerability mapping is urgently needed
to pin point coastal sites where homes,
hotels, factories and other infrastructure
should be banned or restricted.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s Executive Director,
said: “The report underlines the importance
of managing the reconstruction in an
environmentally sensitive way. Buildings
and other infrastructure need to be built in
less vulnerable areas and to standards that
will protect them and their inhabitants in
the event of future tsunamis. This makes
sense not only in respect to tsunamis but
also with respect to storms surges, floods,
hurricanes and other extreme weather
events.”
He further said that “The report indicates
that the environment was both a victim
of the tsunami but also that it often played
its part in reducing the impact. Where
healthy and relatively intact features like
coral reefs, mangroves and coastal
vegetation were in place there is evidence
that the damage was reduced. There are
innumerable reasons to maintain healthy
habitats like coral reefs. They are nurseries
fish and magnets for tourists. Now we
have another reason to conserve them”.
The Executive Director also emphasized
that the report also supported the need
for a regional early warning system, not
just for tsunamis but for a wide range of
weather-related natural disasters.
A string of recommendations are made
including building the skills, knowledge
and equipment base of the affected
governments and local authorities. More
detailed studies, including long term
monitoring, of the countries concerned
and the main impacts sites, are needed. For
most if not all the countries, the immediate
priorities appear to be the condition and
rehabilitation of groundwater supplies,
waste management including safe disposal
of rubble, construction materials and
hazardous wastes and restoring livelihoods
in the agricultural and fisheries sector.
Apart from the consideration of ‘no build’
or restricted build zones in the coastal
zones, governments and local commu-
nities should also consider restoring
mangrove forests and traditional forms of
fish and shrimp farming. Simply re-
instating intensive fish and shrimp
aquaculture systems of the kind that have
become economically popular in recent
years may be a mistake, says the report.
Meanwhile, the recovery and rebuilding
process offers a ‘clear opportunity’ for
sustainable energy generation based on
wind, solar and tidal, it adds. Community-
based, emergency shelters possibly like
those in Bangladesh should be considered.
Replanting coastal forests is another
proposal. Forests not only take the sting out
of aggressive waves and offer other benefits
including incomes for local people. Trees
are also ideal places where people can climb
to avoid being washed away.
The report, based on surveys by UNEP
teams in the field working with other UN
agencies, governments and non govern-
mental organizations, was released at
UNEP’s 23rd Governing Council/Global
Ministerial Environment Forum. http://
www.unep.org/Documents. Multilingual
Default.asp? Document ID=424&
ArticleID=4733&l=en
2004/5 GEO Yearbook
Launched
Scientists are linking a rise in new and
previously suppressed infectious diseases
with the dramatic environmental changes
now sweeping the planet. Loss of forests,
road and dam building, the spread of
cities, the clearing of natural habitats for
agriculture, mining and the pollution of
coastal waters are promoting conditions
under which new and old pathogens can
thrive. Climate change may aggravate the
threats of infectious diseases in three ways
experts suggest.
Firstly by increasing the temperatures
under which many diseases and their car-
riers flourish, and secondly by further
stressing and altering habitats. For exam-
ple, the geographic range and seasonality
of two of the world’s most serious mos-
quito-borne infections, malaria and den-
gue fever, are very sensitive to changes in
climate. Also, Neissseria meningitidis, a
common cause of meningitis, can be
spread many miles in the dusty conditions
that occur following prolonged drought
in the Sahel. Thirdly, climate change may
increase the number of environmental
refugees who are forced to migrate to
other communities, even countries. This
in turn will also favor the spread of dis-
eases from one location to another where
the population may be more susceptible.
These are among the findings from the
United Nations Environment Programme
in its latest Global Environment Outlook
Year Book 2004/2005 under the section
U N E P
‘Emerging Challenges—New Findings’.
The report on the emergence and re-
emergence of infectious diseases is based
on new research by some of the leading
experts in the field.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s Executive Director,
said: “ It promises to be a momentous year
for the United Nations as a whole and
UNEP in particular. In September, nations
will gather in New York for a meeting of the
General Assembly to evaluate how far we
have gone in achieving the Millennium
Development Goals”. “A Task Force,
appointed by Secretary General Kofi Annan,
has concluded that the environment is the
cornerstone upon which the Goals are likely
to stand or fall. The report on the rise of
infections underlines this fact. MDG 6 calls
on the global community to reverse the
spread if HIV/AIDS, malaria and other
diseases,” he said.
The issue of environmental degradation and
a rise of many new and old infectious
diseases is a complex, sometimes subtle, one
that is causing increasing concern among
scientists and disease specialists. Overall it
seems that intact habitats and landscapes
tend to keep infectious agents in check,
whereas damaged, altered and degraded
ones shift the natural balance thereby
triggering the spread to people of new and
existing diseases. Many leading experts are
now convinced that ecological disruption,
dramatic environmental change, and poor
handling of human and animal wastes are
playing an important part.
In Africa, the expansion of mining and
other extractive industries can increase the
incidence of diseases like malaria.
Deforestation and road building often
disrupt forest and river systems increasing
the habitats for malaria-carrying
mosquitoes. Migration of workers into
previously inaccessible areas is increasing
the population at risk. The World Health
Organization has recently estimated that
some six per cent of malaria cases in some
part of the world during the last 25 years
are as a result of climate change.
Schistosomiasis, also known as bilharzia
is a major health risk in the rural areas of
G C / G M E F 2 3
Central China and Egypt and continues
to rank high in other developing countries
including many in Africa. Freshwater
snails, known as Biomphalaria glabrata,
serve as reservoirs for the disease. Water
flow changes and changes in water
chemistry associated with dams like the
Aswan Dam in Egypt and irrigation
schemes on the Senegal River, are being
linked with an increase in the snail pop-
ulation and thus cases of Schistosomiasis.
Increasing level of rubbish and solid
wastes in developing countries— a result
of increasing consumerism, poor collect-
ion and refuse handling services, fly
tipping, lack of re-cycling schemes and
inadequate disposal site— are aggravating
the problem.
Discarded plastic bags, old tins and car
tyres offer, when filled with rainwater,
perfect new breeding opportunities for
disease carrying insects. Increased and
unplanned urbanisation, lack of proper
waste water management schemes in
many developing country cites and
population growth, are also important
factors in the spread of these diseases.
Tuberculosis, Bubonic Plague and
Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome are
linked with unplanned urbanization. The
GEO Year Book also links yellow fever,
Kyasanur Forest disease and Ebola with
deforestation and its knock-on effects.
http://www.unep.org/Do cuments.
Multilingual/Default.asp? Document
ID=424& ArticleID =4728 &l=en
Plastic Bag Ban in Kenya
Proposed as Part of New
Waste Strategy
Flimsy plastic shopping bags should be
banned and a hefty levy slapped on thicker
ones to rid Kenya of an increasing
environmental and health menace, a
report urges.
At least two million plastic bags are now
being handed out each year to people
shopping at supermarkets and kiosks in
Nairobi alone, the study by experts at the
Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research
and Analysis (KIPPRA) says. The bags,
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 5
 U N E P G C / G M E F
many of which are so thin they are simply
thrown away after one trip from the shops,
have become a familiar eyesore in both
urban and countryside areas. Plastic bags
also block gutters and drains, choke farm
animals and marine wildlife and pollute
the soil as they gradually break down.
Wangari Mathaai, the Assistant Environ-
ment Minister in Kenya and 2004 Nobel
Peace Prize winner, has also linked plastic
bag litter with malaria. The bags, when
discarded, can fill with rainwater offering
ideal and new breeding grounds for the
malaria-carrying mosquitoes.
A ban on bags less than 30 microns thick
and the levy on thicker ones are among a
raft of proposals aimed at reducing the use
of polythene bags and providing funds for
alternative, more environmentally-
friendly, carriers such as cotton or sisel
bags. Cash raised from the levy would also
go towards the setting up of efficient and
effective re-cycling schemes, says the
report funded by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and
the National Environment Management
Authority (NEMA) of Kenya. Operating
the plastic bag levy could become a blue-
print for similar schemes aimed at the
rising tide of other wastes confronting
Kenya and countries across Africa and the
developing world.
The proposal is contained in a report,
Selection, Design and Implementation of
Economic Instruments in the Kenyan
Solid Waste Management Sector, authored
by KIPPRA’s Moses Ikiara and Clive
Mutunga.
6 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
2 3
The report’s findings, launched at a
meeting of UNEP’s Governing Council
are based on the outcome of several
meetings between UNEP, NEMA,
manufacturers, suppliers, supermarkets
and other interested groups held in Kenya
and abroad.
Theo and the Giant Plastic Ball
The Executive Director of UNEP also
launched this book, the second in a series
under the UNEP Tunza Environmental
Series which aims to inspire caring for the
Earth through creative literature that
sparks the interest and awareness of
children, their parents and teachers. Theo
and the Giant Plastic Ball was written by
Carole Douglis and illustrated by
Adrienne Kennaway.
The story, in which a boy called Theo,
alerts communities to the menace of
discarded plastic bags by collecting and
rolling them into a giant ball, is aimed at
educating children in a lively and engaging
away about how they can take action for a
cleaner, healthier world. The book is in
line with the recommendations by
KIPPRA which, as part of the Kenyan
strategy on waste and plastics call for
public awareness campaigns.
The full study, Country Report on
Selection, Design and Implementation of
Economic Instruments in the Kenyan
Solid Waste Management Sector, is
available at www.unep.org and at
www.unep.ch/etu
UNEP & IUCN: A New Strategic
Partnership for the
Environment
At a time when the environment agenda
has greater demands made upon it and
faces increasing challenges, IUCN and
UNEP review their strategic partnership
agreement.
“It is urgent that we work closely together
in helping to re-position the conservation
and environment agendas as a key
response to addressing the Millenium
Development Goals and the poverty
eradication agenda. By strengthening our
collaboration we believe that we can help
our respective communities and consti-
tuencies to make a difference” said Achim
Steiner, Director General of IUCN.
“IUCN- The World Conservation Union is
an organization with members at grass roots
as well as in governments across the world.
By joining forces we can together take the
important step – mainstreaming
biodiversity and other environmental
concerns into the development agenda”, says
Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP.
IUCN, the World Conservation Union
and UNEP have enjoyed a long history of
collaboration which goes back to the
creation of the United Nations
Environment Programme in 1972 and has
resulted in landmark results - such as the
World Conservation Strategy (1982),
which provided a new paradigm for the
environmental community at that time,
and the development of the main
environmental agreements (MEAs) now
in place at global and regional levels.
UNEP and IUCN have also collaborated in
bringing together and making available key
information on protected areas and
environmental law and in developing
capacities in most regions of the world. The
signing of this Memorandum of
Understanding marks a new commitment
to a more strategic collabor-ation and will
provide a clear signal to advance the
environmental agenda. http://www. unep.
org/Documents.Multilingual/Default. asp?
DocumentID=424&Article ID=4737&l=en
African Journalists call for
individual commitment and
collective work to achieve
Millennium Development Goals
About 45 journalists from twenty one
African countries gathered in Nairobi in
parallel with the UNEP Governing
Council and Global Ministerial
Environment Forum (GC/GMEF). The
overall objective of the workshop was to
further UNEP’s continued support to
building the capacity for environmental
reporting within the African Network of
Environmental Journalist (ANEJ).
African journalists on field visit at Nairobi Dam
In addition, the workshop was designed
to provide an opportunity for African
media practitioners, both in the print and
electronic media, to help build each others
skills based on local experience and
knowledge on the field. With the help of
local African resource persons, delegates
developed and strengthened their
environmental reporting skills through
interactive discussions and exercises.
With regard to the implementation of the
millennium Development goals, African
journalists called for more focused
Call for individual commitment and collective work to achieve MDGs
U N E P G C / G M E F 2 3
called on Africans to change their attitude
and commit individually and work
collectively to achieve these (MDG)
targets and see women as partners with
men for sustainable development through
adoption of a rights based approach to
issues of basic amenities such as access to
education, water and sanitation and
environmental resources.
Journalists also recognized that
environmental reporting is a specialized
area of journalism and recommended that
journalists attempt to understand the
culture of a people before writing on
specialized and sensitive issues such as
gender balance implication. It was agreed
that journalists need to change their
thought process and attitudes. Con-
sequently, as a starting point they commit
themselves to further develop personal
indicators for measuring poverty, more
vision and mission statements.
community based actions for poverty
reduction more efforts to give “voice” to
Recognizing that the media has not
the people, setting a higher target in global
adequately covered actions at local levels,
effort for the eradicating of poverty as
they resolved to play their part by giving
against the reduction of poverty, a
greater media attention and mention
paradigm shift in Africa towards gender
efforts of local people on the field,
balance for sustainable development the
particularly women, and youth and
recognition of the dimensions of poverty,
awakening political leaders and the society
the link between poverty and gender and
to the role youths are playing and can still
the cross-cutting impact of water and
play in development as change agents.
sanitation on education for girls, women’s
productivity and livelihoods and
The workshop provided an opportunity
environmental sustainability. They also
for African media practitioners to help
build each others skills based on local
experience and knowledge on the field.
With the help of local African resource
persons delegates developed and
strengthened their environmental
reporting skills through interactive
discussions and exercises.
The series of training workshops is
designed as an event for bringing together
African journalists reporting environ-
mental issues to exchange knowledge and
mutually improve each others skills
through interactive sessions and exercises.
A group of more senior African journalists
is also being developed to serve as resource
persons and transfer skills in the field of
environmental and investigative reporting
to the younger journalists at the sub-
regional and national levels. ❐
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 7
 U N E P G C / G M E F
The China-Africa Conference on Environmental
Cooperation
T he China-Africa Co-operation
Forum (Forum) was established in 2000
with the framework of collective
dialogue between China and African
countries to promote peace and
development on the basis of equality.
Since then China and Africa have
worked toward implementing the
forum’s follow-up action. A second
ministerial conference of the Forum,
met in Addis Ababa in December 2003,
adopted an Action Plan to facilitate the
implementation of the principles and
objectives set out in the Beijing
Declaration of the Forum and the
Program for China –Africa Cooperation
in Economic and Social Development.
The Government of China and UNEP
seek to achieve a strategic framework of
cooperation between both parties for
implementation of the action plan of
the environment initiative of the New
Partnership for Africa’s Development.
The China-Africa Conference on
Environmental Cooperation was held
on Monday 21 February 2004 Chaired
by Mr. WEI Jianguo, Co-chair of
Chinese Follow-up Committee of the
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation,
Vice Minister of Ministry of
Commerce of China and was opened
by Mr. ZENG Peiyan, Vice Premier of
the State Council of China and
addressed by Dr. Topfer, Executive
Director of UNEP, Mr. XIE Zhenhua
Minister, State Environmental
Protection Administration, and Mr.
Nancoman Keita Vice President of the
AMCEN, Minister for Environment of
Mali and Mrs. Rosebud Kurwijila,
8 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
2 3
Mohamed Abdel-Monem
Mr. Töpfer, UNEP Executive Director, H E Zeng Peiyan, Vice Premier of China, H E President
Kibaki of Kenya and Former GC President Hon. Arcado Ntagazwa
Commissioner for Rural Economy and
Agriculture, Representative of the AU.
It was agreed that:
1- High level political dialogue to be ini-
tiated between AMCEN and China on
relevant issues related to environment.
AMCEN to invite their Chinese coun-
terparts and likewise, AMCEN should
be invited to meetings staged by the
Chinese. AMCEN will be the mecha-
nism for high level dialogue. Possibly
meetings will be held every three if not
every two years. In between these Min-
isterial level meetings, senior official
level meetings should be held.
2- Two training courses will be organized
during 2005 and supported by China
for African countries in the area of
environmental management. The First
will be held in Beijing, September
2005. Second to be held in No-
vember 2005 but the venue is
open to negotiation. Libya will
discuss with China through
AMCEN and UNEP possibility of
hosting the second training
course on waste water manage-
ment.
3- Other proposals related to urban
environment, water and land
degradation would be developed
in consultation with African
countries, ROA/UNEP and SEPA
to be forward to the relevant
Chinese authorities.
4- Cooperation between China and
the African countries can be
strengthened in the area of
capacity building and technology
transfer, as well as information
sharing. ❐
Environmental NGOs, Trade Unions, Youth, Women and Indigenous
Peoples Representatives’ Participation
The environmental NGOs, Trade Unions,
Youth, Women and Indigenous Peoples
representatives present in Nairobi this
week would like to share the following:
International Environmental
Governance & UNEP
1. We look forward to the strengthening
of UNEP and the provision in future
of significant additional, stable and
predictable resources to allow UNEP
to perform its mandate adequately;
2. We also welcome the support
expressed by Governing Council to
the immediate implementation of the
Bali Strategic Plan on Capacity
Building and Technology support;
3. We reaffirm that Multilateral Environ-
mental Agreements should have pri-
mary competence to determine, apply
environmental objectives and related
trade measures, and to monitor com-
pliance.
Gender:
4. We thank the Swedish delegation for
advancing the issue of Gender
Equality and Environment this week;
5. We welcome the Decision on Gender
Equality and Environment, particularly
the commitment to promote equal par-
ticipation of women in environmental
decision-making at al levels, the
mainstreaming of gender in environ-
mental policies and programmes, and
the assessment of effects on women of
environmental policies;
6. We support the call for adequate
provision of resources fro the prompt
implementation of this decision.
Tsunami
7. We agree that the Tsunami disaster
in the Indian Ocean should be viewed
as an opportunity to mobilize re-
sources for sustainable re-building
and management, including drawing
lessons on the vulnerability that cer-
tain developments in that region in
the last few decades have entailed
U N E P
(phasing out of destructive and unsus-
tainable industrial aquaculture activities,
protection and restoration of mangrove
ecosystems, integrated coastal zone
management, land-used planning with
the ecosystem approach),
8. Throughout the Tsunami-devastated
areas, the development and use of clean,
renewable and sustainable energy
should be given utmost priority;
9. One key lesson from the Tsunami disaster
is that economic development must not
increase the vulnerability of ecosystems,
peoples and communities, especially with
regard to climate change and extreme
weather patterns in developing countries
which are analogous to “man-made,
preventable Tsunamis”.
Climate:
10. We welcome the adoption of Paragraph
6(a) (b) and (c) of UNEP GC Decision
on Keeping the World Environmental
Situation under Review (GC23/CW/L2/
Add 1). As requested in Paragraph 6(c)
we shall continue to address the serious
challenges of global climate change and
look forward to cooperating with UNEP
to this end,
11. Whilst we joined the celebrations that
marked the entry into force of the Kyoto
Protocol last week, we continue to be
concerned that the US Administration is
not acting in accordance with their legal
obligations under Article 2 of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate
Change, despite the recognition this week
in Brussels by President Bush that human-
enhanced climate change does take place,
12. We call upon Governments to consider
the legal implications of the US’s viola-
tion of their UNFCCC obligations we
look forward to discussing this issue at
next year’s Special Session of UNEP
Governing Council in Dubai.
Mercury:
13. We would like to thank those
governments who have secured the
adoption of the Mercury Programme on
mercury which constitutes an important
G C / G M E F 2 3
first step in eradicating mercury
poisoning of people and the
environment.
14. We believe however that the adoption
of a legally-binding instrument to
tackle mercury poisoning, reflected
in the Mercury Programme as an
option, is inevitable. We call upon
Govern-ments to work to this end, in
particular to secure capacity building
for all and just a transition in
phasing-in clean alternatives.
Water, Sanitation and Human
Settlements:
15. We look forward to pursuing effective
measures on Water, Sanitation and
th
Human Settlements at this year’s 13
Session of the Commission on
Sustainable Development, and at the
MDG+5 Summit in September,
16. Access to safe and affordable water
and adequate sanitation is a key test
case for the international community,
because a failure to achieve the MDG
water related objectives would be an
obstacle to the realization of all other
MDGs, including the targets for
human health,
17. Access to water is a basic human right
that Governments, individually and
collectively, have the duty to secure
and protect.
MDG+5 Summit:
18. We reiterate that Environment for
Development should be the corner-
stone of this year’s Millennium+ 5
review and summit, as was pointed
out in the UN SG’s High level Panel
Report on Threats, Opportunities
and Change, our collective security
will never be reached unless we
achieve an equitable and fair devel-
opment that takes full account of en-
vironmental sustainability.
19. We urge Governments to include
representatives from Civil Society on
their delegation at the MDG+5
Summit in New York, and related
meetings.
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 9
 T S U N A M I
Tsunami impact on Eastern Africa
O n 26 December 2004, the Tsunami
that hit many parts of South East Asia
also struck the Somali coastline,
North-eastern Somalia was the worst
affected, particularly between Hafun
(Bari region) and Garacad (Mudug
region), a stretch of around 650 km.
The effects of the Tsunami included the
loss of life, destruction of shelters,
houses and water sources and loss of
productive assets. Many parts of
Somalia have already been suffering
from four years of consecutive drought
and periodic floods in addition to
chronic insecurity. The impact of the
Tsunami therefore poses a further
Impacts of Tsunami
assault to an already vulnerable
population. The affected parts of
Somalia along the coast from Haafun
south to Garacad and even down to the
islands off the south Jubba coast.
More than 18,000 households of
varying sizes have been affected by the
total or partial loss of housing,
household goods and means of
livelihoods. Wells throughout the
affected region were inundated and
contaminated causing acute shortages
of drinking water. Food stocks were
washed away, thousands were left
stranded on beaches and on whatever
high ground could be found and, at the
time of writing, there are still dozens of
fishermen missing and unaccounted for.
Eastern Somalia was the worst hit in
Eastern Africa with the tsunami along
10 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
Mohamed Abdel-Monem
Praslin Islands, and to a lesser extent on
certain coastal parts on La Digue and Cerf
Islands. Rescue efforts limited the loss of
human life to one individual.
Tsunami hit the coasts of the inner islands
of Seychelles causing considerable
damages. With waves ranging from 2.5 to
4.0 meters.
...in the North-Eastern Coast of Somalia
• Causing severe flooding and consid-
erable damage to infrastructure, such
more than 650 kilometres of coastline. as bridges and roads, as well as the fish-
ing port, jetties, hotels, public utilities,
• It was estimated that more than 150 houses, (Over 500 houses were de-
deaths. stroyed resulting in and 5 schools sus-
• More than 18,000 households have
been affected.
• Wells throughout the affected region
were contaminated causing acute
shortages of drinking water.
• Food stocks were washed away.
• Boats and other means of fishing were
destroyed.
Tsunami also hit the coasts of the inner
granitic islands of Seychelles causing
Destruction of shelters
considerable damages. At 13.00 hrs, tidal
waves ranging from 2.5 to 4.0 metres hit
the east coast of Praslin and Mahe Islands. tained sever damages) water and sani-
tation on coastal areas on Mahe and
The extreme tidal movement caused Praslin Islands, and to a lesser extent
severe flooding and considerable damage on certain coastal parts on La Digue
to infrastructure, such as bridges and and Cerf Islands. Rescue efforts limited
the loss of human life to one individual.
• Some areas of the Seychelles includ-
ing the Anse Kerlan beach in the
north-west of Praslin, did however
suffer high beach erosion with the re-
habilitation costs ranging from $1.4
million to $ 500,000 depending on the
type of measures to be employed
• The Seychelles’s small but important
stands of mangroves amounting to
Tsunami poses further assault to already
vulnerable population around 30 square kilometres were also
impacted mainly as a result of
roads, as well as the fishing port, jetties, smothering of their ‘breathing roots’
hotels, public utilities, houses, water and by sand and silt
sanitation on coastal areas on Mahe and
• Soils around Victoria still have a high
salt content which is double the
amount most plants in the islands
can tolerate.
• The Government and other national
agencies have taken the necessary
steps to assist those that have been
affected. Some minor repair works
are already being carried out on
essential public infrastructure to
render them temporarily operational
so as to support livelihoods.
• Establish an Early Warning System
for the Seychelles is highly recom-
mended
A round table on the environmental
situation in Somalia was organized on 9
June 2005 at UNEP Headquarters
involving experts from various United
Nations bodies, non-governmental
organizations, research institutes and the
Transitional Federal Government of
Somalia. The purpose of this meeting was
to exchange information on a wide range
of environmental problems and potential
hazards. This meeting came in the wake
of a short and limited fact finding mission
to the area where a UN team visited places
in Puntland and Somaliland.
The finding mission was led by the
United Nations Resident Representative
for Somalia and included staff from
UNEP, the World Health Organization
and the Food and Agricultural
Organization. During this mission, a
small number of preliminary soil,
freshwater, fish and coastal water
samples were collected. A limited
number of urine and blood samples
were also taken from local people. These
are currently being analyzed and the
results are likely to be made public in a
few weeks time. It is hoped to conduct
more thorough and wide-ranging
scientific assessments as and when
security in Somalia improves.
UNEP is putting together a desk study
aimed at informing the new government
and the outside world on possible
priority issues that need to be addressed.
❐ Parliament, local and Experts communities, youth and religious groups and civil society
A E D
Africa Celebrates Environment Day
O n 3rd March of every year African countries celebrate Africa Environment Day (AED).
For the first time ever, a concerted effort was made to implement the decision on celebration
of the day. The AU urged all African governments to observe the day in their countries.
This day was designated by the African Union (AU), at the initiative of Libya, at its summit
in Durban, South Africa, in 2002. For the African Environment Day this year, the AU has
been flexible by not choosing a continental theme, leaving the choice to countries. Subsequent
observations of the day will have a theme circulated in advance by the Commission.
The AU Executive Council decided that Member States celebrate the day by urging
enterprises, institutions and centers concerned by environmental problems to undertake a
variety of activities. These include: Conferences/debates, symposia and information
campaigns to sensitize African populations on environmental problems; Visits and
excursions to beaches, forests, zoological parks and natural reserves with a view to involving
the African population in the preservation of the environment; Focusing efforts on
desertification and drought control programmes, as well as on maximum and judicious
exploitation of natural resources; Mobilization of all available means of information to
cover the celebration of the Africa Environment Day.
Ethiopia Rolls Back Deforestation and Desertification for Poverty
Reduction to mark African Environment Day
The theme chosen for the celebrations in Ethiopia is: “Roll Back Deforestation and
Desertification for Poverty Reduction”. The AU Commission has teamed up with the
Environment Protection Authority of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, the
UNEP Addis Ababa Office and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
to observe the day.
Activities took place in the Debrezeit area, over thirty kilometers from Addis Ababa. The
organizers chose the private estate of Ms. Hakim Abebech’s place, a renowned expert on
local medicinal plants who has planted and preserved many of them. The high point of the
celebration was a message by Ethiopia’s President Girma Woldegiorgis and Ms. Rosebud
Kurwijila, AU Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture who represented the AU
Commission Chairperson Prof. Alpha Oumar Konar . The UN Country Team was represented
by the UN Resident Coordinator, Mr. Modibo Tour . Members of the diplomatic corps, UN
and AU staff members, non-governmental organizations, school children and the general
public took part in the celebrations. Hundreds of trees were planted during the celebration.
Trends in the Environment in Africa Explored as Angola Celebrated
Africa Environment Day for the first time
The Angolan environmental community celebrated for the first time the March 3rd, Africa
Environment Day, by convening a national reflection workshop on at the National Museum
of Natural Heritage, in Luanda. The national workshop, convened under auspices of the
Angolan Ministry of Urban Planning and Environment, MinUA, focused on the slogan
“The Environment in Africa: Past, Present and Future”.
It discussed critical environmental issues related to the “Algiers’ African Convention on
the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources”, “Impact of Mining on the Environment”
and “Sustainable Use of Coastal and Marine Resources of Angola”.
Participants recommended to the Government and relevant stakeholders to continue
promoting Africa Environment Day throughout the country, as well as mainstreaming the
environmental considerations into the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction, NSPR,
including other Government’s development programmes.
Among participants were representatives of several Government ministries, National
organizations working in the field of environment. ❐
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 11
 A M C E N A M C E N

NEPAD’s Environment Projects gain new momentum: and allocation mechanisms for the funding
of priority projects and programmes of the Implementation of the Action Plan
Specific Financial Mechanisms Action Plan;
of the Environment Initiative of the
under validation for the Implementation The Declaration also called upon further
implementation of and renewed commit- NEPAD: Progress recorded
of the Action Plan ment to a number of key programmes and
activities, including the following which Peter Acquah
are being supported by UNEP:
I n view of the significance attached to the environment as the third pillar of sustainable
development, the Second Ordinary Assembly of the African Union held in Maputo, in July
Partners for the Africa’s development met in Dakar, Senegal, for the Second Partners Conference, on the implementation • Effort to integrate environmental
of the action plan of the environment initiative of NEPAD and the financial mechanisms. This meeting was preceded by a 2003, endorsed the Action Plan and the decision of AMCEN to hold a meeting with Africa’s
concerns into national pursuits of
development partners. The first Partners Conference on the implementation of the action
preparatory meeting in Nairobi in February 2005 at expert level, with the view to review the implementation of the economic development in Africa, plan of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)
Action Plan of the Environment Initiative of NEPAD since the first Partners’ Conference, held in Algiers, from 15-16 including the integration of the was therefore held in Algiers on 15 and 16 December 2003. The objectives of the first Partners
December 2003. African environment ministers attending the forum dwelt on validation of a mechanism to finance the objectives of the action plan for the Conference were to present the priorities of the Region and seek the support of Africa’s
environment component of NEPAD through the setting up of an environment Fund at the African Development Bank. environment initiative of NEPAD into development partners for effective implementation of the priority environment programmes
national and sub-regional develop- and projects which had been agreed upon by Africa in the framework of NEPAD.
ment plans and strategies including The NEPAD secretariat had been collaborating with the African Union Commission, regional
those of the Regional Economic economic communities and individual Governments to coordinate and facilitate the
V ice-chairman of the African ministe-
rial Conference on the Environment
adapted financial mechanisms of imple-
mentation in order to improve strategies
concluded its work by adopting a
Declaration that highlights the provisions
Communities; implementation of programmes under the NEPAD Environment Initiative. Progress had
been made towards reinforcing the capacity of regional economic communities, coordinating
the development of several continental initiatives and facilitating resource mobilization for
(AMCEN), Nancoman Keïta has renewed to carry out its proposed projects. of support from partners, including • Support to the Africa Environment priority projects. The NEPAD secretariat had focused on facilitating activities where it had a
appeals to development partners to con- specific requests to UNEP, and the key Outlook (AEO) process and strength- comparative advantage and where there was an added value to the work being undertaken by
tinue supporting the implementation of The first Partners Conference, which was actions and programmes to futher ening linkages between policy and other stakeholders.
NEPAD’s (the New Partnership for Afri- held in Algiers in December 2003, strengthen further the implementation of science in environmental assessment The report draws attention in particular to the efforts made in partnership with the United
ca’s Development) plan of action. In an witnessed acknowledgement and pledges the Action Plan, some of which are being and accessing reliable environmental Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to
opening statement at the second confer- by Africa development partners. This supported by UNEP. data and information; develop a capacity-building programme for the development of sub-regional NEPAD
ence for the implementation of the meeting, which was a follow-up, was environment action plans. It also draws attention to progress made in the field of disaster
NEPAD environ-mental action plan held meant to go further, by putting in place a • Support to the Abidjan and Nairobi risk reduction and indicates that continued efforts are being made to support the
UNEP’s continuous support implementation of the Africa Stockpiles Programme. The NEPAD Sustainable Cities
in Dakar-Senegal, from 15 to16 March consensus financial tool. It also marked Conventions and other Regional Seas
Programme, which aims to produce cities that are functional, economically productive and
2005, he urged the international commu- the end of a series of partners’ conferences The Declaration adopted the principle of Conventions and to Small Island environmentally sound, is entering its second phase.
nity to assist Africa face the current chal- exclusively devoted to the implementation the creation of an African Environment Developing States ;
lenges of environmental degradation. Mr. of the Environment Initiative of the The NEPAD Secretariat had also been working closely with the United Nations Industrial
Facility in support of environmental is-
Development Organization (UNIDO) to promote priority projects relating to the
Keïta, who is also Minister of Environ- NEPAD. sues at the African Development Bank as • Integration of gender mainstreaming conservation and sustainable use of marine, coastal and freshwater resources. Progress had
ment in Mali, affirmed his belief that the well as the utilization of the existing in the environment, especially empow- also been made in the development of a programme aimed at integrating environmental
efforts made by African States will bear Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, mechanisms within Sub-regional Eco- ering the women and the girl child and assessment into all NEPAD programmes. As the action plan identified wetlands conservation
fruits through the initiatives launched for who presided over the opening ceremony, nomic Communities and other sub-re- establishing women and environment as a core area for intervention, the NEPAD Secretariat had been working with the World
sustainable development, including ac- expressed concern over slow turn out with gional organizations and where networks at national, sub-regional and Conservation Union (IUCN) Regional Office for Southern Africa, with funding from the
World Bank, to promote action in that field.
tions required by the Millennium Decla- regard to financial resources. In his appropriate, the utilization of inter-state regional levels;
ration. Considering the level of damage opening speech, he said delays in reviewing mechanisms for the implementation of A sub-regional meeting of Ministers responsible for environment and fisheries was held in
to the environment in Africa, including funding mechanisms often pose a lot of joint programmes limited to a few coun- • Capacity building for which request is Dakar, Senegal from 12-14 October 2004, under the auspices of the President of Senegal,
desertification, soil loss in productivity, problems to Africa, but it is now time for made to African Governments to Coordinator of the Environment component of NEPAD. The main objective of the meeting
tries. It called upon the President of
was to deliberate on appropriate financing framework for the implementation of the Action
loss of biodiversity, pollution and defor- action and Africans should take the lead. AMCEN to commission urgently, in col- provide their capacity building needs Plan for the Environment initiative of NEPAD. A number of proposals were made on the
estation, he reminded his colleagues of the He also lamented that Africa failed to give laboration with the African Development and offers and exchange of experience financial mechanisms for the implementation of the Action Plan.
need for vigilance to project the environ- early consideration to the relationship Bank and UNEP, a study on modalities for to the Secretariat of AMCEN;
A preparatory meeting to the Second Partners Conference, on the implementation of the
ment. between sustainable development and the creation of such an African Environ- Action Plan for the Environment Initiative of NEPAD was held in Nairobi in February 2005 at
environmental protection. Therefore, he ment Facility. • The 10-Year Framework Programme expert level. The objective was to review the implementation of the Action Plan of the
The two-day conference by African reminded African environment ministers on Sustainable Consumption and Environment Initiative of NEPAD since the first Partners’ Conference, held in Algiers, in
ministers of Environment aimed at of their enormous task in implementing It also request AMCEN, the NEPAD Production under the framework of December 2003, in order to discuss financial mechanisms for its implementation and to make
committing Africa’s partners to an “open the environmental action plan of NEPAD. Secretariat and UNEP, in collaboration with the AMCEN work plan on sustainable recommendations thereon to the ministerial segment of the second Partners’ Conference.
debate” for the implementation of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and consumption and production. ❐ The Expert Group recommended the following financial mechanisms for further
NEPAD’s environmental Action Plan. The The Conference saw the participation of the Regional Economic Communities and consideration by the second Partners Conference: (i) use of sub-regional Economic
ministers intended to analyze the Plan’s a significant number of countries and the Interim Secretariat of the Environment Community mechanisms; (ii) use of other sub-regional organizations; (iii) inter-state
level of implementation since it was partners, helped amend the status of Component of NEPAD, to develop mechanisms when limited to a few countries; and (iv) exploitation of channels of African
conventions. It is envisaged that an informed decision on the African Environment Facility
initiated, while assessing its practical and implementation of the Action Plan and proposals for other resource mobilization th
could be taken at the 11 regular session of AMCEN. ❐

12 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 13

 A M C E N A
Dakar Declaration for Enhanced Partnership in the
Implementation of the Action Plan for the
Environment Initiative of NEPAD- Highlights
A frican Ministers of Environment and
their development partners, meeting at
the second Partners Confer-ence for the
implementation of the action plan for
the New Partnership for Africa’s
Development (NEPAD) in Dakar,
Senegal from 15 to16 March 2005, in
response to the proposal to convene a
second Partners Conference, initially
made by the Republic of Senegal during
the first Partners Conference held in
Algiers resolved inter alia to:
• Request African Governments to in-
tegrate environmental concerns into
national pursuits of economic devel-
opment in Africa, while at the same
time not neglecting the priorities of
the continent for sustainable social,
economic and human development,
particularly in Small Island Develop-
ing States (SIDS);
• Recommit themselves to supporting
the Africa Environment Outlook
(AEO) process and the AEO report
as a tool for monitoring sustainable
development in Africa, strengthening
linkages between policy and science
in environmental assessment and ac-
cessing reliable environmental data
and information;
• Urge the integration of the objectives
of the action plan for the environment
initiative of NEPAD into national and
sub-regional development plans and
strategies including those of the Re-
gional Economic Communities;
• Strengthen cooperation with devel-
opment partners and all regional and
sub-regional bodies in the pursuit of
a successful implementation of the
action plan for the environment ini-
tiative of NEPAD and keep its imple-
mentation under review;
14 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
• Reaffirm that the Abidjan and Nairobi
Conventions and other Regional Seas
Conventions are the appropriate re-
gional mechanisms to develop and im-
plement projects and programmes in
the marine and coastal areas in col-
laboration with relevant UN and other
Agencies, private sector, NGOs and
civil society;
• Recommend that in the context of the
implementation of the action plan
special attention must be given to in-
tegrating gender mainstreaming in the
environment, especially empowering
the women and the girl child and es-
tablishing women and environment
networks at national, sub-regional and
regional levels;
• Encourage and welcome the imple-
mentation of the capacity building
programme of the action plan for the
environment initiative of NEPAD and
take advantage of opportunities and
planned initiatives in the context of the
international decade of education for
development;
• Commit their Governments to make
every effort to implement the priority
projects selected by the AMCEN pre-
sented to the first Partners Conference
held in Algiers, Algeria in December
2003;
• Call upon the Commission for Africa,
which is being spearheaded by the
United Kingdom, and similar bodies,
to support the implementation of the
action plan for the environment ini-
tiative of NEPAD;
• Call upon their development partners
to support the further implementation
of the priority projects contained in
the Action Plan as well as appropriate
partnerships;
• Further call upon their development
partners to provide concrete support
to the activities and programmes
based on the outcome of the Second
African Expert Meeting on the 10-Year
Framework Programme on Sustain-
able Consumption and Production
under the framework of the AMCEN
work plan on sustainable consump-
tion and production;
• Acknowledging the important contribu-
tion the Global Invasive Species Pro-
gramme (GISP) can make to the
implementation of the action plan, en-
dorse the incorporation of those rel-
evant GISP activities into the action plan
for the environment initiative of NEPAD
and also request all African countries
and partners to support the implemen-
tation conference on the invasive alien
species programme of the action that
South Africa intends hosting;
• Urge African countries to honor their
offer to provide in kind and in cash
contribution for the implementation
of the action plan for the environment
initiative of NEPAD, particularly its
programme on capacity building and
the priority projects selected by the
AMCEN (Mali);
• Take note of the recommendations of
the Ministerial Conference on re-
sources mobilization held in Dakar in
October 2004. Adopt the proposal for
the creation of an African Environ-
ment Facility in support for environ-
ment at the African Development
Bank, the utilization of the existing
mechanisms within Sub-regional Eco-
nomic Communities and other sub-
regional organizations and where
appropriate, the utilization of inter-
state mechanisms for the implemen-
tation of joint programmes limited to
a few countries;
• Call upon the President of AMCEN
to commission urgently, in
collaboration with the ADB and
UNEP a study on modalities for the
creation of such an African
Environment Facility in support for
environment proposed as potential
mechanism for the mobilization of
resources for the implementation of
the action plan for the environment
initiative of NEPAD;
• Request AMCEN, the NEPAD Sec-
retariat and UNEP, in collaboration
with the Global Environment Facil-
ity (GEF) and the Regional Eco-
nomic Communities and the
Interim Secretariat of the Environ-
ment Component of NEPAD, to de-
velop proposals for other resource
mobilization and allocation mecha-
nisms for the funding of priority
projects and programmes of the Ac-
tion Plan;
• Call upon the African Development
Bank to increase its financial re-
sources allocated to the environ-
ment sector;
• Noting the limited capacity in Af-
rica to meet the conditionalties and
procedures in accessing available fi-
nancial mechanisms, urge their de-
velopment partners to adopt a more
flexible arrangement to facilitate
speedy access and implementation
of the NEPAD Environment Action
Plan;
• Request H.E. Maître Abdoulaye
Wade, President of Senegal to sub-
mit the proposal for the establish-
ment of the Africa Environment
Facility to the African Development
Bank. ❐
th
11 World Lakes Conference
World Lake Conference goes to
Africa for the first time
th
By the 11 World Lakes Conference Secretariat
T th
he 11 World Lakes Conference {WLC}st
will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from the 31
th
October to 4 November 2005. This will be
the first time that the biennial conference
will take place in the African continent.
Previous conferences have been held in
Japan, USA, Hungary, China, Italy,
Argentina and Denmark.
The WLC is an international conference for
the exchange of information on all aspects
of world lakes. It is held every two years
bringing together Governments, Scientists,
Research Institutions, Lake Management
Organizations stakeholders and young water
professionals to exchange knowledge and
experiences on the management of lakes.
th
The theme of the 11 WLC is “Management
of Lake basins for their sustainable use: Global
experiences and African issues”. This
conference will review progress on ongoing
lake basin initiatives as well as set future
goals for Lake Basin management in general
and Africa in particular.
Activities to prepare for hosting the
conference in Kenya kicked off in August
2004 during a meeting held in Stockholm,
Sweden where the Kenyan Minister for
Water and Irrigation Hon. Martha Karua led
the country delegation. Thereafter, a multi-
sectoral National Organizing Committee
was constituted in September/ October
2004. This coincided with the First
(Conference) Announcement and the
launching the conference website
www.ileckenya.go.ke.
nd
The 2 (conference) Announcement, which
called for abstract papers, was made in
March 2005 and the third will be in June.
rd
Besides calling for papers, the 3
Announcement includes the release of a
detailed programme and registration of
participants. Apart from exchange of
knowledge and experience on Management
of Lakes, the 11th World Lake Conference
will review progress on ongoing Lake
Initiatives and also agree on future goals.
The Government of Kenya in collaboration
with the International Lakes and
Environment Committee {ILEC} has
M C E N
embarked on intense conference
preparations. To this end, the involvement
of various countries, development partners,
national and international bodies have been
found crucial in addressing fundamental
conference preparation matters. So far,
several international, regional and local
organizations and corporate entities with
stakes in the water and environment sectors
have shown keen interest in the conference
and have pledged generous support. These
include ILEC, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), the
German Technical Cooperation Agency
(GTZ) the Kenya Wildlife Service, Swedish
International Development Agency-Sweden,
Coca Cola and UNESCO among others.
Between 500 and 1,000 participants from
drawn from all over the globe are expected.
The latest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof.
Wangari Maathai (Kenyan) who won
recognition owing to his work in environ-
mental matters, will be among a galaxy of
eminent personalities who will give keynote
addresses.
The Conference will have nine main
Sessions, 11 special Sessions and about 48
Sub-sessions. Each Session will address a
major theme, e.g. Governance and Water
Resources Management, while a sub-session
will address a sub-theme, e.g. Economic
Returns from Lakes and their basins.
Alongside the conference will be an
exhibition that will showcase water related
products and technologies from across the
globe. This will allow international as well
as local organizations to make contact with
potential clients and open new market
frontiers through the display of the latest in
technological advancements.
With the future of many lakes in Africa
under threat of extinction, the Conference
will be a most ideal forum to raise alarm to
the local and the international community.
For more information, contact:
th
The 11 World Lakes Conference Secretariat
Email: info@ileckenya.go.ke
Website: www.ileckenya.go.ke ❐
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 15
 N R B P
Rehabilitation and Restoration of Nairobi Dam
E fforts to rehabilitate and restore
Nairobi Dam received a boost of Kenya
Total-Kenya gives a big boost for the rehabilitation of Nairobi Dam
Shillings One Million (US $ 13,300)
donated by Total-Kenya. Mr. Lamine
Kane, Managing Director of Total
Kenya, presented the donation to Mr.
Wilfred Kiboro (CEO Nation Media
Group and the Chairman of the Nairobi
Dam Trust ) at a ceremony held at the
Nairobi Sailing and Sub-Aqua Club.
Also present at the ceremony were the
Patron of Friends of Nairobi Dam, Hon.
Raila Odinga (Kenya’s Minister for
Roads and Public Works) who is also
the Member of Parliament for Langata
Constituency where the dam is located.
In handing over the donation, Mr. Kane
highlighted Total-Kenya’s programme
called Eco-Challenge, which has made
commendable progress in promoting
afforestation programme in Kenya.
Hundreds of thousands of indigenous
tree seedlings have been planted through
Eco-Challenge, and the programme was
already working with UNEP under the
Nairobi River Basin Programme to
rehabilitate and restore the catchment of
the entire river basin. He said, UNEP, Eco-
Challenge and other interested parties
16 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
Henry Ndede
were already working out plans to landscape
the surroundings of the Nairobi Dam itself.
While receiving the donation, Mr. Kiboro
thanked Total Kenya for their generous
donations, and urged other well wishers to
come forward and support the Nairobi dam
initiative. He recalled how Nairobi Dam
used to be a destination for family picnics,
water sports, and other recreations. This
facility has been degraded by pollution
emanating from the Kibera informal
settlements which do not have sanitation
facilities, and all the human wastes and other
Corporate cleanup at the Globe Cinema roundabout, Nairobi
waste generated is deposited in the dam.
The Dam is now covered by the invasive
Water Hyacinth, and the level of siltation
from solid waste is so high, that islands
are already emerging in sections of the
Dam.
In moving a vote of thanks to Total Kenya
and all well-wishers who found time to
come to the occassion, Hon. Raila Odinga,
emphasised the Government of Kenya’s
commitment to providing social
amenities. He recalled that Nairobi Dam
was designed and build as an emergency
water supply for the city. He pointed out
that up to US $ 1,000,000 (current budget
is KSh. 70 Million) was required for the
rehabilitation process. Contribution
could be in cash and kind for the imple-
mentation of the Intervention Plan that
has been drawn to fit the budget quoted.
Fund-raising efforts continue, and as soon
as a threshold is attained, a Project
Manager will be recruited to move the
process forward. Hon. Odinga promised
that within the year, rehabilitation works
will start, and by the end of the second
year significant changes will be noticed.
A rehabilitated Nairobi Dam will have
recreational facilities including walking
and jogging tracks, sport-fishing, malls,
etc. ❐
“One Planet Many People” Atlas Launched to Mark
World Environment Day 2005
T he dramatic and, in some cases,
damaging environ-mental changes
sweeping planet Earth are brought into
sharp focus in a new atlas launched to
mark World Environment Day (WED).
Produced by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP), One
Planet Many People: Atlas of our Changing
Environment compares and contrasts
spectacular satellite images of the past few
decades with contemporary ones, some of
which have never been seen before.
The huge growth of greenhouses in
southern Spain, the rapid rise of shrimp
farming in Asia and Latin America and the
emergence of a giant, shadow puppet-
shaped peninsula at the mouth of the
Yellow River are among a string of curious
and surprising changes seen from space.
They sit beside the more conventional, but
no less dramatic images of rain forest
deforestation in Paraguay and Brazil, rapid
oil and gas development in Wyoming,
United States, forest fires across sub-
Saharan Africa and the retreat of glaciers
and ice in polar and mountain areas.
The atlas, produced in collaboration with
organizations including the United States
Geological Survey and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA), highlights this theme showing the
explosive growth and changes around some
of the major cities of the world such as
Beijing, Dhaka, Delhi and Santiago.
Specially commissioned images of
Bucharest, London, Nairobi and San
Francisco supplements One Planet Many
People.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s Executive Director,
said: “People living in San Francisco or
London may look at these images of
deforestation or melting Arctic ice, and
wonder what it has to do with them. That
these changes are the result of other
people’s lifestyles and consumption habits
hundreds and thousands of kilometres
away. But they would be wrong.”
“Cities pull in huge amounts of resources
including water, food, timber, metals and
people. They export large amounts of wastes
including household and industrial wastes,
wastewater and the gases linked with global
warming. Thus their impacts stretch beyond
their physical borders affecting countries,
regions and the planet as a whole,” he added.
“So the battle for sustainable development,
for delivering a more environmentally stable,
just and healthier world, is going to be largely
won and lost in our cities,” said Mr. Toepfer.
“I urge city dwellers everywhere, especially
in developed countries, to help to do their
bit to make their city more resource efficient
and less resource wasteful for the sake of the
local and for the sake of the global
environment,” he added.
Researchers hope that One Planet Many
People Atlas of Our Changing Environment
will have a similar impact on governments,
private business, non governmental
organizations and the private individual by
highlighting how globalisation is driving
local and regional change.
Highlights from One Planet
Many People Atlas of Our
Changing Environment in Africa
The impact of the civil wars in Liberia and
Sierra Leone on the environment of
neighboring Guinea is highlighted in the
story of Parrot’s Beak.
In 1974 the area was well forested with the
local villages and agricultural areas showing
up as patches of light gray in a near
continuous sea of green. The influx of
hundreds of thousands of refugees has now
led to widespread deforestation as trees are
felled for fuel, construction materials and
more crops. This is clearly seen in the latest
satellite image from 2002 with the green
color in retreat and a grey landscape
advancing in all directions.
W E D 2 0 0 5
The population growth around Lake
Victoria, East Africa, is the highest in
Africa as a result of the natural resources
found there such as fish. The
phenomenon is shown in a series of
images from the 1960s to the present with
the population rise charted as a rapid
spreading area of red zones. Of the
surrounding countries, Kenya seems to
have experienced the largest increase in
people within 100km of the lake’s
shoreline.
The infestation of Lake Victoria by the
invasive, alien weed known as water
hyacinth is also spotlighted in a satellite
image of 1995. Large swathes of the weed,
which can clog water intake pipes, affect
shipping and fishing and act as a habitat
for malaria-carrying mosquitoes, are
clearly visible as green swirls in places like
Uganda’s Gobero Bay, Wazimenya Bay
and near the port of Kibanga. However,
the recent introduction of natural insect
predators appears to be paying off. The
latest satellite image of the Ugandan
section of the lake shows that it is almost
totally hyacinth-free.
Nairobi, Kenya, has undergone dramatic
growth since 1979. Its population at
independence in 1963 was 350,000.
Nairobi is now home to well over three
million making it the largest African city
between Johannesburg and Cairo. The
growth is clearly depicted in satellite
images from 1979 and the present with
the city sprawling to the new suburbs and
slums north, east and west. The growth
of development along the edge of Nairobi
National Park and out to Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport is also underlined.
http://www.unep.org/Documents.
Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID
=434&ArticleID=4807&l=en
Information on the “One Planet Many
People: Atlas of our Changing Environ-
ment” can be found at www.na.unep.net
or www.unep.org
The publication “One Planet Many
People: Atlas of our Changing
Environment” can be purchased at Earth
Print http://www.earthprint.com/go.
htm?to=DEW0657NA
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 17
 W E D 2 0 0 5
All African countries joined the international community to celebrate World Environment day. In a consistent effort to raise environmental awareness and mobilize the larger community in preserving the environment for a better future,
the Regional Office for Africa has decided to team up with some selected countries in Africa by contributing to the organization of World Environment Day at national level. Countries selected this year included Mali, Tunisia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Burundi, Burkina Faso,
Sudan, Democratic republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Kenya. The aim is to help bridge the information gap while promoting responsible environmental behavior through one of the major outreach event, World Environment Day.
A Green Caravan to raise awareness in
Western Kenya major Cities
A n ambitious tree planting scheme in Nairobi and other major
cities, a launch of 2004 State of the Environment Report and clean
ups of litter-strewn areas are among some of the highlights of this
year’s World Environment Day (WED) celebrations in Kenya.
Activities took place throughout the country, involving youth
groups, school children, environmental groups, and the general
public.
Great participation of school children in Kisumu
The official venue for this year’s celebrations is Kisumu City.
Activities were geared towards making Kisumu a green city. These
included: tree planting at Shauri Moyo Primary School, clean-
up exercises and road marking in the city, boat race,
environmental awards, exhibitions and, most importantly, the
launch of the State of Environment 2004 report. WED was also
marked by a green convoy on the Nairobi-Kisumu highway with
stops at major towns like Naivasha and Nakuru for tree planting
and awareness creation exercises on the need for environmental
awareness.
Kenya’s Environment Minister Kalonzo Musyoka requested urban
administrations within Lake Victoria region to control untreated
effluents being discharged into the water basin to protect human
18 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
W E D 2 0 0 5
World Environment Day 2005
Green Cities: Plan for the Planet!
danger to animals, he urged Kenyan households to help curb the
polythene bag menace. The minister urged local authorities and
other stakeholders to develop “Green-up action plans” to improve
infrastructure and sanitation, especially in slum settlements, saying
such efforts would help protect water sources including the ocean,
lakes and rivers.
Highlights in Nairobi included a major tree planting at the Karura
Forest by the Private Sector, and a festival dubbed Ecofest at the
Carnivore grounds, sponsored by the Environment Liaison
Centre International and Eco Forum with the theme
Assorted paintings done by children for the school competition
Honourables Kalonzo Musyoka and Raila Odinga graced the national
celebrations in Kisumu, Kenya
health and marine life. Speaking in the city of Kisumu during
celebrations to mark this year’s World Environment Day, he told environment-friendly alternatives, stressing the need for recycling
local authorities in the region to develop proper sewerage and of the limited resources.
waste disposal systems. They should also try to eradicate the water
hyacinth menace in the Lake, said the Minister, who urged Thousands of trees were also planted at the Aberdares Range
residents to keep the region green, noting that it was an honor Forest, as part of the Sustainable Consumption Project. The
for them to host the Lake Victoria Basin Commission. initiative, backed by bodies including the Kenya Government’s
Forest Department, the Kijabe Environment Volunteers and the
He also called on Kenya Association of Manufacturers and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is part of the
National Environmental Authority to help rid the country of Responsible Consumer Initiative through which UNEP plant
unsuitable plastic materials. Noting that plastic bags constituted a Let us create “green cities” where people can raise their children and sufficient indigenous trees to offset its use of reams of paper at its
pursue their dreams in a well-planned, clean and healthy environment headquarters here in Nairobi. For the past four years, over 7,000
“Environmental Solutions”. The celebrations saw the showcasing
of environmental art by RaMoMa and exhibitions of local organic
foods among other activities. The climax of the celebrations in
the city was the perform-ance by Zimbabwean musician Oliver
Mtukudzi and local.
The 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate and Assistant Minister for the
Environment, Wangari Maathai appealed to G-8 countries to
support initiatives that would sustain the world’s environment-
friendly programmes. In a statement to mark the 2005 World
Environment Day, she singled out the Amazon and the Congo
Basin as some of the forest ecosystems that required special
attention due to their valuable biodiversity and role in stabilizing
UNEP representative, Mr. Nehemiah Rotich, plants a tree in Kisumu Exhibition of seedlings at Jomo Kenyatta ground in Kisumu
the world climate. She challenged researchers to seek
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 19
 W E D 2 0 0 5
Visit to the Impala Sanctuary, Kisumu
trees have been planted in rehabilitation of degraded catchment
areas in the southern part of the Aberdares Range Forest.
Each year on World Environment Day, UNEP staff members
make an effort to thank their host city and ‘give back’ through a
variety of activities. This year’s celebrations included a number
of events which involved local communities and the city of
Nairobi as a whole.
Local events have a particular focus on reducing plastic waste. In
keeping with this theme UNEP staff members have worked with
local communities in Mathare to clean up plastic waste and put it
to good use, part of a work of art. Inspired by the popular UNEP
children’s book Theo and the Giant Plastic Ball, community groups
from Mathare, together with local artist Omega Ludenyi, have
constructed a large metal globe, filled with plastic waste. The
Monument was erected at the Muthaiga-Mathare roundabout in
Nairobi.
Through UNEP’s “Art for the Environment” initiative a number
of local artists received support and were able to display their
talents: in an exhibition at the UN compound in Gigiri, and also
by painting some of Nairobi’s busses with colourful and topical
environmental messages. The “Art for the Environment”, which
was launched last year, aims to promote environmental awareness
through the arts, specifically painting and sculpture, support and
Trophies for the most creative children
20 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
give more visibility to the cultural scene in Kenya, while
simultaneously communicating powerful environmental
messages to a wider public through the universal language of
art. The Kikwetu Association, a Nairobi based non- profit making
artists entity aimed at developing cultural exchange programmes
within Kenya also planted trees in the capital city, with the
support of the UNEP.
Other highlights of this year’s World Environment Day (WED)
in Kenya included:
An Essay, Art and Photographic competition among schools
nation wide, in relation with the theme for this year. The main
objective of the competition organized by UNEP in collaboration
with the Kenyan Organization for Environmental Education
(KOEE) is to raise environmental awareness among the children
and youth and create a better understanding of the impacts of
human activities on their environments. It builds on partnerships
WED 2005 was also a major media event
with schools and community organizations to spread environmental
awareness and good practices in caring for our planet.
The activities in Kenya were part of worldwide celebrations
centred on the annual WED of 5 June. More than 100 countries
marked this important day with this year’s international host
city being San Francisco, California, USA.
All sectors including banks communication, airlines, hotels,
industries came together to support this edition of the WED.
The main sponsors include CitibankNA, Hotel Inter-Continental
Nairobi, Egypt Air, Swiss Air, SN Brussels, HACO industries (K)
Ltd, Bidco Oil Refineries, Giraffe Center (AFEW) K Ltd, Splash
Water World, Kenyatta University, RaMoMA, Kuona Trust, Kenya
Bus Services, Crown Berger, Pirelli, MYTO, Extreme Impact,
Future Kids, Nature Sports camp and the Nairobi City Council.
African Experts discuss the AEO-2
Scenarios and Policy Recommendations
S ince April 2004, UNEP Regional Office
for Africa, in collaboration with UNEP
Division of Early Warning and Assessment
intensified the consultation process for the
second Africa Environment Outlook
(AEO-2) report scheduled for launching
th
during the 12 session of African
Ministerial Conference on Environment
(AMCEN) in 2006. The consultation has
so far involved more than 200 experts
from different parts of Africa. The exercise
is aimed at gaining consensus on pertinent
environmental issues on the continent and
enhancing the scientific base of the report.
One of the key areas has been focusing on
improving the policy relevance of the
report and making it strategically forward
looking within the framework of AMCEN
agenda.
The AEO-2 process is therefore addressing
shortcomings experienced during the AEO-
1 preparation by putting in place process
support organs and tools such as Working
Groups and guidelines to enhance the
capacities of the collaborating centres and
some key national institutions to contribute
to the AEO-2 process. The success of
capacity strengthening will be evidenced in
the extent to which policy analysis in the
AEO-2 is well anchored on the priority
national, sub-regional and regional
sustainable development concerns; good
quality data and information; sound
theoretical frameworks and credible
analytical techniques; and sound under-
standing of the information needs of policy-
makers and development practitioners at
the national, sub-regional and regional
levels. In this context a Policy Analysis
Working Group consisting of 12 policy
experts from different parts of Africa has
been constituted to provide technical
support to the AEO-2 process and to ensure
quality control.
Charles Sebukeera
AMCEN identified the AEO as an
opportunity which could be used to look
into the future, and assess the various
environment and sustainable development
policy options and guide policy decision
towards the appropriate actions. Such a task
would require a clear conceptualization of
what the future environmental scenarios are
likely to be. This also requires a good vision
to create the possible scenarios to show the
preferred path to sustainable development
in the region reflecting on what is playing
out in different parts of the continent.
Development of scenarios draws on the
understanding of historical patterns,
current conditions, and physical and
social processes combined with a careful
evaluation of alternative pathways of
development and the environment. The
overall goal is lead to a more informed and
rational action, which is the general
context of AEO. A scenario Working
Group, consisting of nine African experts,
was therefore constituted to provide the
relevant technical support. The Working
Group will guide the articulation of a
range of scenarios, with a view to
examining their plausibility, desirability
and sustainability.
Because of the intricate link between
policy analysis and scenario development,
the two working groups held a joint
meeting to establish a common platform
for backstopping the AEO-2 process and
ensure synergies in the methodologies to
be developed for policy analysis and
scenario development. The meeting was
held in Cairo, Egypt from 29 November –
3 December 2004 and was attended by 20
members of the two working groups and
six collaborating centre coordinators.
A M C E N / A E O
The meeting developed the structure and
content of chapter 4 on the scenarios as
well as the structure and story line for
chapter 5 on policy recommendations.
The purpose of the story line is to orient
the flow of issues and argumentation,
providing specific punch lines that
highlight the issues and major milestones
in pursuit of sustainable development in
Africa. The key message is that Africa need
not overindulge in bemoaning its
environmental crisis. Rather it should
engage in the dual effort of curbing
degradation and seizing the available
opportunities to reap greater benefits
from its environment and natural
resources while ensuring the integrity of
the ecosystems. It was proposed that the
WSSD be the benchmark for the storyline.
The Chapter on scenario will highlight the
underlying focus of the whole report -
Environment for Development - and will
be based on 4 scenarios, namely Market
Forces, Policy Reform, Fortress World and
Great Transitions, analyzed within the
context of the Opportunities Framework
rather than the Driver-Pressure- State-
impact-Response (DPSIR) methodology.
The issues of focus will be Land, Air,
Freshwater and Marine.
Based on the structure and storyline
developed for chapter 5, a set of
recommendations focusing on the various
thematic areas in chapter 2 were drafted
and presented to the AMCEN technical
segment of the NEPAD Second Partners
Conference which met in Nairobi, 19 – 20
February 2005. The meeting endorsed the
recommendations for approval by the
Ministerial Segment of the Second
Partners Conference which met in Dakar,
Senegal from 15 – 18 March 2005. ❐
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 21
 A M C E N / A E O
Capturing the voice of African youth
By David Bwakali
AEO-for-Youth Regional Officer
African youth are hot on the heels of the great
rivers of Africa. Rivers Nile, Zambezi and Niger
cut across national borders, leaving nourishment
and life wherever they pass. Like these great rivers,
African youth have formed a network that cuts
across national borders, leaving environmental
nourishment in its trail. The Africa Environment
Outlook (AEO) for Youth Network has
incorporated more than 3,000 young people from
41 countries. Within one year, more than half of
these youth submitted contributions for the
premier AEO for Youth publication.
The youth contributions included articles, case
studies, poems, photos, paintings, illustrations,
quotes and proverbs. An Editorial Board
comprising of eight youth from across Africa was
responsible for compiling and editing these
AEO-for-youth-process: A greater involvement from young people
22 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
contributions. This Board was also responsible for
paraphrasing text from the main AEO Report, for
inclusion in the youth publication. The Board’s
efforts were coordinated and complimented by a
team of six sub-regional officers. Such shared
responsibility greatly enhanced youth ownership
and leadership.
The AEO-for-Youth publication will be able to
plant two trees with one seed by equipping youth
with environmental information and spotlighting
youth environmental action. This publication will
be the megaphone that will amplify the
environmental voice of young people in Africa. In
the same vein, it will also articulate environmental
issues to these young people. The publication will
be a living testimony to the unique ability and
perspectives of young people. ❐
Historic Milestone for the Future of the Congo Basin
Forest Ecosystem as Heads of State Sign the Central
African Forest Treaty
Leaders from all the Congo Basin countries gathered in Brazzaville on 4-5 February 2005 with other international
dignitaries for a second summit on sustainable management of the Congo Basin forest ecosystem, to build upon major
successes in protecting the world’s second-largest rain forest, its incredible array of wildlife and millions of people.
This Summit witnessed the signing of the first ever region-wide conservation treaty in Africa. UNEP Executive Director
represented the UN Secretary-General at the Historic Summit
C entral African Heads of State actually
made history, by signing Africa’s first
region-wide conservation treaty full of
promises for the future of the Congo
Basin, something that nobody could have
thought of some years ago. The Central
African Forest Treaty, signed by ten
countries including Burundi, Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Chad, Congo
Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon,
Rwanda and São Tomé, is a legally binding
instrument that allows Congo Basin forest
conservation activities to be overseen by
one regional decision-making body for
the Congo Basin, the Central African
Forests Commission (COMIFAC).
Speaking on behalf of Kofi Annan, the UN
Secretary-General, Mr. Klaus Töpfer said
“this summit could not have come at more
appropriate time. Conserving forests like
this in Central Africa has, alongside other
habitats and ecosystems, a critical role in our
achievement or failure of the millennium
development goals.”
The establishment of a powerful forest
commission was celebrated by environ-
mentalist groups as a “historic milestone”
for Africa. The treaty will be very impor-
tant for the future of the Congo Basin,
which is the world’s second largest rain-
forest after the Amazon.
Mr. Claude Martin, Director General of
WWF said: “Central Africa is a model for
the entire world on how to reach across
borders to tackle the tough issues that are
threatening wildlife, forests, and the
livelihoods of local communities.”
The signing was the highlight of this
Second Central African Forest Summit,
hosted by President Denis Sassou
N’Guesso, President of the Republic of
C O N G O B A S I N
French President Jacques Chirac, prepare to
sign the historic Central African Forest Treaty.
photo: WWF / Lee Poston
Congo. Among the summit’s other
significant accomplishments is the signing
of TRIDOM by the environment
ministers of Cameroon, Gabon and
Congo. This remarkable agreement will
help conserve 37 million acres of forest
including Dja, Odzala and Minkebe
National Parks — the equivalent of 7.5
percent of the entire Congo Basin! The
Treaty and the TRIDOM agreement will
help Central African countries cooperate
across borders in protected areas
management, to tackle poaching and the
illicit bush meat trade, as well as illegal
logging. These problems are particularly
detrimental for the livelihood and culture
of the local pygmy communities.
Also signed at the summit was an accord
allowing free movement of park staff
between Cameroon, the Central African
Republic and Congo Brazzaville in the
Sangha Tri-National Conservation Area.
This means that park staff can work across
international borders to fight poaching
and illegal logging.
The Brazzaville Summit also:
• Assessed the progress in the imple-
mentation of the Yaoundé Declaration
six years down the line; As they gath-
ered in Brazzaville for their second
summit, the leaders of Cameroon,
P A R T N E R S H I P
Central African Republic, Chad, Re-
public of Congo, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon and Democratic Republic of
Congo have much to celebrate. They
have surpassed their goals for pro-
tected areas by a million acres. Tri-na-
tional protected areas are gaining
momentum. And sustainable logging
is more than a catchphrase; logging
companies in the region are now ac-
tively working on certification.
• Promoted the implementation of the
“Plan de convergence”, which is a long
term sub regional strategy for the con-
servation and sustainable management
of Central Africa forest ecosystems, and
is seen as a major initiative on forests
under the Environment Initiative of the
NEPAD;
• Facilitated the consensus on adequate
financial resources needed for the
implementation of this plan, through
existing and future mechanisms such as
GEF and other innovative approaches
such as carbon trade etc.
Fresh funds are now needed to finance this
important conservation plans. To date,
with the exception of the Euro 40 million
pledged by the European Union, no new
commitments on additional funding have
been made for the conservation in the
Congo Basin. Given this landmark treaty,
the international community is urged to
significantly contribute to the efforts
made by these Central African nations
through the Congo Basin Partnership,
which is currently chaired by France and
COMIFAC, the regional institution estab-
lished to implement these programmes.
The Brazzaville summit was the follow-
up to the 1999 Yaoundé summit, hosted
by President Paul Biya of Cameroon. At
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 23
 C O N G O B A S I N
The Congo Basin Forest Partnership – FACTS
1 Second Summit of Heads of States
of the Congo Basin Countries.
4-6 February 2005 -Brazzaville
2 Participating Countries
3 Partners
4 Main Dates and Meetings
among the parties
5 UN General Assembly resolution
54/214 on the Conservation and sustainable
development of Central African forest
ecosystems (December 1999)
6 The Convergence Plan
7 The Conference of Ministers for
the Forests of central Africa
(COMIFAC)
24 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
P A R T N E R S H I P C O N G O B A S I N P A R T N E R S H I P
Support Community Participation
Objectives
for Biodiversity Conservation and
• Assess the progress in the implementation of the Yaoundé Declaration six years down the line;
• Promote the implementation of the Convergence Plan, which is a long term sub-regional strategy for the Environment Rehabilitation in
conservation and sustainable management of Central Africa forest ecosystems, and is seen as a major
initiative on forests under the Environment Initiative of the NEPAD;
• Facilitate the consensus on adequate financial resources needed for the implementation of this plan,
Western Tanzania
through existing and future mechanisms such as GEF and other innovative approaches such as carbon
trade…;
• Promote the expansion of COMIFAC to other countries in the sub-region as a means of integration. The Environment ministers from Cameroon, Gabon, Mohamed Abdel-Monem
Heads of States are expected to sign a Treaty on sustainable management of Central African forest DRC, sign the TRIDOM Accord, which will help
ecosystems. conserve 37 million acres of forest.
Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo Brazzaville; Democratic Republic of Congo; Equatorial Guinea;
Gabon; Angola and Sao Tome have expressed their wish to integrate this initiative
photo: WWF / Lee Poston
T anzania hosted about 480,000 refugees from Burundi, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Somalia, and Rwanda. Tanzania also hosted an additional 470,000
Burundians who resided in western Tanzania in refugee-like circumstances
Governments: the Yaoundé summit, most of the Central
Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, without official refugee status.
African countries now signing the
Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Germany, Japan, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, and European
Brazzaville treaty launched an ample ini-
CommissionInternational Organizations: World Bank, International Tropical Timber Organization, and World Kibondo and Ngara districts are highly affected by the aftermath of the refugees.
Conservation Union. tiative to protect the forests of the Congo
One study showed that within a 6-Km radius of the camps, all vegetation had
Basin. The first summit culminated in the
Civil Society: been cleared and, within Ngara District, Kagera Region, 47,000 ha of forest
signing of the Yaoundé Declaration, a 12-
American Forest & Paper Association, Association Technique Internationale des Bois Tropicaux-ATIBT, Center for reserves had been felled for firewood and construction. Shelters were built in
point action plan. At the Second Summit,
International Forestry Research, Conservation International, Forest Trends, Jane Goodall Institute, Society of the nearby Burigi and Biharamulo game reserves. Also about 15,000 hectare of
American Foresters, Wildlife Conservation Society, World Resources Institute, and the World Wildlife Fund. leaders reviewed progress made on con-
bush land was put under cultivation in Ngara alone. Population increase around
servation in the Congo Basin. They also
• 17 March 1999: Adoption of the Yaoundé Declaration welcomed three more Central African the forest reserves of Burigi and Biharamulo poses a threat to the sustainability
• 4 September 2002 at the WSSD in Johannesburg: Launch nations - Burundi, Rwanda and São Tomé of the forest reserves due to timber, firewood, charcoal exploitation and
st
• 1 meeting Paris 21 to 23 January 2003, (sensitization of the international community) - The role of sometimes poor farming system turning the forest into farms and residential
and Príncipe - to the process.
COMIFAC as the political and technical segment was strengthened. areas contributing to land degradation, deforestation, losses of wildlife and
• Second Meeting in Brazzaville, June 24-26, 2004 Focus: Funding and implementation of the Convergence
biodiversity. In addition, bushfire continues to ravage the environment. As a
Plan Partnership for Congo Basin
result the areas are faced with extreme poverty due to losses of soil productivity,
Forests
UN was to establish a Trust Fund. To our knowledge this has not been done yet losses of vegetation cover.
Countries in this sub-region have engaged
in a strong partnership with other countries
UNEP in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment of Tanzania started
in the Congo Basin, with the view to manage new project aiming at prevention of biodiversity losses and contribute to
Adopted in July 2002 by the First Conference of Ministers in Charge of Forests (COMIFAC)VisionSustainable and their natural resources in a sustainable way. environmental rehabilitation through supporting community participation in
joint management by Central African States of their forest resources for the wellbeing of their people, the The “Congo Basin Forest Partnership” was reforestation and raise the awareness among the refugees of environment
preservation of biodiversity and the protection of the global environment. launched in Johannesburg, South Africa in conservation and forest management in the Kibondo and Ngara districts of
General Objective:
the margins of the World Summit on Western Tanzania.
“Sustainable and joint management by Central African States of the forest resources of the sub-region and of Sustainable Development on 4 September
a network of protected areas representative of the biodiversity and the ecosystems, for the well-being of the 2004. Objectives of this project are to: 1)Enhance community participation in the
population and to ensure global balance.
establishment of tree nurseries, and environmental conservation, 2) Build and
The Congo Basin Forest Partnership is a
”Strategic areas: strengthen awareness of sustainable management of natural resources
• Harmonization of forest and taxation policies powerful concept and vehicle for
environment conservation through empowering local communities.
• Knowledge of the resource mobilizing support for the sustainable
• Management of ecosystems and reforestation management of the Congo Basin forests
• Biodiversity conservation In his recent mission to Tanzania, Mr. Mohamed Abdel-Monem, program Officer
and wildlife, thereby improving the lives
• Sustainable valorization of forest resources of Natural Resources in the Regional Office for Africa, initiated the activities of
of the region’s people over the longer term.
• Development of alternative activities and poverty alleviation the project with a stakeholder meeting held in Dar Es Salaam after meeting with
• Capacity building, Stakeholder participation, Information, Training- Research - development It aims at sensitizing the international
His Excellency Mr. Arcado Ntagazwa the minister of Environment of Tanzania.
• Development of funding mechanisms community on the threats facing the
• Cooperation and partnerships world second biggest tropical forest, which
provides ecological services to humanity. Activities of the project will include; establishment of community tree nurseries
Partners: FAO, UNDP and woodlots for the propagation of threatened flora species in selected villages,
The “Partnership for Congo Basin Forests”
intends to support a network of around and mobilizing community through awareness raising campaigns including
Established on 6 December 2000 in Yaoundé.It is the central political and technical
policy- and decision-making body and acts as focal point for both the Congo 10 million hectares of national parks and women groups, and youth. ❐
Basin Partnership on Forests and for the Convergence Plan protected areas in the perspective of
sustainable management of forests. ❐
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 25
 O Z O N E
A Significant Move to Harmonize Regulations to Control
ODS import at sub-regional level
Jeremy Bazye, Rwothumio Thomikoand Patrick Salifu
UNEP and in the Economic and Monetary Union for Western Africa (UEMOA), and Central Africa (CEMAC) have embarked in
productive consultations in view of adopting harmonized sub-regional Regulations to control the import and use of Ozone
Depleting Substances (ODS) and ODS-based equipment in the UEMOA and CEMAC regions.
Western Africa Consultations
T he consultations were initiated after
countries belonging to various sub-regional
organizations in Africa requested UNEP
support to develop such regulations. Based on
funding approved for the OzonAction
Programme by the Executive Committee of
the Multilateral Fund, the Regional CAP Team
based in ROA has been working with the
secretariat of this Sub-regional Organization
to develop harmonized regulations on ODS
control.
Reports were prepared by UEMOA Secretariat
on the status of implementation of the
Montreal Protocol in its member countries
compiling information on progress in ODS
phase-out and existing national regulations on
ODS control.
The report and some draft regulations were
reviewed during a sub-regional meeting
held in Ouagadougou in October 2004. The
meeting had one expert segment to review
the report and draft regulations and one
segment for Ministers of Environment to
review and approve the draft regulations.
According to the reports most UEMOA
member-countries, members were in
compliance with the phase-out schedule as
per the 2003 consumption figures.
The report also indicates that all countries
in the region had already adopted national
regulations to control imports of ODS and
ODS-based equipments.
The sub-regional draft regulations approved
by the ministerial segments were later
cleared by the statutory Expert group
meeting held in Ouagadougou from 13 to
17 June 2005 and forwarded to the Council
of Ministers (Finance Ministers) for final
endorsement on 04 July 2005.
Beyond issues specifically related to ODS
phase-out, the ministers of Environment in
the UEMOA region decided to develop a
sub-regional action plan to control the
26 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
import and use of chemicals and to set up a
sub-regional Ozone Committee that could
be later expanded to include all chemicals.
UNEP will support the development and
implementation of such action plan. It’s
Regional Office for Africa (ROA) and the
Division of Technology, Industry and
Economics (DTIE) will follow-up on the
type of support that can be provided
through the regional CAP Team.
First ad hoc Meeting of Ministers
of Environment in the CEMAC
region
At the invitation of the Government of the
Republic of Gabon together with the Executive
Secretariat of CEMAC, the Economic and
monetary community of Central Africa, the
First Ad Hoc meeting of Ministers of the
Environment of the CEMAC region was held
at the Ministry of Forest Economy, Water
resources, Fisheries, Environment in charge of
the protection of Nature in Libreville, Gabon,
in November 2004. This meeting sponsored
by UNEP was preceded by a preparatory
meeting of expert.
Issues discussed included the presentation of
the report of the experts meeting, the review
of the project on Common legislation on the
control of the consumption of ozone deplet-
ing substances, and the issue of Climate
change and carbon trade as an opportunity
for Central Africa.
Central African Ministers of Environment adopt a common regulation on ODS control
Ministers reviewed, amended and
subsequently adopted the Common
regulation on the control of the consump-
tion of ozone depleting substances. They
also confirmed their determination to work
towards its quick implementation and
requested UNEP and other internat-ional
institutions’ support to this effect.
In addition, Ministers expressed the
following recommendations:
• The Executive Secretariat of CEMAC
gets more involved in environmental
issues of the sub-region and the planet;
• The Executive Secretariat of CEMAC
exercises a more active community
control on the ODS phase-out
programmes in Member States;
• These States and the United Nations
Environment Programme strengthen
the capacities of National Ozone Units.
Considering the environmental assets of this
region and the challenges faced by the
Central African region, Central African
Ministers appealed for a closer physical
contact and collaboration with UNEP.
Of particular interest was the opportunity
for Central African States regarding carbon
credits. They committed themselves to work
together for the achievement of Cleaner
Development Mechanisms related to carbon
trade (credit), as a sustainable way to fund
O Z O N E
sub-regional environmental programmes.
To this effect, they recommended all the
countries in the sub-region that are yet to
ratify the Kyoto Protocol to do so.
Enhancing the capacities of
journalists in dealing with
Ozone-related issues
Journalists from the Central Africa Region
are fully involved in the dissemination of the
information related to the Montreal
Protocol. They met in Libreville for a Sub-
regional Awareness workshop on the
implementation of the Montreal Protocol in
the Central Africa Region, which was run
in parallel with the First ad hoc meeting of Ministers of Environment – Mr. Henri Djombo of Congo, Emile Doumba of Gabon, Fortunato Ofa Mbo
environment Ministers in the CEMAC
of Equatorial Guinea and Bruno Dacko of Central African Republic
region on harmonization of regulations on
the control of ODS in Central Africa. The
workshop was meant to sensitize journalists finalization of partnership alliances with UNEP Regional Office for Africa under its
from the audio-visual and printed press on media. Compliance Assistance Programme (CAP)
issues related to the depletion of the Ozone is seeking promote dissemination of
layer and international responses to this This workshop gave an opportunity to set information on the use and phase out of
threat, and the involvement of Article 5 up the Central African Chapter of the Ozone Depleting substances in the Africa
region. Similar workshops were earlier held
countries in the phase-out of ozone African Network for Environmental, which
for journalist in the Southern Africa and
depleting substances-ODS. The workshop was established in November 2002, with the
Western Africa Regions.
was also organized with the view to provide support of UNEP’s Regional Office for
a platform for the exchange of experiences Africa and the OzonAction Programme. The
and information on the role that media African Network of Environmental Customs Officers Trained To
could play in sensitizing the public and Journalists, was set up with the view to Control and Monitor Trade in
decision-makers on the challenges related to mainstream Environ-mental Journalism in ODS In Sierra Leone
the depletion of the Ozone layer and the Africa; Enhance the capacity of African
implementation of the Montreal Protocol Journalists to deal with new and emerging
Customs Officers and other key stakeholders
and specifically to the project on environmental challenges; Disseminate
involved in Ozone Depleting Substances
harmonization of regulations on the control relevant informa-tion on environmental (ODS) –related issues gathered in Freetown,
of ODS in Central Africa. issues in the region; Influence decision-
Sierra Leone from 19 to 20 May, 2005 for a
making process with regard to
workshop. The main objective of the
Journalists participating to the workshop environmental policies in Africa; and
workshop was to equip customs officers and
shared their experiences in sensitizing the provide extra leverage for the dissemination
other key stakeholders with knowledge and
public and decision-makers in Ozone of environmental information in the region. skills necessary for enforcing the import and
related issues. They discussed ODS phase- licensing system that the government has
out programmes in a context of increased This workshop was part of a wider regional recently put in place as part of its strategy
poverty in the sub-region and the Montreal awareness raising programme where the to control and monitor trade in ODSs. These
Protocol. They welcomed the initiative to
harmonize the regulations on the control of
ODS in the Economic and Monetary
Community of Central Africa (CEMAC)
and developed an action plan in support of
the implementation of this project. Activities
to be undertaken under this action plan
include: the organization of briefing
meetings at national level involving
journalists and National Ozone Units
(NOUs); the dissemination of the content
of the harmonized legislation by the Medias,
signing of partnership agreement between
Medias and NOUs regarding the follow-up/
evaluation of the implementation of this
project etc. They recommended that UNEP
and CEMAC should closely follow-up this
process, facilitate capacity building for
journalists and support NOUs in the Custom officers trained in Sierra Leone
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 27
 O Z O N E
trained officers are expected to train other
customs officers countrywide over the next
six months.
The training programme was designed to
use the “train-the-trainers” approach. The
National “Train the Trainer” workshop for
customs officers and other key stakeholders
was attended by customs officers, officials
from Ministry of Health, Trade, Agriculture
and representatives of the media. UNEP,s
CAP Policy and Enforcement Officer
facilitated the workshop.
This training was viewed as a major step by
the government towards controlling and
monitoring trade in ODS. All goods entering
the country are inspected, or should be
inspected by Customs Officers and it follows
therefore that any success in control and
monitor trade in ODSs will require the full
cooperation of a well informed and trained
customs officials.
The Government of Sierra Leone acceded
and became a Party to the Vienna
Convention, the Montreal Protocol and its
th
amendments on the 29 August 2001.
The 41st meeting of the Executive
Committee of the Multilateral Fund
approved the training programme of
Customs Officers and Technicians on Good
Practices in Refrigeration for Sierra Leone
and UNEP was designated as the
implementing agency.
The 11th Odsonet Meeting for
English Speaking African
Countries
th
The 11 Meeting of the Ozone Depleting
Substances (ODS) Officers Network for
English Speaking African Countries
(ODSONET/AF – E), held in Mombasa,
Kenya from June 13 – 16, 2005, was
organized by the UNEP OzonAction
Compliance Assistance Programme as part
of its enabling activities to assist ODS
Officers to implement the Montreal
Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances in
their respective Countries.
The meeting was attended by ODS officers
from 20 English Speaking Countries (Nigeria,
Ghana, Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana,
Kenya, Namibia, Uganda, Swaziland, Rwanda,
Eritrea, Malawi, Zambia, Mauritius,
Zimbabwe, Somalia, Tanzania, Sierra Leone,
Mozambique and Ethiopia) and
representatives of the Multilateral Fund
Secretariat, Ozone Secretariat, UNIDO,
UNDP, UNEP DTIE, UNEP-ROWA, GTZ –
28 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
Proklima, World Customs Organization
Regional Intelligence Liaison Office, East
African Community (EAC), Southern Africa
Customs Union (SACU)etc.
On this occasion, Mr. Sékou Touré, Director
of UNEP Regional Office for Africa
commended the countries in the Africa
Region for being in total compliance in data
reporting in 2003 and congratulated Eritrea
for becoming a party to the Montreal
Protocol. UNEP’s Division for Technology,
Industry and Economics (DTIE) was lauded
for its leadership and innovation in assisting
140 developing countries in the protection
of the ozone layer. The Division was recently
awarded the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (US EPA) 2005
Stratospheric Ozone Award.
The representative of the Kenyan National
Environment Authority (NEMA) noted the
importance of the issues at stake,
particularly discussions on the harmon-
ization of ODS regulations in the region as
this will be an effective tool in combating
illegal trade in ODS. He called upon on all
countries to fight against illegal trade in
ODS.
Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) Officers
from English Speaking African Countries
agree to effectively cooperate at national
level to build synergies and promote the
integration of Multilateral Environmental
Agreements, especially those dealing with
chemicals. Other recommendations of the
th
just ended 11 ODSONET AF/E meeting
include putting in place national ODS
regulations since licensing system is now
pre-condition for project approvals;
harmonization of ODS regulations within
the sub- region. “Train the trainers” courses
Participants at the 11th Odsonet meeting in Mombasa
in customs and refrigeration should also be
promptly followed by training of the target
groups (customs officers, refrigeration
technicians). Countries should carry out
physical surveys of installed and in-storage
capacities of halons and assess their future
strategic needs. In addition, it was
recommended that five countries from the
region, namely Eritrea, Rwanda, Seychelles,
Sierra Leone and Tanzania, should be
considered for assistance for methyl
bromide reductions or sustained
compliance.
The meeting also agreed that awareness was
critically important. In this regard, countries
were advised to negotiate with their national
televisions and airlines to get Ozzy-Ozone
video featured in in-flights programme
where applicable. Emphasis was also put on
the Green Customs Initiative.
The Compliance Assistance Programme
(CAP), in collaboration with other
implementing agencies/bilateral partners
will continue to provide support in the
preparation and implementation of national
action plans for ODS phase out; the CAP
will also facilitate both North – South and
South –South co-operation to enhance
exchange of experience within the region.
A similar meeting was held for French-
speaking African countries from 16 to 20
May 2005 in Nouakchott (Mauritania).
A joint meeting is planned from 03 to 08
October in Arusha (Tanzania) for the two
networks (French-speaking and English-
speaking) to harmonize their view for the
th
Africa region prior to the 17 Meeting of
parties to the Montreal Protocol to be held
in December 2005. ❐
Africa Takes Concrete Steps to Promote Sustainable
Consumption and Production
The Second African Expert
Meeting on the 10 Year
Framework Programme on
Sustainable Consumption and
Production
T he Second African Expert Meeting on
the 10 Year Framework Programme on
Sustainable Consumption and Production
was held from 17-18 February 2005 in
Nairobi, Kenya. The objective of the meet-
ing was to further concretize the outcome
from the First expert meeting that was
held in Casablanca in May 2004 and de-
velop a regional priorities under the 10
Year Framework Programme. In his open-
ing remark, Mr. Shafqat Kakakhel, Deputy
Executive Director of UNEP, underlined
the need to contextualize the concepts and
principles of sustainable consumption
and production to the local conditions
and come-up with innovative ways of
shifting the consumption and production
patterns in the region while at the same
time contributing to the broader poverty
reduction and sustainable development
objectives.
The meeting concretized the regional
priorities under the 10 Year framework
Programmes in the area of water, energy,
urban environment, and industrial
African experts and partners review priorities under the 10YFP
By Desta Mebratu
development. The outcome of the
discussions was subsequently presented
and endorsed by the AMCEN Technical
Meeting for the Partnership Conference on
NEPAD’s Environmental Action Plan. The
African 10 Year Framework Programme
that was developed by the technical expert
meeting and discussed by the AMCEN
Technical Segment was later approved by
the Second Partnership Conference of
AMCEN on the Imple-mentation of
NEPAD’s Environmental Action Plan
which was held in Dakar, Senegal.
The meeting was co-organized by UNEP
and UN-DESA in consultation with the
Secretariats of the African Ministerial
Conference on Environment (AMCEN)
and the African Roundtable on Sustainable
Consumption and Production (ARSCP). 38
participants consisting of 18 Government-
nominated experts and 20 sustainable
consumption and production experts and
development partners attended the
meeting.
The African Business and
Sustainable Development
Roundtable
The African Business and Sustainable
Development Roundtable was held in
I N D U S T R Y
February 2005 in Nairobi as a side event
to the UNEP Governing Council. The
objective of the meeting was to facilitate
a dialogue between African Ministers and
business executives with a particular focus
on the provision of improved water and
energy services in Africa. The meeting was
organized by UNEP in collaboration with
World Business Council on Sustainable
Development (WBCSD), International
Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the
World Energy Council (WEC).
The Executive Director of UNEP, Mr.
Klaus Toepfer, underlined that the
provision of improved access to water and
energy has a significant impact on the state
of the environment as the state of the
environment would have a significant
impact on achieving improved access to
water and energy. He further underscored
the importance of building public-private
partnership in order to overcome the
existing challenges and expressed his hope
that this meeting would contribute to a
better understanding of the contribution
that each group could make to such a
partnership.
The meeting identified a number of key
challenges that need to be addressed by
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 29
 I N D U S T R Y
African Ministers, businesses operating in the region and
international development partners. The participants of the
meeting appreciated the benefit of having such a dialogue and
recommended to have similar kinds of forums during
forthcoming meetings related to UNEP and CSD. About 100
participants, including fifteen African Ministers and a number
of business executives and representatives of development
partners, participated in the Meeting.
Enhancing the Industrial Environmental
Management Capacity of Rwanda
As part of the Inter-agency (UNDP, UNEP and UN-Habitat)
support to Rwanda on the management of the environmental
impact of the Kigali Industrial Zone, UNEP has launched a one-
year programme on ‘Enhancing the Industrial Environmental
Management Capacity of Rwanda’. The Programme includes the
provision of institutional and industrial training with the
purpose of creating a core capacity on cleaner production and
industrial environmental management and preparing the
background for the establishment of the Rwanda National
Cleaner Production Center (RNCPC) as repository of long-term
institutional capacity in the field.
The first set of activities, which included a ‘National seminar on
sustainable consumption and production’ and the launching of
the first set of industrial training on cleaner production assessment
methods was held from 14-18 June 2005 in Kigali, Rwanda. During
Launching meeting on Akaki River with government representatives and
UN partners
the national seminar, the State Minister for Land and
Environment, H.E. Mrs. Patricia Hajabakiga, appreciated the inter-
agency supported to Rwanda and informed the participants that
the Rwanda Council of Ministers has approved the establishment
of the Rwandan National Cleaner Production Center to be hosted
under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. 23 experts drawn
from 10 industries and five industry support institutions are
benefiting from the industrial training programme which will be
given in three modules over the coming three months.
30 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
Programme for sustainable consumption and
production in Akaki River Basin
UNEP in collaboration with the Ethiopian Cleaner Production
Centre and other national partners organized the National
Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and Production which
has led to the development of a ‘Comprehensive programme on
sustainable consumption and production in Akaki River Basin.
The Akaki River is the river that traverses the city of Addis Ababa
and the most polluted river in the country due to the high
number of industries and dense urban centres located along the
bank of the river. The studies presented during the roundtable
indicated the same river which is having significant level of
pollution is serving as a source of livelihood for thousands of
the rural population down stream thereby resulting in significant
health hazard and advises socio-economic impacts.
In addressing the launching meeting, the Minister of Water
Resource, H.E. Mr. Shiferaw Jarso, and the Mayor of Addis Ababa,
H.E. Mr. Arkebe Equbay, recognized the seriousness of the
problem and underlined the government’s strong commitment
in addressing it. UNEP assisted in the development the
programme document which was later presented and discussed
at the National Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and
Production which was held from 6-7 June 2005 in Addis Ababa.
Mainstreaming Sustainable Consumption and
Production in Lake Victoria Region
Sustainable consumption and production in the Lake Victoria
region should be promoted as it would make significant
contribution to the realization of the vision and strategy of the
Easter African Community which aims at having a prosperous
population living in a sustainably managed environment. This
is a recommendation from the sub-regional Roundtable on
mainstreaming Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)
in Lake Victoria region which was held in December in Kisumu,
Kenya. It was also noted that the SCP initiative would also
contribute to the broader development objectives under the Nile
Basin Initiative.
The sub-regional Roundtable on mainstreaming Sustainable
Consumption and Production (SCP) in Lake Victoria region was
attended by 28 participants invited from various governmental,
non-governmental and sub-regional organizations. The
Roundtable was aimed at identifying concrete implementable
activities through regional cooperation. UNEP expressed it’s
commitment for the sustainable development of the region. The
Kenyan National Environmental Management Authority
(NEMA) underlined the importance of holding such a meeting
with an objective of promoting sustainable consumption and
production within the Lake Victoria region and expressed its
appreciation to UNEP, ARSCP and the Kenyan National Cleaner
Production Centre (KNCPC) for taking such an initiative.
K Y O T O P R O T O C O L
The Roundtable identified the key components of activities that
could be undertaken within the region and called upon UNEP
and other regional development partners to develop a regional
programme on mainstreaming sustainable consumption and
production in the Region.
Ghana Holds its National Roundtable on SCP
A national Roundtable on Sustainable Consumption and
Production in Ghana was held in February 2005. The main
objective of the meeting was to expedite the establishment of
the Ghanaian National Cleaner Production Centre by sharing
the regional experience on establishment of NCPCs and
promotion of sustainable consumption and production. More
National roundtable on SCP in Ghana
than fifty participants drawn from government agencies,
industries, and civil societies’ representatives participated in the
Roundtable. members of the Advisory and Executive Board of the Centre.
The meeting was opened by Honourable Afram Asredu, Deputy
After considering the inputs provided by the regional resource Minister of Trade and Industry, and Mr. Jonathan Allotey, the
persons and considering the specific situation within the country, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency
The Roundtable proposed to establish the Ghanaian NCPC as a (EPA) of Ghana, who expressed their Government’s commitment
registered autonomous institution to be facilitated and supported to promote sustainable consumption and production in Ghana
by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ghana. The meeting and expressed their appreciation to UNEP for supporting the
further identified the institutions that are going to serve as organization of the Roundtable. ❐
The Kyoto Protocol entry into force:
Major achievement in Greenhouse Fight
The 1997 Kyoto Protocol, frequently given up for dead, finally entered into force on 16 February 2005. Its critics say the
global pact for fighting climate change comes too late and offers to little: not only are its targets for curbing greenhouse
gas emissions too modest, but many industrialized countries will not be able to meet those goals by the 2012 deadline.
Y et this remarkable achievement marks
the beginning of international efforts to
impacts could be worse than previously
thought.
the scientists demanded - reductions in
the area of 60-80%.
arrest the upward trend in greenhouse gas
emissions which started in developed Under the Kyoto Protocol the world’s However, the most significant character-
countries over a century and a half ago. developed countries pledged collectively istic of the Protocol is that the emission
In the words of Joke Waller Hunter, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets are legally binding.
Executive Secretary of the United Nations to an average of at least 5% below 1990 There was a clear understanding by almost
Climate Change Convention, “The 16th levels in the commitment period 2008 to all parties, industrialized and developing
of February 2005 marks the beginning of 2012. Although many recognized the need alike, that a voluntary approach had
a new era in international efforts to reduce to cut global emissions of carbon dioxide proved to be inadequate and that hard,
the risk of climate change.” and the other greenhouse gases to prevent verifiable and enforceable obligations
dangerous global warming, many were absolutely necessary for the next
The international community is gearing developed countries, aided by intensive stage. Although such deep emissions cuts
up to launch negotiations this year that public pressure from the fossil fuel are beyond the limited scope of the Kyoto
go beyond the Kyoto Protocol timeframe, industry, refused during the negotiations Protocol, many spectators believe the po-
a period in which several scientific to agree to the kinds of cuts in their litical agreement will provide a basis for
forecasts indicate that climate change domestic greenhouse gas emissions, which continued progress beyond 2012 by
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 31
 K Y O T O P R O T O C O L
stimulating energy policy reform and encouraging new invest-
ments to bring about low-emission technologies.
The Protocol represents only a first step toward achieving the
goal set by the original climate treaty - to stabilize greenhouse
gas concentrations in the atmosphere ‘at a level that would
prevent dangerous interference with the climate system’. The
Kyoto Protocol should be regarded as a milestone in the history
of climate protection. Most importantly, it sends a clear signal
to policy-makers, industry and other relevant domestic actors
that climate change has been firmly placed on the world’s agenda.
Because of its far-reaching implications for the way we produce
and consume, the Kyoto Protocol is likely to affect the life of
every person living on this planet in the next century more than
any other international agreement.
Mr. Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s Executive Director said: “The big issue
is adaptation to climate change in developing countries, in other
words, how to support them in confronting its impacts. But we
need to have a very broad vision for future negotiations, for
imagining new alliances, more ambitious goals. For example,
strengthening cooperation amongst cities, amongst regions, and
promoting commitments by corporations to reduce emissions.
We need a great deal of imagination. The challenge we face is
enormous and we cannot afford to restrict thinking.”
To have any hope of achieving the Kyoto targets, global, national
and local climate change policies will have to reflect a
32 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
fundamental shift in the way energy is produced and the way it
is used. It will require, in particular, a fundamental review on
the way fossil fuels are used.
Countries joined the UN framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) in an effort to find ways of reducing global warming
and to cope with increases in temperature. The governments agreed
to an addition to the treaty (Kyoto Protocol) in 1997, which has
binding and more powerful measures. With the protocol in place,
30 industrialized countries and the European community are legally
bound to reduce their combined emissions of six major greenhouse
gases from 2008 to 2012 to below 1990 levels. Some of the gases are
carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and nitrous oxide, among others.
With the entry into force of the protocol, apart from the 30
industrialised countries’ legal requirement to reduce their
combined emissions, it also means that the international trading
market has received a market signal to buy and sell emission
credits amongst themselves which will lead to the cost
effectiveness of emission cuts.
African developing countries do not have any quantities assigned
to them but they need to take steps to mitigate emissions by
among others coming up with energy projects.
Some countries in the region are well positioned to take
advantage of the Kyoto Protocol provision allowing countries to
trade carbon credits. The protocol’s Clean Development
Mechanism, which enters an operational phase, allows developed
countries and companies in developed countries that are
struggling to meet stringent emission reduction targets to buy
credits from countries that pollute less than their allotted limits.
These countries have the potential to create significant amount
of credits by supporting emission-reduction projects locally and
at the same time bring in much-needed foreign direct investment.
The emerging carbon market would force industrial companies
to comply with the protocol.
The concept of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was
designed to achieve a win-win situation: mitigation of GHG
(greenhouse effect gas) emissions on one hand and sustainable
development of developing countries in the other. In other words,
although it is understood that the Kyoto Protocol is
supplementary to domestic emission-control measures,
developed countries would seek to utilize mechanisms to achieve
its goals in a cost-effective manner, whereas the CDM also had
great significance as an international contribution which would
promote sustainable development in developing countries. ❐
The Road to Bangalore - Youth and the MDGs
Mr. Sékou Touré, Director of UNEP-ROA, interacting with youth
F orty-four youth leaders from 35
countries converged in Nairobi, Kenya, for
the biennial United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP)’s Tunza Global
Youth Retreat from 16 to 18 February
2005. Six of the youth leaders were African
countries including Niger, Senegal, DRC,
Kenya (2) and Uganda.
During this three-day event, we reviewed
ways through which we, the young people,
can contribute towards the achievement of
the UN Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) in our own countries. We also
organized a roundtable discussion on youth
participation in the implementation of the
MDGs, on 22 February 2005 involving
environment ministers and senior UNEP
officials. The Roundtable provided an
opportunity to review ways of enhancing
the participation of young people in the
implementation of the eight Goals.
At the Retreat, we the participants came up
with commitments that would be imple-
mented between now and the next Tunza
International Youth Conference, which will
take place in Bangalore, India from 12 to
C H I L D R E N A N D Y O U T H
by Jessica Kamugira Mbabazi, Uganda
Our collective commitments include:
• Peer-to-peer Education – We will
inform our peers about the MDGs and
what we have learnt during the Retreat
and the roundtable discussions. With
the peer-to-peer education we are able
to generate public awareness regarding
all the issues involved in the MDGs.
• Public awareness campaigns – We will
develop campaigns in our communi-
ties on the MDGs. However, we need
support from our governments and
the other stakeholders in order to be
able to reach more people, particularly
young people most of whom are not
aware of the MDGs.
• Partnerships – We will develop
18 October 2005. The commitments -
known as the “Road to Bangalore” - entail
partnership activities to inform our
peers about the MDGs. A similar
collective and individual undertakings by partnership activity is already being
the youth to promote the implementation implemented by young Canadians,
of the MDGs through the 10 Tunza com- who travel to developing countries to
mitments adopted at the Tunza Interna- teach other youth about HIV/AIDS
tional Youth Conference, which was held in and other issues. They are self-funded!
Dubna, Russia in August 2003. The partnerships includes training
Global Youth Retreat: Director, DCPI, Mr. Eric Falt, addressing participants
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 33
 C H I L D R E N A N D
and capacity building as well as youth
empowerment.
Some of the individual commitments
included:
Name: Jessica Kamugira Mbabazi
Country: Uganda
• To follow up on what used to be “The
Environment Club” of secondary
schools working together in Uganda.
• To speak to local government officials
and students in my community about
the role they can play in achieving
MDGs.
Name: Lars Rosendahl Appelquist
Country: Denmark
• To organize a youth seminar for 50
young people in Tanzania about pov-
erty eradication and sustainable devel-
opment in cooperation with Tanzania
Youth Coalition.
• To organize a workshop in Denmark
about youth involvement and sustain-
able development in Tanzania.
Name: Catherine Candano
Country: The Philippines
• To run a national Filipino Youth
Conference on the MDGs.
• To get concrete project commitments
on the MDGs from conference
delegates.
Global Youth Retreat 2005 in Nairobi
34 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8
Y O U T H
Global Youth Retreat 2005 in Nairobi
Global Youth Retreat 2005 in Nairobi
• To compile youth feedback on MDGs
issues from the Philippines and share
this with academic/research/policy
agencies as well as participants of the
Tunza Youth Conference
We intend to discuss the implementation
of these commitments at the next Tunza
International Youth Conference in
Bangalore, India in October 2005 and
hopefully we shall have more African
representation this time.
To view the commitments of all the
participants of the Retreat, please visit our
web site www.unep.org/tunza
We would also like to know what you can
do to implement the MDGs in your
community. Write to children.youth
@unep.org with your commitments and
ideas on the implementation of the MDGs.
❐
Ten-Year Old Kenyan Girl Wins Top African Prize
For UNEP’s Global Painting Competition
A dream for a greener future and healthier cities in the eyes of a 10 years old child
R egional winners of the United Nations
Environment Programme’s Fourteenth
International Children’s Painting
Competition on the Environment were
announced on Earth Day, 22 April 2005.
The best painting, from Ranjani
Dharamajan, a 10 years old school girl was
selected out of more than 300 entries, for
the vision of two contrasting scenarios
showing an actual city and what a city
should be in a perfect world. The
painting captures some of the main
threats to urban environment including
pollution, deforest-ation, impacts of
waste in water bodies.
Young Ranjani Dharamajan said “Today
the forests are being destroyed to create
space for buildings and factories. The air,
land and sea are being constantly
polluted. I felt that to bring back the
original green city we need magic. So, I
drew an ‘Aladdin Lamp’ which could
make our wish come true; that would
bring back the Green Cities.”
Ranjani is a school girl at the Oshwal Jain
Primary School in Nairobi, Kenya, a
C H I L D R E N
member of the school Environment and
Wildlife Club. She explained that the topic
‘Green Cities’ was directly involved with the
environment and this inspired her to take
part.
Mr. Sekou Toure, Director of UNEP’s
Regional Office for Africa said that he was
particularly pleased in view of interest
generated by the competition adding that
“Catching the imagination of our children
on issues of preserving our environment
constitutes one of the best strategies one
can put in place because children are often
the driving force behind future
environmental changes”.
This year’s theme was Green Cities, the
motto of World Environment Day 2005.
The competition was jointly organized by
the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), Bayer AG and the
Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace
and Environment (FGPE). It is opened to
children between 6 and 14 years old and
has been held since 1990 and in that time
has received over 160,000 entries from
children in over 100 countries.
A N D Y O U T H
For the first time this year, the global
painting competition was preceded by
regional competitions. Each UNEP Regional
Office (Bangkok, Geneva, Mexico City,
Washington DC, Bahrain and Nairobi)
chose regional winners and also submitted
at least 100 paintings to the global selection.
The global winners were announced on 5
June 2005 at the main international
celebrations to mark World Environment
Day in San Francisco. All global and
regional winners traveled to San
Francisco, thanks to the generous financial
support from Bayer AG, which also
sponsored the awards ceremony. The
regional winners each received a cash prize
of US$ 1,000 while the global winner
received a cash prize of US$ 2,000.
All winners received certificate and
plaque, and other special prizes such as
drawing kits and environmental
stationery. The winning paintings will be
shown in exhibitions in Japan and other
countries. They will also be exhibited on
the Internet. In future, selected paintings
will be used on UNEP posters, post cards,
calendars, and in publications.
The second and third regional winner of
Fourteenth International Children’s
Painting Competition on the Environment,
respectively Saloni Mukesh Maru and Niral
D. Shah were recognized at a special
ceremony alongside the winners of the Essay,
Art and Photographic Competition
organised in schools in Kenya, for World
Environment Day 2005 at the Hotel
Intercontinental in Nairobi.
Eventually all paintings submitted to the
global competition will be held at the
National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka,
Japan. This year’s competition is
supported by the National Museum of
Ethnology (Japan), the Japanese
Ministries of the Environment, Foreign
Affairs, Education, Forestry & Fisheries
and the Japan-Arab Association. ❐
ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8 • 35
 C H I L D R E N A N D Y O U T H

Hello everyone,
M y name is Yvonne Maingey, I am 17 years old and I am
one of the young people who were elected to serve on the
Tunza Youth Advisory Council. I am currently the youth
advisor for the Africa region. The advisory council is made
up of 28 advisors and associate advisors who advise UNEP
on the best ways to involve young people in their activities.

Recently, the Global Youth Retreat took place here in Nairobi

th th
from the 16 to the 18 of February. Around 40 youth from
over 38 countries participated and six of the participating
youth were from Africa- 3 Francophone speakers and 3
Anglophone speakers. The participants were active
environmentalists who were leaders of youth environmental
organizations and recognized nationally for their work. They
have been involved in environmental activities in their
communities and have participated in national and regional
processes on the environment. During the conference several
issues were discussed including the Millennium Development
Goals; especially how young people can be involved in their
advocacy and implementation, the Governing Council process
and UNEP’s Long Term Strategy of engaging young people in
their activities. The participants also had an opportunity to
meet regionally and raise whatever issues, concerns and hopes
they had for a better partnership with their regional offices
These meetings were particularly useful, as not only did we
sort out our concerns; but we also managed to make
commitments together with our Regional office to enhance
our participation in their activities and programmes. So far,
our regional office have stuck to this commitment by
providing us with a youth page on ROA news and the ROA
Africa youth do have something to say
website and enhancing the current youth networks especially
the AEO for youth process. The Governing Council followed
soon after the retreat and six of the youth advisors were invited
to attend the meeting. We made sure we used the opportunity
to participate to the fullest, and I personally had the chance
to attend my daily Regional Meetings where I made
contributions and interventions to try and ensure that the
voice of the youth was taken into consideration.
African youth do have something to say, we do care and we
do want to be involved! We are enthusiastically involved in
environmental activities and we are ardently advocating for
the conservation and protection of the beautiful environment
that we are so blessed with! I have appealed to several African
young people within the existing network to send articles and
stories that can be included in the next edition and look
forward to sharing them all with you

Upcoming UNEP events for young people

C hildren’s World Summit for the Environment, Toyohashi
and Toyota cities, Japan from 26 to 29 July 2005. One thousand
children and their chaperones will participate in the Summit.

For more information about the above conference and other

Africa youth at the Global Youth Forum
UNEP events / activities for children and youth, please
contact: Theodore Oben, Head, UNEP’s Children & Youth /
Sport & the Environment Unit, P.O. Box 30552 Nairobi,
Kenya, Tel: 254 20 623262, Fax: 254 20 623927, E-mail:
theodore.oben @unep.org or visit UNEP’s web site
www.unep.org/tunza to learn more about UNEP’s activities
for young people.

UNEP, Regional Office for Africa http://www.unep.org/roa Tel: (254-20) 624292 Fax: (254-20) 623928
ROA.Information.Officer@unep.org or Angele.Luh@unep.org

36 • ROA NEWS ISSUE NO. 8