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NEWSLETTER - 2nd EDITION

July 2013

THE ACP CAPACITY BUILDING PROJECT ON MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS (MEAs PROJECT)

AFRICA HUB

FOUR YEARS OF IMPLEMENTATION, WHAT NEXT?

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IN THIS ISSUE:

• Editorial by Dr. Abebe Haile Gabriel, Director of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture.

• MEAs - Key to environmental sustainability

in Africa • Rationale for prioritizing biodiversity and

chemical clusters of MEAs

• Four Years of implementation - What Benefits for Africa?

• Challenges in implementation of the MEAs

Project in Africa and lessons learnt • MEAs project implementation in Africa –

Consolidating the Gains

http://sp.au.int/MEAS/resources/documents

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EDITORIAL Sustaining the Momentum for Effective implementation of

MEAs in Africa

It is evident that the loss of biodiversity adversely impacts on the livelihoods of African communities and It is It

It is evident that the loss of biodiversity adversely impacts on the livelihoods of African communities and consequently on their socio-economic status. Africa’s natural resources, therefore, need to be preserved and protected at all costs.

Pollution is another critical issue for Africa. Due to the low level of awareness coupled with the need to boost agricultural and industrial productivity, African countries import and use hazardous chemicals, some of which include chemical-based pesticides, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) pesticides. Apart from the POPs, other hazardous chemicals and wastes that need to be accorded due attention are lead acid batteries, mercury and mercury by-products. The Pan-African Forum on e-waste held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 14-16 March 2012, called for action to support the development of a regional approach for the legal trans-boundary movements and the environmentally sound management of e-waste in Africa. This is a clarion call to all Africans to step in and take prompt and bold measures against electrical and electronic wastes. The case of the Probo Koala hazardous waste dumping in Ivory Coast in 2006 also merits reflection and action.

The increase in the use of these chemicals, generation of hazardous waste, illegal entry of hazardous substances, coupled with limited awareness of the populace pose major health and environmental threats to Africa.

It is against this backdrop that the African Union Commission, in consultation with partners, is focusing on the biodiversity and chemical clusters for the second phase of the MEAs Project. Undoubtedly, the choice is very apt. Both proper ecosystem management and sound chemicals management will contribute largely to environmental sustainability in Africa. Fortunately, there are MEAs that address both the sound management of the ecosystem as well as hazardous chemicals and waste. I am convinced that sustainable management of the environment can be achieved through adequate implementation of MEAs as MEAs address challenges linked to environment and propose solutions. But one cannot implement MEAs adequately with limited awareness and knowledge of MEAs development. Capacity building in negotiations and mainstreaming of MEAs, establishment of regulatory and legislative mechanisms and tools, and establishment of information exchange and awareness creation systems are pre-requisites to adequate implementation of MEAs in AU Member States.

Dr. Abebe Haile-Gabriel, Director, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture, AUC

As we conclude the first phase of the EC-ACP Capacity Building Project on Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs Project) and while we reflect on the second phase, we should, as Africans, be always mindful of our numerous developmental challenges linked to natural resources depletion, environmental pollution and environmental degradation. The pursuit of the development needs of Africa should be reconciled with the sustainable management of its natural resources. In light of the fact that the majority of our populations are dependent on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods, related challenges exacerbate the undermining of our efforts to reduce poverty. Most African communities still meet their energy, food, shelter and medicinal demands from the ecosystem.

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It is evident that the loss of biodiversity adversely impacts on the livelihood of African communities and consequently on their socio-economic status. Africa’s natural resources, therefore, need to be preserved and protected at all costs.

Pollution is another critical issue for Africa. Due to the low level of awareness coupled with the need to boost agricultural and industry productivity, African countries import and use hazardous chemicals, some of which include chemical-based pesticides, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) pesticides. Apart from the POPs, other hazardous chemicals that need to be accorded due attention are lead acid batteries, mercury and mercury by-products. The Pan-African Forum on E-waste held in Nairobi, Kenya, on 14-16 March 2012, called for action to support the development of a regional approach for the legal trans-boundary movements and the environmentally sound management of e-waste in Africa. This is a clarion call to all Africans to step in and take prompt and bold measures against electrical and electronic wastes.

The increase in the use of these chemicals, generation of hazardous waste, illegal entry of hazardous substances, coupled with limited awareness of the populace; pose major health and environmental threats to Africa.

It is against this backdrop that the AUC, in consultation with partners, is focusing on the biodiversity and chemical clusters for the second phase of the MEAs Project. Undoubtedly, the choice is very apt. Both proper ecosystem management and sound chemicals management will contribute largely to environmental sustainability in Africa. Fortunately, there are MEAs that

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It is worthy to note that despite huge challenges, Africa has made and continues to make tremendous efforts to meet its development challenges without compromising its natural resources. In this regard, many continental programs and strategies have been established, particularly under the auspices of the African Union, to be implemented jointly with partners. The African Union Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), established in 1985, is the main policy forum that provides the region with an opportunity to address its common environmental problems. Other structures, programmes and strategies include the Action Plan for the Environment Initiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); the African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) and its follow up program entitled Monitoring of the Environment for Security in Africa (MESA); the Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Trans-boundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa; the Maputo Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources; the Great Green Wall for the Sahel and Sahara Initiative; the Climate for Development in Africa (Clim/Dev) Program; just to name but the principal ones. All these continental institutions, strategies and programmes aim to complement the national action plans (NAPs) and policies of AU Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Member States. They are all geared towards reduction of environmental degradation thereby ensuring sustainable development and poverty eradication in Africa.

Despite these numerous strategies and programmes, experience with environmental management in Africa shows that environmental concerns are not sufficiently mainstreamed into national development plans, policies, and strategies. Furthermore, in addition to all other challenges plaguing the implementation of MEAs and that are addressed in a detailed article in this Edition, specific action plans to address the main issues arising from MEAs are frequently lacking or are inappropriate. Environment is still not considered a political and financial priority for a number of African countries and is not allocated the requisite budget. Also much remains to be done in order to ensure the necessary mainstreaming of environmental issues into plans and budgets; Parliamentarians if properly capacitated can be crucial agents for this move as they give oversight to Government and can influence requisite budgetary allocations.

It is, therefore, the plan of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the Commission to work through the MEAs Project to continue to conduct capacity building activities on MEAs during the second phase of the Project. Decisions of Conferences of the Parties of major global and regional MEAs, a number of high-level meetings of African Governments, including AMCEN, reports of workshops and studies, have all emphasized the essential need for capacity building if sustainable development is to be achieved. It is to be noted that the MEAs Project was endorsed by the 12th AMCEN Session in Johannesburg in 2008, which called upon all AU Member States to participate in its implementation. The ownership of the MEAs Project by AU Member States is crucial to the sustainability of the Project. I, therefore, call upon all African Member States who are engaged to pilot certain activities during the second phase to demonstrate “buy-in” and be involved pro-actively in the implementation of the Project.

I sincerely hope that the gains achieved during the first phase of the project will be consolidated during the second phase, and I wish to re-iterate that the African Union Commission will continue to work diligently with partners, Member States, Regional Economic Communities and other stakeholders to realize the objectives of the Project for Africa.

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MEAs - KEY TO ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY IN AFRICA

Environmental sustainability is an important component of sustainable development and for Africa this means a development path maintained within acceptable limits of natural resource depletion and environmental pollution. Development paths within acceptable limits of natural resources depletion and environmental pollution can be achieved through adequate implementation of MEAs. MEAs address a wide range of sectoral issues. In this regard, MEAs have been responsible for influencing important policy decisions through the development of important environmental principles and concepts. Technical and financial assistance as well as technology transfer are also some of the benefits that can be reaped from MEAs as these are in-built into their overall framework to facilitate compliance and implementation. The ratification and implementation of MEAs provide pathways for developing countries, particularly Africa, to facilitate sustainable development. In view of the fact that over 70% of our rural population are dependent on the ecosystem, for their livelihoods, depletion of our natural resources stand to be a major challenge for years to come. The situation is further compounded by the effects of climate change, desertification, and unsustainable exploitation of forests, land, wildlife, fresh water and other natural resources. These challenges will largely contribute to undermining our efforts to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction on the continent. Environmental sustainability is one of the key goals to meet the challenges of poverty reduction.

The baobab is an endangered African tree

to capacity building. For example, Article 6 of UNFCC, 19 of UNCCD, and article 22 of the Maputo Convention on Nature and Natural Resources speak to capacity building, training and education. Building the capacity of African countries to negotiate and implement MEAs has been recognized as one

Sustainable environmental management can be achieved through adequate implementation of MEAs, which are made to promote sustainable development through international and regional co-operation. MEAs address a number of issues related to specific sectors including agricultural resources, wildlife, pollution control, and water resources management. are made to promote sustainable development through international and regional co-operation. MEAs address a number of issues related to specific sectors including agricultural resources, wildlife, pollution control, and water resources management.

In this respect, MEAs allow countries to establish through domestication their own regulatory frameworks for natural resource management, environmental protection and quality control, pollution control, risk management, protection of human health, and even protection of cultural and aesthetic values. But African States can only benefit from these advantages if they are capacitated enough to negotiate, domesticate, mainstream and implement MEAs. Capacity building and awareness-raising are key components of MEAs development. Generally all MEAs have Articles devoted devoted to capacity building. For example, article XX of the Maputo Convention on Nature and Natural Resources speaks to capacity

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of the priority challenges to meet sustainable development on the continent. It is in this regard that international and regional partners, particularly United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have conducted several capacity-building activities on MEAs development for African States over the past years. The African Union Commission (AUC), with mandate for regional integration, cooperation and environmental issues, has also been supporting African countries in negotiations and implementation of MEAs, particularly through its MEAs Project. The support by the AUC took the form of technical assistance to develop strategies and laws, training to enhance the negotiation skills of negotiators, and training in mainstreaming and implementing MEAs in order not only for countries to meet their obligations and commitments but also to attain sustainable development goals. As the support and ownership of the public and decision-makers is crucial for national implementation of MEAs, the target beneficiaries for the MEAs Project were primarily Government officials, in particular those working in Ministries of Environment, Planning, Agriculture and other relevant ministries. The Project also extended training to Parliamentarians, national stakeholders in MEAs such as civil society organizations and private sector companies. In the interest of sustainability, the training sessions were generally designed to meet the aspirations of the target audience. The trainings targeted trainers so that participants would replicate the training in their own countries. Still within the same context of sustainability, sensitizing Parliamentarians who give oversight to the Government can result in influencing the latter to accord high priority to MEAs and even allocate adequate budget.

Parliamentarian Colloquium, Entebbe, June 2012

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In Africa, both proper ecosystem management and sound chemicals management will contribute largely to sustainable environmental management and consequently to poverty reduction. The AUC recognizes the importance and urgency to address these clusters.

Rhinoceros, Endangered Animal Speciesies

RATIONALE FOR PRIORITIZING BIODIVERSITY AND CHEMICAL CLUSTERS OF MEAs

The first phase of the MEAs Project ended in February 2013. Capitalizing on the lessons learned from this initial phase and due to limited budget, the scope of the second phase will be narrowed to two key clusters of MEAs i.e. biodiversity and chemical clusters. It is to be noted that despite the importance of these two clusters they were not accorded due importance during the first phase. It is understood that an MEA such as the UNFCCC, although a priority to Africa, has attracted and is attracting tremendous amount of support from the global community, and therefore need not be covered by the Project.

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Biodiversity:

Studies have shown that sixty percent of Africa’s energy demand is met by forests and that African communities continue to rely on firewood for heating, cooking and lighting. For example the delta areas of Africa with their mangroves and fresh water swamps are sources of fuel for domestic and small-scale food processing activities for income generation. Such ecosystem provides habitation for different species of plants, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. Women in these areas, in particular, derive their income from oysters harvested from mangrove swamps while freshwater swamp ecosystems support their fishing activities. The ecosystem is also a main source of traditional medicine for a number of African communities. The neem tree (Azadirachta indicai) and moringa tree are well known for their medicinal properties. In rural Africa where elderly women are often traditional midwives, forests are the source of medicinal herbs for newborn babies and their mothers. Another example is the savannah, which is one of the richest grassland in the world and constitutes the most extensive ecosystem in Africa. It supports many indigenous plants and animals and the world’s largest concentration of large mammals, such as elephants. African wetlands also have a rich biological diversity, with many endemic and rare plant species and wildlife such as migratory birds. Despite its importance, the African ecosystem is at a constant threat and its mismanagement will result in dire consequences. It is evident that the loss of biodiversity negatively impacts on the livelihoods of African communities and consequently on the socio-economic status.

In terms of scaling up efforts, African countries are signatories to biodiversity and biodiversity related conventions which assist them better address threats related to biodiversity loss. Domestication of these conventions has led to establishment of national acts and regulations on protection of ecosystems, fauna, flora, wildlife, deforestation, etc. An example of such country is Kenya. The Kenya Wildlife Conservation and Management Act is all encompassing and covers not only protection but also conservation and management of wildlife. There are now more than 3,000 protected areas in Africa, representing 240 million hectares; community forest parks are being championed by African Governments and alternative sources of energy are promoted; rural electrification schemes form part of policies of many African Governments. Despite these efforts to conserve our rich biodiversity, which is our common heritage, more needs to be done still.

The African Elephant, endangered

Studies have revealed that Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) pesticides are still being used or stocked in make-shift stores where the dangers and risks due to pollution and exposure are enormous. Reports indicate that at least 20,000 tons of obsolete pesticides, including POPs and tens of thousands of tons of contaminated soils have accumulated in most African countries over long periods. Apart from pesticide POPs other POPs such as Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) or PCB contaminated equipment are being used or stored in inappropriate methods. POPs can enter body tissues and breast milk, through which they are passed on to infants, causing reproductive and immunological disorders. In a study undertaken in 2008 on human breast milk, results showed as high as 1199µg of

Hazardous chemicals/waste:

Pollution from hazardous waste and chemicals is also a threat to Africa. The spread of this kind of pollution has been attributed to several factors, among which can be cited, the lack of proper control and enforcement mechanisms, misuse and rampant application of chemical based products, including pesticides, and to lack of knowledge on environmentally sustainable alternatives.

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dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) per kg of human breast milk in Africa. In addition to the POPs other hazardous chemicals such as lead and mercury exist in Africa and pose serious threat to human health and the environment. Lead acid batteries are indiscriminately disposed off in inappropriate manner in Africa leading to ground water pollution and consequently to health risks.

wastes constitutes serious health and environmental implications. The Pan African Forum on E-Waste held in Nairobi, Kenya in March 2012 urged Africans to take action not only on the sound implementation of e-waste but also on their illegal trans-boundary movement. The Forum also called for capacity building and awareness-raising. The awareness towards toxic chemicals is still very limited in Africa. Illegal entry and dumping are also urgent phenomena to be reckoned with. A case of hazardous waste dumping occurred in Ivory Coast in 2006. The waste purportedly containing caustic soda and hydrogen sulfide was off loaded by a ship called Probo Koala. The incident was responsible for 17 deaths and over 30,000 injuries (BBC News, John James 19/8/2008 and The Guardian 13/10/2009).

As in the case of biodiversity, African countries have ratified international MEAs dealing with hazardous chemicals and wastes. Most African countries are signatories to the Stockholm, Rotterdam, Basel Conventions and hopefully will be also signatories of the Minamata Convention. As a result of being parties to these conventions, most African countries have developed national acts and regulations on chemicals and wastes and some have put in place accompanying enforcement mechanisms e.g. The Gambia through the Prior Informed Consent Procedure of the Rotterdam Convention took regulatory measures on over 20 hazardous chemicals, including pesticides.

Pesticide spraying

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Mercury pollution from gold mining-the run-offs can easily pollute water sources

Mercury and its compounds are considered to be highly toxic but despite their toxicity they are used in soaps and cosmetics, antiseptics, paints, pesticides, pharmaceutical and veterinary products, and even in dental fixtures, in Africa. The use of mercury in some vaccines, albeit all good intentions need to be closely monitored and regulated and wherever possible be replaced by environmentally friendly and less toxic alternatives. Electronic and electrical wastes are alarmingly increasing in Africa. The unsound management of electronic and electrical

Establishment and implementation of robust enforcement mechanisms and regulatory frameworks would go a long way in addressing challenges related to compliance with laws put in place for biodiversity and chemicals.

Undoubtedly, the choice of focus of the second phase of the Project on the biodiversity and chemical clusters is very apt.

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FOUR YEARS OF IMPLEMENTATION-WHAT BENEFITS FOR AFRICA

The MEAs Project has as its main objective to strengthen the capacity of African countries, the African Union Commission and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) to effectively implement or coordinate implementation of MEAs, thereby contributing to sustainable development and poverty reduction on the continent. The Project is housed within the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) of the African Union Commission. The project targets the 49 African ACP countries.1 The first phase of the MEAs Project focused not only on the international Conventions but also on the key regional ones. The main activities of the Project were geared towards enhancement of negotiation capacity; south-south cooperation; development of legal instruments and promotion of regional MEAs; awareness creation and establishment of communication systems; strengthening of national and regional institutions, including support to Centers of Excellence. The training and capacity building efforts have started to yield dividends in Africa. Between 2009 and 2013 the MEAs Project held a total of seven training sessions and pre-COP meetings for African negotiators of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and those of the Mercury Inter-Governmental Negotiating Committee (INC), with each of the training having an average of 30 participants. As a result the capacity of African negotiators was enhanced leading to high level interventions and refined common positions for Africa. The high performance of African negotiators can even be testified by the award received by negotiators of Ethiopia and Zambia during the INC 5 for Mercury in Geneva in January 2013. The Project also received a bronze award at INC 4 for Mercury in Uruguay in recognition of its invaluable contributions to the negotiation process to assist African negotiators. Also over 40 participants received train the trainers training in MEAs enforcement in Nairobi in 2011. In collaboration with the Basel Convention Regional Center of Dakar, 30 participants were trained on biomedical waste management in Dakar in 2012. As a result of the biomedical waste training one of the participants is now implementing a clinical waste project in his country and is training others. The Project also trained in June 2012 in Entebbe African Parliamentarians from 35 African countries. The training resulted in the development of a source book for Parliamentarians on MEAs mainstreaming and the launching of a network of African Parliamentarians called “Green Bird Africa” in Ethiopia in November 2012. In the same context, an AMCEN Decision was also taken in September 2012 requesting African Governments to work closer with Parliamentarians on MEAs implementation. The Project contributed towards awareness raising and information exchange. As part of its communication strategy a 15 minute video in English and French was developed to sensitize the public and policy makers on environmental disasters and importance of MEAs. The video is widely disseminated in Africa. A data base of environmental experts is created at the AUC and 51 experts have registered to it as of May 2013. The database is now serving as an information bank for recruitment of experts in environmental matters. In collaboration with the African Network of Environmental Journalists, 120 journalists received training in June 2012 in Congo Brazzaville on environmental reporting.

1 The 49 African ACP countries are: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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The Project also promoted regional conventions (Maputo, Nairobi and Abidjan) and developed adequate regulatory and legislative frameworks in Member States and RECs. In this regard, a strategy to promote ratification of regional conventions with focus on the Maputo Convention was developed. Workshop for MEAS Focal points, Botswana,October 2012

Cross section of Participants at Training for UNCCD Negotiators, Algiers Nov. 2011

The 14th AMCEN session took a Decision on the strategy, urging Member States to use it to facilitate ratification and implementation. The Abidjan and Nairobi Convention Secretariats were each supported by the Project in their efforts to promote adoption of the Protocol on Land Based Sources of Pollution (LBSA Protocol). The LBSA Protocol of the Abidjan Convention was adopted in Ivory Coast in June 2012. Thanks to the Project, Malawi and Mauritania now have their biosafety laws updated and developed, respectively, to take into account new and emerging issues related to GMOs; Uganda has Regulations covering Persistent Organic Pollutants; nine African countries (Cameroon, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Seychelles, Swaziland) have developed multi-stakeholder collaboration strategies on MEAs implementation. With support from the Project, two Regional Economic Communities, the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) each has a trans-boundary law on joint ecosystem management, and the Sahel Zone (CILSS) of West Africa has in place a strategy on post registration control of pesticides.

control of pesticides.

Work shop on the national multi-stakeholder coordination strategy on MEAs for Ethiopia, Ethiopia, April 2013.

Work shop on the national multi-stakeholder coordination strategy on MEAs for Ethiopia, Ethiopia, April 2013.

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Account Assistant of Project (far right) receiving award at Uruguay on behalf of the Project, June 2012 CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MEAs PROJECT IN AFRICA, AND LESSONS LEARNT

Despite the many efforts taken by Africans and development partners to address environmental challenges, the continent is still faced with a number of constraints, which, contribute to hampering MEAs implementation.

The limited commitment of policy makers, probably due to limited awareness leads to low priority accorded to MEAs and inadequate budgetary allocation. The involvement of the Legislative in negotiations and implementation of MEAs could have led to decisions taken in a positive direction including allocation of the required budget for MEAs implementation. At the technical level, it is remarked that the high rate of attrition of focal points who in most cases detain the institutional memory, is a major constraint. Other constraints include limited capacity (human and technical) in the areas of enforcement and negotiations, insufficient collaboration among stakeholders involved in MEAs implementation, inadequate or inappropriate national and sub-regional policy frameworks for the effective implementation of MEAs, insufficient mechanisms for management of environmental information, and incoherent and weak mandates and roles of existing environmental institutions.

Apart from the constraints above the Project has learnt important lessons that will inform the development and roll out of the second phase. Some of these lessons include the fact that partnership and synergy can be contributing factors to successful implementation e.g. working with UNEP, the UNCCD and Mercury Secretariats to conduct training for negotiators resulted in robust common positions for Africa; joint collaboration with the Global Environmental Facility/United Nations Environment Program/World Wildlife Fund (GEF/UNEP/WWF) regional program resulted in development of regulatory frameworks on POPs for two African countries; the Basel Convention Regional Center collaboration led to a successful training in biomedical waste for both the public and private sectors of countries in the zone of the West African Economic and Monetary Union. In involving relevant AUC Departments the work of the Project was very much facilitated. For example, the Department of Human Resources Science and Technology took the lead in implementing an activity in the Project work plan related to development of regional border guidelines on bio-safety; Department of Information and Communication involvement in the development of video on MEAs and database of experts; the Office of the Legal Counsel participated in the development of the Maputo strategy and drafting of Decisions and MOUs. This sense of ownership shown by the AUC authorities has started to impact positively on the Project, as reflected in the inclusion of the MEAs Project budget into that of DREA for approval by the AU Policy Organs, and the contribution of the MEAs Project to the report of the Chairperson for the AU Summit. This action is raising the visibility of the Project among the African Ministers and Heads of State and would hopefully increase the awareness of the Project among policy makers. Furthermore, the presence and active participation of Ambassadors (PRC members) at the Parliamentarian colloquium organized by the Project in Entebbe in June 2012 is another demonstration of ownership. The eagerness and enthusiasm of African Parliamentarians to

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learn and take part in the development of MEAs resulting in the establishment of a network of Parliamentarians called “Green Bird Africa” speaks to the fact that Legislators when sensitized will play their role to honor commitments taken by Governments. In terms of support to enhance negotiation skills, provision of experts and conduction of training by the Project to support African negotiators, particularly those of the INC for Mercury, yielded dividends. This is testified by the level of confidence and maturity shown by the negotiators and their high quality of interventions at plenary sessions and contact groups, particularly during INC 5 for Mercury. The awards of merit for outstanding performance given to the negotiators from Ethiopia and Zambia are also testimonies of this achievement. It is important that the AUC through the MEAs Project continue to support African negotiators. It is equally important that more awareness raising activities are conducted and that visibility material is produced in more than one AU language, given the specificity of the African continent. Over four years of implementing the Project in Member States and RECs, the Project staff has gained experience in the way it conducts its business, and in overall project implementation.

MEAs PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IN AFRICA- CONSOLIDATING THE GAINS

For the second phase of the Project, which will start in the 4th quarter of 2013, UNEP will continue to be the facilitator and funds manager on behalf of the EU. The Project will focus on two clusters of conventions; biodiversity and chemical clusters, and on activities geared towards Institutional Capacity Building; National Capacity Building; and Synergistic Implementation. The primary objective of the second phase is to promote environmental sustainability in ACP countries, while the specific objective is to support and strengthen institutions and other stakeholders involved in the mainstreaming and implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in African countries.

Mainstreaming and implementation of MEAs are critical factors for the achievement of environmental sustainability. The objective of building institutional capacity is to strengthen key regional institutions involved in MEAs to have sustained capacity to implement the target MEA clusters (chemicals/wastes and biodiversity), while the objective for building national capacity is to enhance the capacities of national authorities and focal points of MEAs to implement the same target MEA clusters. On the other hand, the synergistic implementation will permit the establishment of processes or mechanisms that would facilitate synergistic implementation of the target MEA clusters, taking into account the importance of information sharing.

Focusing on the target clusters of MEAs, the activities planned for the second phase will target Member States, regional institutions and regional economic communities. The activities planned are related to capacity building for negotiators; sensitization and training in implementation and enforcement; development of strategies, tools and guidelines for mainstreaming the target clusters into plans and policies; training in trans-boundary ecosystem management and trans-boundary movement of hazardous wastes; development of legislative and regulatory framework; promotion of ratification of conventions; support reporting mechanisms and establishment of information exchange systems; and awareness creation and promotion of visibility of the Project.

The MEAs Project will:

Build on the gains achieved during the first phase Consolidate the results and Maintain the momentum

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Ownership of the Project by the AUC and Member States will be central to the successful implementation of the activities and this ownership will also contribute to the smooth integration of the Project into the AUC structures and institutional mechanisms at the end of the project life. For purposes of facilitating coordination and enhancing ownership, focal points designated or nominated by countries and RECs in phase I will be maintained by the MEAs Project. The few countries that had not done so during phase I will be invited to designate or nominate focal points who will be responsible for facilitating implementation and/or coordination of the Project activities at the national and regional levels.

The African Union Commission looks forward to cooperation and collaboration of all partners for a successful second phase.

Staff of MEAs Project (or Africa Hub)

AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION DEPARTMENT OF RURAL ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURE

CAPACITY BUILDING PROJECT

ON MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS

MEAs PROJECT (AFRICA HUB)

Priorities of the Project:

Sensitization of African Ambassadors accredited to AUC who constitute the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC).

Harmonization of project activities with those of ongoing programmes and initiatives on the continent to avoid duplication and overlap and to allow a maximization of resources.

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