The African Environmental Ministers call for strengthened collaboration with Multilateral Environmental Agreements!
The
13th Session and 25th Anniversary of The African Ministerial
Conference on the Environment (AMCEN),
was hosted by the Government of Mali and took place in Bamako,
21 - 25 June 2010. The CMS and AEWA Secretariats were represented
at this Session, by Ms. Evelyn Moloko, the Coordinator of
the African Initiative at the AEWA Secretariat.
AMCEN, established in 1985, is a permanent forum through which the Ministers of Environment from the 53 African States advocate environmental protection, sustainable livelihood and socioeconomic development in Africa.
While Africa’s contribution to global green house gas emissions is small compared to developed countries, it is the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and even much less capable of adapting to its consequences; thus the theme “Enhancing the interrelationship between climate change, biodiversity and desertification for sustainable development” for this session. The Ministerial deliberations were centered on climate change issues in relation to Africa, particularly on developing a common negotiation position for Africa on a comprehensive international climate change regime beyond 2012.
In
the context of climate change, the African Ministers of
Environment also recognized the role of the global and regional
biodiversity Conventions and Agreements which all contribute
to the global goal of biodiversity conservation. In her
opening
speech addressing the 13th Session of AMCEN,
the South African Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs,
Ms. Buyelwa Sonjica, highlighted the “need to enhance
linkages with other biodiversity and environmental related
multilateral agreements including but not limited to CITES,
CMS, AEWA, Ramsar and the Basel Convention”.
Furthermore, paragraph 57 of the Bamako Declaration called on African countries to strengthen synergies with other global and regional multilateral environmental agreements, including CMS and AEWA. Paragraph 53 of the same declaration urged all African countries which have not yet ratified these conventions, to do so as soon as possible. The CMS and AEWA Secretariat hope for strengthened collaboration with the AMCEN Secretariat, as well as the African countries, and thus better implementation of CMS and AEWA in Africa, in future.
The President of Mali, H.E. Amadou Toumani Toure, who opened the Ministerial Segment of the session, stated that “Africa must be at the heart of the climate change movement because our continent is the most fragile. Climate change isn’t only taking away our land, rivers and crops; it’s also dispossessing us of our heritage, our myths and beliefs” (link). The UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner, reassured the Ministers of UNEP’s commitment to work together with their Governments (link).
The session ended with some concrete decisions centered on the need for action based on the latest scientific knowledge and legally binding commitments on mitigating the impacts of climate change (link).
For more information please see:
Or contact:
Dr. Peter Acquah
AMCEN Secretary
Tel +254 20 7624289
Email: [email protected]
Evelyn Parh Moloko
UNEP/AEWA Secretariat
Tel.: (+49) 228 815 2490
Fax: (+49) 228 815 2450
Email: [email protected]