African Countries to Discuss Funding Opportunities for the Marine and Coastal
Environment Projects in Africa
The 10th Conference of the Parties to the Abidjan Convention defines the mechanism for its
financial sustainability
Pointe Noire (Republic of Congo)/Nairobi (Kenya), 12 November 2012 – Government delegates from the 22
countries sharing the West, Central and Southern African coast of the Atlantic Ocean are meeting today in the
economic capital of the Republic of Congo to discuss the numerous challenges related to the implementation of
the Convention for the Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment
of the West and Central and Southern African Region (Abidjan Convention).
The meeting is articulated in two segments: i) the experts segment from 12 to 14 November 2012 and the, ii) the
high level/ministerial segment from 15 to 16 November 2012.
In addition to the funding of marine and coastal environmental projects in Africa which is the central theme of
the Conference, experts will discuss among others, i) the sustainable management of mangroves in the region,
ii) marine and coastal-based tourism development, iii) the interface between freshwater courses and marine and
coastal ecosystems and, iv) the overall question of poverty reduction through the sustainable management of
marine and coastal resources.
More than 30 African countries are now oil and gas producers, the issues of oil pollution will therefore be
extensively discussed during this meeting in order to protect the Abidjan Convention countries from oil spills
emanating from offshore and coastal oil exploration and exploitation.
Following the creation in 2011 of a regional center for cooperation in case of emergency and the development
of a regional Oil Spill Contingency Plan (that will complement national plans and allow countries to report
without delay any event involving a discharge or probable discharge of oil), Parties to the Abidjan Convention
will make a decision on which country will host this Regional Center.
Several parallel activities are also organized on various relevant topics such as the delineation of maritime
boundaries which is becoming a source of concern amongst countries in the region.
Participants are coming from all the 22 countries of the Abidjan Convention, several agencies of the United
Nations, national regional and sub-regional organizations as well as the oil and gas companies which have an
environmental protection program.
The meeting is organized under the patronage of His Excellency President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the
Republic of Congo.
Note to Editors:
The Convention for the Cooperation in the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal
Environment of the Atlantic Coast of West and Central and Southern African Region (Abidjan Convention) is one of the
African regional Seas conventions administered by UNEP.
The COP10 of the Abidjan Convention brings together all the 22 countries bordering the Atlantic coast of Africa along
with several organizations that are active in the field of marine and coastal environment in the region. These include
UNDP, IMO, FAO, UNEP, UNIDO, IUCN, WWF, FIBA, PRCM and regional organizations such as the Africa Union
Commission and Regional Economic Commissions. .
The Decisions and full report of the COP19 of the Abidjan Convention will be available soon on:
http://www.abidjanconvention.depiweb.org/
For more information, please contact
Abou Bamba, Regional Coordinator, Abidjan Convention/UNEP. Email: Abou.Bamba@unep.org Tel. +242 06 920 3385
(Congo) and +225 02 718 781 (Ivory Coast).
The Abidjan Convention
The Convention for Co-operation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West
and Central and Southern African Region (also known as the Abidjan Convention), and its protocol concerning cooperating
in combating pollution in cases of emergency -came into force in 1984. The area is endowed with abundant fish and
petroleum resources, and it covers the 22 coastal states on the West Africa side of the Atlantic Ocean from Mauritania to
South Africa.It is a comprehensive umbrella agreement for the protection and management of the marine and coastal area, and aims to
address -pollution, - from ships, dumping, land-based sources, exploration and exploitation of the sea-bed, and pollution
from or through the atmosphere. It also makes provision for liability and compensation in case of pollution.
The Convention is the basis for co-operative efforts to address other issues such as --overfishing, control of the fish stocks,
coastal-based tourism, coastal erosion, specially protected areas, and environmental impact assessment in the region.
The Secretariat of the Abidjan Convention is administered by the United Nations Environment Program