DRAFT
ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE AFRICAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND LESSONS LEARNT
Presented at the
EIGHTH SESSION OF THE AFRICAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
ON THE ENVIRONMENT (AMCEN)
ABUJA, NIGERIA, 3-6 APRIL 2000
By the
President of AMCEN
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ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE AFRICAN MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON THE
ENVIRONMENT AND LESSONS LEARNT
1. INTRODUCTION
At the request of its African members, the UNEP Governing council (May 1983)
invited the Governments of Africa to convene an African Environmental Conference to
discuss national environmental priorities and identify common problems worthy of
Regional Programme of Action to deal with serious environmental problems in Africa.
They also requested UNEP to provide Secretariat services for the Conference. UNEP, in
cooperation with OAU and ECA and in consultation with a number of UN agencies and
African Governments and to organize six sub-regional meetings of African experts that
surveyed major environmental problems in each sub-region. A Regional African meeting
was held in Lusaka (Zambia) in 1984, it considered the reports of the above meetings and
identified common African environmental problems.
The draft consolidated report was prepared and presented for further review to (a)
meeting of representatives of United Nations bodies and agencies, followed by (b) a
meeting of African experts. A report to the African Environmental Conference reflecting
this long preparatory process of consultations was presented by UNEP's Executive
Director to the Conference (Cairo, 16-18 December 1985). It described the continent as
"suffering from a continual drain on, and degradation of, its natural resources -plant
cover, soils, water, animal resources and climate" Analysis of the status of African
environment led to the development of the Programme of Action of AMCEN with main
goal of strengthening co-operation between African governments in economic, technical
and scientific activities with the prime objective of halting and reversing the degradation
of the African environment in order to satisfy the food and energy needs of the peoples of
the continent.
The above-mentioned objective was broadly in line with those of the UN
blueprint which laid great stress on agriculture and food production as urgent objectives
for African development. However, whereas the AMCEN Programme of Action saw
environmental rehabilitation and improvement as essential pre-conditions for effective
development in the other primary areas of concern, the UN blueprint and the Priority
Programme for Africa's Economic Recovery drawn up by the OAU did not give the same
explicit primacy to environmental considerations though recognizing their importance in
the development process. All, however were in complete agreement as regards the need
to pay careful attention to conservation of Africa's ecosystems and to promote sustainable
resource use.
In the actual implementation of the proposals of the UN Blueprint for Africa, the
AMCEN Programme of Action could play a key role at national, sub-regional and
regional levels because it spelt out in considerable detail the methodologies and
mechanisms (such as the establishment of the five main ecosystems committees, the
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eight regional technical co-operation networks, the village and semi-arid stock-raising
pilot projects and the priority sub-regional projects) to be employed in implementation of
its proposals. It also took into account institutional arrangements for achieving greater
co-operation and manpower development in order to address the complex and
interlocking problems of effective development in the African continent. But, most
important of all, it was based on a grass-roots approach involving the use of local
traditional skills, experience and resources in the application of economically feasible,
environmentally sound and socially acceptable methods.
At the time of the AMCEN preparation, the World Commission on Environment
and Development (WCED) had also embarked on its work and Governments were
starting to elaborate the Environmental Perspective document. The second session of
AMCEN (Nairobi, June 1987) held a few days before the fourteenth session of the
Governing Council of UNEP (Nairobi, June 1987) examined the report of the
Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) and the Environmental
Perspective document. Thus AMCEN had the benefit of the massive work of analysis
and reflection that went into the Commission's report and the Environmental Perspective
document, which in essence allowed the commissioners and governments to see their
ideas put into operational terms for Africa as they were being formulated. The activities
adopted by AMCEN gave a practical content to some of the most important
recommendations of both reports regarding Africa.
2. MAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AMCEN PROGRAMME OF ACTION
The first session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment held
in Cairo, Egypt in December 1985 adopted a Programme of Action aimed at mobilizing
national, sub-regional and regional cooperation on four major priorities, namely:
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Halting environmental degradation;
Enhancing the food producing capacity of the continent;
Achieving self-sufficiency in energy; and
Correcting the imbalance between population and resource.
In order to address these priorities the Conference established organizational and
operational organs. The organizational organs include: The Conference itself, the
Secretariat, 8 regional technical cooperation networks on environment, 5 ecosystems
Committee on rivers and lake basins, forests and woodlands, deserts and arid lands, seas
and island ecosystems. The operational organs aimed at mobilizing available and
international capabilities towards an effective implementation and follow-up of the
Programme consisted of a regional programme for the development of 150 pilot projects
(3 per country) and 30 development pastoral pilot projects. Also the Conference
identified the UNDP Indicative Planning Figures (IPFs) as key source of financial
support for the implementation of the Programme as well as additional funding from the
World Bank, other multilateral funding agencies and donor countries.
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3. ACHIEVEMENTS
The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment has been in operation
since December 1985. From that time up to now, AMCEN has been able to attain modest
achievements within the framework of the goal and objective for which it was
established, namely:
 Provided continent-wide leadership on the environment by promoting
awareness raising and consensus-building on global and regional
environmental issues, particularly those relating to the multilateral
environmental agreements, such as, the Convention of Biological Diversity
and its Biosafety protocol, Convention to Combat Desertification, the Climate
Convention and its Kyoto Protocol and the on-going IPF and IFF process for
the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of
forests.
 Developed and harmonize Africa's perspectives and common positions which
serve as guide to African representatives in the negotiations of legally binding
international instruments on the environment and also promote their active
participation in international dialogue on global inssues of crucial importance
to the region;
 Promoted the ratification by African countries of multilateral environmental
agreements of relevance to the Africa region;
 Established ecosystems committees and environmental networks for the
exchange of information and assessment of the state of the African
environment;
 Prepared many Africans in the field of environmental management through
seminars, workshops and symposia. Many African scientists and technicians
have acquired skills through AMCEN that enabled them to effectively
promote environmental management. The Programme has also strengthened a
number of institutions through the provision of equipment and other tools
essentials for capacity building.
4. PROBLEMS
Inspite of the achievements outlined above, the Conference has continued to face
many problems, particularly in meeting the expectations generated at its inception in
1985. One of the major problems AMCEN continues to encounter is that the majority
of the countries participating in AMCEN have not been very successful in translating
into actions the agreed upon priorities and put in place the needed financial resources
for their implementation at the national, sub-regional and regional levels.
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The limited capacity in African countries in terms of human, technical, financial
and institutional resources has not been accorded very high degree of priority at the
national level for effective implementation of AMCEN activities.
Furthermore, the Conference has not risen to the challenge of building at the
national level the much needed strategic partnership with major African Conferences
for example, with planning and finance, foreign affairs, agriculture, education, health,
industry and labour. Also, it has not risen to the challenge of building strategic
partnerships with the international community, particularly the World Bank, other
multi-lateral funding agencies and donor countries, which were expected to
supplement resources that would be earmarked from the UNDP/IPF sources.
Although an Inter-Agency Working Group was established to play an active and
supportive role in the implementation of the Programme, many organizations and
donor countries did not provide concrete support to AMCEN. Statements by
organizations and donor countries at the AMCEN sessions gave intents to support the
Programme but these intents of support were not translated into concrete actions or
financial support. Similarly, AMCEN has not built partnerships and appropriate
measures with the private sector, non-governmental organizations and communitybased organizations active in the region to ensure their effective participation in the
planning, designing of projects and implementation of the AMCEN priorities.
The lack of reliable and tangible support from the international community has
continued to contradict the sharp increase in stated concerns for environmental issues
at the sub-regional, regional and global levels.
The Conference agreed on the establishment of a trust fund in 1995 and five years
down the line, only a few countries have made contributions to the fund. The lack of
sustained and predictable financial resources for the implementation of the
Programme portrays, to a large extent, the lack of political will and commitment on
the part of African governments to the AMCEN aspirations agreed upon in 1985.
This also, is in contradiction to the sharp increase in stated concerns by African
governments about the environmental problems confronting them at the national
level.
As a result AMCEN has not been able to build strong support and mechanisms for
integrating the AMCEN priorities in policy-decision making and programme
planning process at the national and sub-regional levels. However, a good number of
African countries have continued to implement programmes on the environment
which do not transcend or translate into the original concept of the AMCEN
priorities.
5. LESSONS LEARNT
There are a number of lessons which have been brought about in the process of
implementing the AMCEN Programme and which will serve as guiding principles in
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determining a new vision and policy change for AMCEN. When the Programme was
adopted in 1985 there were many advantages expected from it. First, as the Programme
was community-based it was expected that it would offer a viable and pragmatic
approach to the problems of grassroots development on which broader sustainable
development depends. The institutionalization of the Conference was meant to ensure
that African governments and participating agencies would effectively keep track on
development of the Programme.
Secondly, the Bureau, Secretariat, Environmental Networks and Ecosystems
Committees were expected to facilitate coordination and cohesion highly necessary in a
regional Programme of the magnitude of AMCEN. With this organizational framework,
the Programme was expected to provide a sound approach to development because it
coherently links sustainable natural resources utilization, broad environmental protection,
and economic development issues with locally available resources. It was also expected
that since donor countries have specific areas of interest, their support would be attracted
because the Programme consists of a variety of components, e.g. pilot villages, pastoral
zones, water resources, forestry, deserts and arid lands, river and lake basins, etc. Thus,
the Programme components offered a wide choice to the international community to
assist.
Thirdly, at the operational level, it was recognized at the end of the first session that
Africa's economic salvation will depend primarily on the efforts of African countries.
This is why the Programme sought to translate this concept into reality by devising means
of achieving this goal primarily relying on African countries to shoulder a substantial part
of the responsibility.
Fourthly, at its fifth session held in 1993, AMCEN adopted a new policy orientation
with strong emphasis on:
 The provision of leadership and guidance in respect of major environmental
issues and programmes of the region;
 Disengaging from operational projects and programmes and focussing on the
identification of priorities for action at the national, sub-regional, regional and
global levels;
 Providing political support and policy guidance to the priorities;
 Focussing on mobilizing support for sound environmental policy and
environmental programmes at the national, sub-regional and regional levels;
 Concentrating on the review, monitoring and coordination of environmental
programmes and policies at the national, sub-regional and regional levels;
encourage African countries and organizations, UN agencies and other concerned
parties to provide the relevant information to the session through the AMCEN
Secretariat;
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 Strengthening the capacity of the Conference to guide and lead Africa's
participation and involvement in global negotiations as well as international
agreements on the environment, including conventions;
 Using the Conference as a forum for identifying and promoting strategies for the
mobilization of new and additional funding of environmental programmes;
 Ensuring the Conference provides a framework for marshalling cooperation
among African countries, organizations, UN and donor agencies active in
environmental management in Africa; and
 Making full use of the expertise and resources available in African organizations,
the private sector, UN agencies (operating in Africa) for environmental
management.
With the new policy orientation and expectations generated at the inception of
the AMCEN Programme, the Africa region would have been better placed today globally
in addressing the environmental problems of the region at the national, sub-regional and
regional levels. However, AMCEN has not been able to do so because of the number of
problems already outlined in sub-section 4 of the paper.
One of the lessons learnt from the implementation of the AMCEN Programme
is the failure of AMCEN to establish concrete and practical modalities and measures for
ensuring that the use of the Indicative Planning Figures for AMCEN activities is fully
integrated into national policy decision-making, programme planning and
implementation.
The role played by the private sector and by civil society the world over in
shaping policy and setting trend has become increasingly influential. The Africa region
is no exception to this. The failure of AMCEN to develop concrete and practical
modalities for creating new and sustainable partnerships with the scientific community,
civil society, non-governmental organizations and the private sector and for involving
them in AMCEN policy development and advocacy to improve environmental
management and promote sustainable development is another lesson that has been learnt.
Furthermore, a major lesson learnt is the failure of AMCEN to develop concrete
measures for gathering information on the environmental programmes and projects of the
UN system being implemented in the region at the national, sub-regional and regional
levels and to use such information in transcending AMCEN priorities as well as to
develop and promote synergies of programme complimentaries, shared goals and
common policy framework for Africa's environmental restoration and protection.
At the regional level, AMCEN has not risen to the challenge of building the
much needed strategic partnerships with the major African Conferences such as, those of
Planning and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, Education, Health, Industry and
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Labour in developing environmental policy and in identifying environmental programme
priorities for the region. Building strategic partnerships with these conferences would, no
doubt, have played an important role in ensuring the understanding of the AMCEN
environmental priorities and the need for incorporating them in their development plans
and programmes.
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