1. The first meeting of the Africa Environment Partnership Platform (AEPP) of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) Agency was held at the United Nations Office at Nairobi on 20 and 21 September 2018.
2. The meeting was moderated on the morning of Thursday, 20 September by Ms. Estherine Fotabong, Director of Programmes, NEPAD Agency, and on the morning of Friday, 21 September by Mr. Peter Acquah (Ghana), former secretary of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).
1. La première réunion de la Plateforme africaine de partenariats sur l’environnement de l’Agence de planification et de coordination du Nouveau Partenariat pour le développement de l’Afrique (NEPAD) s’est tenue à l’Office des Nations Unies à Nairobi, les 20 et 21 septembre 2018.
2. La réunion a été animée dans la matinée du jeudi 20 septembre par Mme Estherine Fotabong, Directrice des programmes à l’Agence de planification et de coordination du NEPAD, et dans la matinée du vendredi 21 septembre par M. Peter Acquah (Ghana), ancien Secrétaire de la Conférence ministérielle africaine sur l’environnement (CMAE).
Africa has a wealth of natural resources, including minerals, source of renewable energy, land, biological diversity, wildlife, forests, fisheries and water. The region offers significant potential for human, social and economic development with a large heritage of biodiversity which forms the continent’s natural wealth on which it’s social and economic systems are based. These resources are also of global importance for the world’s climate regulation and for the development of socio-economic activities.
Despite these important assets, Africa faces a host of environmental problems ranging from climate change, air pollution, deforestation, land degradation, desertification, biodiversity loss and chemical and waste management. These environmental challenges, which have both direct and indirect impacts on the environmental and socio-economic systems of countries, are caused mainly by rapidly increasing levels of consumption and the related generation of waste coupled with weak policies and institutional structures at regional and national levels.
L’Afrique est riche en ressources naturelles, notamment en minéraux, en sources d’énergie renouvelables, en terres, en diversité biologique, en faune sauvage, en forêts, en pêches et en eau. La région offre un potentiel important de développement humain, social et économique avec un grand patrimoine de biodiversité qui constitue la richesse naturelle du continent, sur laquelle sont fondés ses systèmes sociaux et économiques. Ces ressources revêtent également une importance mondiale pour la régulation du climat mondial et pour le développement des activités socio-économiques.
Malgré ces atouts importants, l’Afrique est confrontée à toute une série de problèmes environnementaux tels que le changement climatique, la pollution atmosphérique, la déforestation, la dégradation des terres, la désertification, la perte de biodiversité et la gestion des produits chimiques et des déchets. Ces défis environnementaux, qui ont des incidences directes et indirectes sur les systèmes environnementaux et socioéconomiques des pays, sont principalement dus à l’augmentation rapide des niveaux de consommation et à la production de déchets qui en découle, conjuguée à la faiblesse des politiques et des structures institutionnelles aux niveaux régional et national.
The African region offers significant potential for human, social and economic development. It is, however, facing enormous challenges. Rapid population growth, rising levels of poverty and inappropriate development practices are the main factors that influence the state of the environment in Africa. Other factors that have led to continued environmental degradation include the impact of drought and other natural disasters, disease, ineffective development policies, unfavourable terms of trade and the debt burden.
Africa has a wealth of natural resources, including minerals, land, biological diversity, wildlife, forests, fisheries and water. The region offers significant potential for human, social and economic development with a large heritage of biodiversity which forms the continent’s the region’s natural wealth on which it’s social and economic systems are based. These resources are also of global importance for the world’s climate and for the development of socio-economic activities.
The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) meetings provides guidance with respect to key regional policies and initiatives related to the environment. Pursuant to this, the seventh special session of AMCEN will be held at the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme in Gigiri, Nairobi, Kenya from 17 to 21 September 2018. It will consist of a meeting of the expert group to be held from 17 to 18 September 2018, a ministerial segment to be held on 19 September 2018.
The Africa Environment Outlook report is the first comprehensive integrated report on the state of the environment about the continent. It provides a detailed analysis of environmental status and trends in Africa, integrated with the impacts of policies, laws and regional agreements. The report also analyses trends in human vulnerability and security due to environmental changes; and proposes alternative policy options for the future. Concrete policy actions are recommended for follow-up at national, sub-regional and regional levels.
The theme of the Africa Environment Outlook 2 – Our Environment, Our Wealth is Environment for Development. This is inspired by two landmark
documents of the United Nations (UN) – the Brundtland Commission’s report, Our Common Future, and Agenda 21 – and Africa’s own vision of renaissance.
Environmental risks are blamed for about 28 per cent of Africa’s disease burden (WHO and UNEP 2010). Diarrhoea, respiratory infections
and malaria collectively account for 60 per cent of known environmental health impacts in the region (WHO and UNEP 2010). In 2008, Africa’s
ministers of environment and of health, through the Libreville Declaration on Health and Environment in Africa 2008, underscored the importance of using multi-sectoral actions on health and environment linkages to
achieve substantial health and environmental improvements and their co-benefits, as well as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This was reiterated in 2010 through the joint Luanda Commitment on the implementation of the Libreville Declaration.
Africa has a wealth of natural resources, including minerals, land, biological diversity, wildlife, forests, fisheries and water. The region offers significant potential for human, social and economic development with a large heritage of biodiversity which forms the continent’s the region’s natural wealth on which it’s social and economic systems are based. These resources are also of global importance for the world’s climate and for the development of socio-economic activities. Despite these important assets, Africa faces a host of environmental problems ranging from climate change, air pollution, to deforestation, land degradation, and desertification, biodiversity loss as well as chemical and waste management.
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