We, the African Ministers of Environment,
Having met in Bamako from 23 to 25 June 2010 at the thirteenth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment,
Recognizing and appreciating the Conference’s contribution in providing political guidance and leadership on environmental management to Africa since its creation in 1985 in Cairo,
Noting with appreciation the support provided by the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the Global Environment Facility and other partners for environmental programmes in Africa,
Expressing appreciation for the role of all partners, including the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in supporting the African regional preparatory process for the eighteenth session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, at which representatives considered the thematic cluster on chemicals, waste management, transport, mining and sustainable consumption and production,
Mindful that the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development will focus at its twentieth session on, among other matters, the thematic cluster of forests, biodiversity, biotechnology, tourism and mountains, to which Africa should provide collective inputs and in which it should participate effectively,
Mindful also that the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2012, and that Africa will need to embark on a regional preparatory process to that end to ensure the continent’s readiness and effective participation,
Recognizing the need to take advantage of the opportunities provided by a growth and development trajectory that embraces the green economy model,
Noting the progress made in the implementation of decision 6, on environmental education and technology supported learning, of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment at its twelfth session,
Acknowledging the outcomes of the summit of Heads of State and Government of sub Saharan countries related to the creation of a Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel pan-African agency, held in N’Djamena from 15 to 17 June 2010, with the aim of combating desertification and poverty, restoring degraded land and conserving biological diversity,
Recognizing the cooperation with non-governmental and civil society organizations in implementing the programme of work of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment,
Affirming the important role that young people, the private sector, other major groups and civil society play in sustainable development, and the need for their effective involvement in driving Africa’s sustainable development agenda,
Welcoming the adoption on 1 April 2010 by the Conference of Plenipotentiaries of the Amended Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment for the Western Indian Ocean and the Protocol for the Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean from Land-based Sources and Activities,
Welcoming also the forthcoming seventh African Development Forum, to be held in October 2010 in Addis Ababa under the overall theme of “Acting on climate change for sustainable development in Africa”, organized by the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nations Environment Programme and the African Development Bank, in collaboration with all stakeholders and partners,
Welcoming further the outcome of the pan-African ministerial conference that took place in Windhoek from 8 to 10 March 2010 with the aim of preparing an African common position for the access and benefit-sharing round of negotiations held in Cali, Colombia, in March 2010;
Expressing appreciation for the outcome of the special session on climate change of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, held in Nairobi from 25 to 29 May 2009, at which agreement was reached, in the form of the Nairobi Declaration on the African Process for Combating Climate Change, on the Conference’s work on climate change in Africa as a platform to discuss the issue and shape a shared vision and common position to combat its adverse effects and achieve sustainable development,
Reaffirming the importance of the Africa Environment Outlook process as a framework to support decision-making for the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, Governments and other stakeholders and, in that regard, lauding efforts to prepare the third Africa Environment Outlook report and welcoming the participation of the World Health Organization in that process,
Taking note of the omnibus decision simultaneously adopted by the conferences of the parties to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants at their extraordinary meetings held in Bali, Indonesia, from 22 to 24 February 2010,
Recognizing the strong commitment of African countries to disaster risk reduction and the development of meteorology that was renewed at the first conference of ministers responsible for meteorology in Africa, held in Nairobi from 12 to 16 April 2010, and at the second African ministerial conference on disaster risk reduction, held in Nairobi from 14 to 16 April 2010, bearing in mind the close relationship between climate change, natural disasters and meteorology,
Noting the importance of the environmentally sound management of chemical products and wastes in environmental management for sustainable development,
Commending the role played by African countries in strengthening intra-African consultations and coordination by articulating common African positions in multilateral negotiation processes on climate change, biological diversity and sustainable development, such as the African climate platform prepared in Algiers and updated and adopted by the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in Nairobi, by which African countries agreed on a common position for the climate change negotiations, in addition to the common African position on access and benefit-sharing,
Considering the vital importance of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the need to increase the absorption of carbon dioxide by forests,
Reaffirming that adaptation is the priority for Africa and that there is an urgent need for immediate support for the continent’s implementation of adaptation measures,
Aware of the contribution of the Global Biodiversity Outlook process to the future of the environmental management in Africa,
Welcoming the review of the implementation of the action plan for the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development by the Planning and Coordinating Agency of that body, the African Union Commission and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and other partners, in the context of the United Nations regional coordination mechanism in support of the African Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development,
Noting that the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme in 2009 established, by its decision 25/4, a regionally representative, consultative group of ministers or high-level representatives to consider options for broader reform of the current international environmental governance system and to present their inputs to the United Nations General Assembly,
Welcoming the outcome of the third ad hoc intergovernmental and multi-stakeholder meeting on an intergovernmental science-policy platform for biodiversity and ecosystem services held in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 7 to 11 June 2010, at which Governments, as requested by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme through its decision SS.XI/4, concluded that an intergovernmental science-policy platform for biodiversity and ecosystem services should be established to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well being and sustainable development,
Taking note of the forthcoming high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on biodiversity, to be held in September 2010, the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, to be held in Nagoya, Japan, from 11 to 15 October 2010, and, in particular, the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held immediately after the aforementioned meeting, at which representatives will consider, among others, the Strategic Plan for the Convention on Biological Diversity and targets for 2011–2020 and the adoption of an international legally binding regime on access and benefit sharing,
Aware of the severe effects of climate change caused by the desiccation of Lake Chad,
Mindful of the holding of the resumed ninth meeting of the Ad Hoc Open-ended Working Group on Access and Benefit-sharing in Montreal, Canada, from 10 to 16 July 2010, and of the conference on the theme of “Bolstering biodiversity in Africa: everyone’s problem and heritage” that took place in Libreville on 2 and 3 June 2010,
Noting that, by its resolution 62/195 of 17 December 2007, the United Nations General Assembly decided to declare the decade 2010–2020 as the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification,
Noting also that, by its resolution 61/203 of 20 December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity, and that the thirteenth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment is one of the flagship activities organized in Africa under the Year,
Noting further that, by its resolution 61/193 of 20 December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly decided to declare 2011 the International Year of Forests,
Recognizing the importance of African ecosystem research networks as long-term ecological infrastructure to support ecosystem management, sustainable livelihood and climate change in Africa,
Welcoming the Ouagadougou Declaration of the seventh World Forum on Sustainable Development, held in Ouagadougou from 9 to 11 October 2009,
Expressing appreciation for the efforts and support of all partners to promote environmental management for sustainable development in Africa,
Hereby declare our resolve:
1. To commit ourselves to reinforcing and to implementing decisions by the African Union and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to ensure and guarantee the coherence, transparency, continuity and effectiveness of the political and legal representation of Africa in the process of negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol thereto;
2. Also to commit ourselves to continuing the strengthening of the common negotiating position for a comprehensive international climate change regime to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Framework Convention on Climate Change through the implementation of the comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes, and also to call upon African Governments to support the process actively;
3. To call upon countries to take steps to tackle issues afflicting vulnerable groups, in particular those attributable to climate change;
4. To participate in the Libreville meeting to finalize a common position on biodiversity with a view to the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity;
5. To urge African States to adopt and implement an ecosystem-based approach to adaptation to tackle and mitigate the impacts of climate change and to urge all multilateral and bilateral partners to support such implementation;
6. To call upon the United Nations Environment Programme and other multilateral partners to support the mobilization of financial resources for the Adaptation Fund of the Kyoto Protocol and to support African countries in gaining access to resources under the various climate related funds;
7. To accelerate the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005–2015 and the programme of action for the implementation of the African regional strategy for disaster risk reduction (2005–2015) to increase the continent’s resilience to the negative impacts of climate change;
8. To call upon countries to prepare innovative projects in order to scale up their environmental efforts and to benefit from the Clean Development Mechanism and other carbon markets;
9. To call upon United Nations agencies, the African Union Commission, the Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and other partners to support the development of a strategic approach to reducing deforestation and land degradation in all ecological areas, especially in semi-arid and arid regions of Africa;
10. To call upon countries to prepare national adaptation plans to cover immediate, short-term, medium-term and long-term needs, taking into consideration coordination and cooperation for adaptation actions that have a cross-border effect;
11. To call upon the United Nations and other multilateral and bilateral stakeholders to respond to country and industry needs for what is known as “climate-finance readiness support” to enable the implementation of the Clean Development Mechanism and clean technology projects;
12. To support the convening of the seventh African Development Forum, which will focus on climate change, and to urge all stakeholders and partners to participate effectively in its organization and the subsequent implementation of its outcomes;
13. Also to support the establishment of an African ecosystems research network that would enhance the capacity of scientists and policymakers in the sustainable management of ecosystems and livelihoods in Africa;
14. To request developed countries and partners to increase their financial support for the implementation of processes relating to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, including agriculture and land management (what is known as “REDD-plus”), in particular, the second phase of the REDD-plus programme;
15. To request international organizations, developed countries and all partners to increase their support for the implementation of adaptation strategies and programmes in Africa and to provide full support for the implementation of the national adaptation programmes of action prepared by least developed countries in Africa;
16. To commit ourselves to developing a common position for the continuing negotiations on liability, compensation and redress regimes under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol and to call upon the African Union and the United Nations Environment Programme to support African negotiators in the negotiation of a new international regime on access and benefit-sharing;
17. To commit ourselves to the African common position on the continuing negotiations on access and benefit-sharing, as endorsed at the pan-African ministerial conference on the subject that took place in Windhoek from 8 to 10 March 2010;
18. To call upon States to support at the national, subregional, regional and global levels the process to establish an intergovernmental science-policy platform for biodiversity and ecosystem services, to be considered by the General Assembly of the United Nations at its sixty-fifth session;
19. To commit ourselves to implement activities in the framework of the celebration of the 2010 International Year on Biodiversity and those recommended in the third Global Biodiversity Outlook report;
20. To invite the international community to take the necessary measures to prevent accidents that could result from biotechnological risks and to ensure the restoration of the environment in cases where such accidents occur;
21. To invite the African Union Commission and the Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, with the continued support of the secretariat of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa, the Global Mechanism of that Convention, the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Development Programme, the Global Environment Facility and other partners, to implement the 10-year strategic plan and framework to enhance the implementation of the Convention (2008–2018);
22. To invite African countries to produce and implement national action programmes in the context of the celebration of the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (2010–2020);
23. To reinforce shared actions by African countries to mobilize the required financial resources for the implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification and national action plans;
24. To urge partners, the African Union Commission and United Nations agencies to support the development and implementation of the Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel pan-African agency and other similar subregional initiatives with the constant support of the global mechanisms under the Rio Conventions;
25. To strengthen consultations and coordination between African representatives at the Council of the Global Environment Facility to ensure that greater attention is paid to and increased financial resources made available for efforts to combat desertification and soil and forest degradation, in particular in Africa, in the context of the fifth replenishment of the Global Environment Facility;
26. To urge countries to seek ways and opportunities to strengthen synergies in the implementation of the conventions on climate change, desertification and biodiversity at the national, subregional and global levels in support of sustainable development for Africa, notably through the development of joint programmes of work;
27. To call for the development of a regional forum for synergies between the Rio conventions, to support the development of regional project proposals, through the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment;
28. To request the secretariats of the Rio conventions to explore the possibility of elaborating a joint programme of work with a view to using resources efficiently and to present such a programme at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, in 2012;
29. To commit ourselves to the effective implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification at the national, subregional and regional levels;
30. Also to commit ourselves to strengthening the African group’s position during the international negotiations under the Convention to Combat Desertification and for the promotion of sustainable land management within other relevant international processes, such as forums on climate change, biodiversity and sustainable development;
31. To request the secretariats of the Convention to Combat Desertification and the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to establish a formal partnership with a clear road map, based on relevant objectives and targets to be achieved and activities to be undertaken, to support the mainstreaming of sustainable land management and desertification, land degradation and drought into national development policies, strategies and programmes and to strengthen the African group’s positions regarding sustainable land management in relevant processes;
32. To urge countries to support and promote the integrated management of river basins;
33. To support the implementation of the Libreville Declaration of the Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa, held in Libreville in August 2008, and to participate in the second such conference, to be held in Luanda from 23 to 26 November 2010;
34. To request the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Health Organization, working with other partners, to support the implementation of the Libreville Declaration, including through the development of strategic alliances between the health and environment sectors and of joint plans of action;
35. To request the African Union Commission, together with the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and other partners, to support the convening in 2011 of the first meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Wastes within Africa;
36. To call upon those States that have not yet done so swiftly to ratify in 2010 the Bamako Convention and all other chemicals and wastes conventions;
37. To call upon the African Union Commission and States to develop a mechanism for a common position in the continuing negotiations under the intergovernmental negotiating committee to prepare a global legally binding instrument on mercury;
38. To call upon States individually or collectively to develop strategies or mechanisms to ban or control the trade and importation into Africa of electronic waste, including through the development of strategies for the sustainable management of electronic waste;
39. To call upon countries to continue supporting the implementation of declarations, multilateral environmental agreements on hazardous substances and wastes and all relevant instruments, including the Bali Declaration on Waste Management for Human Health and Livelihood, adopted at the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, held in Bali from 23 to 27 June 2008;
40. To call upon all stakeholders and partners to support the implementation of the outcomes of the Africa review implementation meeting on chemicals, waste management, mining, transport and sustainable consumption and production, held in Addis Ababa in October 2009, and the Africa-related priority actions on these thematic clusters of issues identified at the eighteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, and also to ensure that Africa’s concerns and priorities are effectively articulated during the review session on the same in May 2011;
41. To call upon States to promote the implementation of the decision adopted by the conferences of the parties to the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions at their extraordinary meetings, held in Bali from 22 to 24 February 2010, and to invite the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the Global Environment Facility and other relevant international organizations to support African countries in programmatic cooperation and coordination at the national level for the implementation of that decision;
42. To request the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Director General of the World Heath Organization, in partnership with the African Union Commission and others, to support and participate in the preparation of the third Africa Environment Outlook report and in the implementation of the policy options set forth in that report;
43. To urge all countries to participate in the development of the Pan-Africa e-Learning for the Environment Network by designating national environmental education e-learning centres and by developing e learning strategies for the environment sector;
44. To request the United Nations Environment Programme to ramp up its technology support and capacity-building interventions to support the development of the Network and to request all relevant stakeholders to mobilize resources for its future development;
45. To develop comprehensive information, education and communication strategies emphasizing the Rio conventions;
46. To urge the African Union Commission, together with the United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and other partners, to develop a marine and coastal environment strategy for Africa, taking into account the adverse impacts of climate change and the need to improve communities’ livelihoods;
47. To encourage countries to develop national and subregional strategies and action plans on climate change and the marine and coastal environment;
48. To urge States and relevant organizations to expedite the process of ratification, acceptance or approval and implementation of the Amended Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean and the Protocol for the Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Western Indian Ocean from Land-Based Sources and Activities, adopted by a conference of plenipotentiaries on 1 April 2010;
49. To urge the United Nations Environment Programme and partners to support the implementation of the strategic action programme for the protection of the coastal and marine environment of the Western Indian Ocean from land-based sources and activities that was endorsed at the sixth meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern African Region, held on 31 March 2010 in Nairobi;
50. To urge countries and relevant organizations to develop partnerships with potential beneficiaries of the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central African Region with a view to mobilizing technical and financial resources for the implementation of the Convention;
51. To urge those States that have not yet done so to expedite their accession to the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central African Region;
52. To call upon coastal States to support a mangrove ecosystem management project being led by the African Mangrove Network and funded by the Global Environment Facility;
53. To urge representatives at the joint annual meetings of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to take specific steps in mainstreaming environmental issues in development planning;
54. To urge Africa’s development partners to support the African Union Commission, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, the Planning and Coordination Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and the regional economic communities in implementing their environmental action plans;
55. To urge all countries, as a political commitment of the Heads of State of the African Union, to ratify or accede to and implement the Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, in addition to other global and regional environmental conventions and agreements, including the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, as soon as possible;
56. To urge member States to take the necessary measures to ratify and implement the Revised African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources;
57. To call upon the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nations Environment Programme, other United Nations agencies, the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, regional economic communities, African civil society organizations, other stakeholders and partners effectively to collaborate in the Africa preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, with a view to ensuring that Africa’s concerns and priorities are effectively tackled in the Conference outcomes, including by means of the provision of adequate and appropriate support for the implementation of Africa’s sustainable development agenda;
58. To call upon the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the United Nations Environment Programme, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the World Tourism Organization, the African Union Commission, the African Development Bank, the regional economic communities, African civil society organizations, other stakeholders and partners to work together to ensure an effective regional preparatory process for the twentieth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, at which representatives will consider, among others, the thematic cluster on forests, biodiversity, biotechnology, tourism and mountains, with a view to providing inputs that adequately reflect Africa’s concerns and priorities;
59. To encourage countries to strengthen synergies with other global and regional multilateral environmental agreements pertaining to biodiversity and the environment, such as the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, Especially as Waterfowl Habitat, the Convention on Migratory Species, the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds and the Basel Convention, in the implementation of the programme of work of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment;
60. To call upon the Planning and Coordinating Agency of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, in collaboration with the secretariat of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, to facilitate the implementation of programmes under the action plan for the environment initiative and to support mechanisms for improved coordination of implementation;
61. To call upon the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank, within the context of the Climate for Development in Africa Programme, to work together with the United Nations Environment Programme, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Framework Convention on Climate Change and other partners to promote the synergistic implementation of the Rio conventions;
62. To call upon African civil society, the Pan-African Parliament, government institutions, including security agencies, and other stakeholders to support measures aimed at environmental management and protection;
63. To urge countries to continue to support processes to improve the international environment governance system;
64. To invite the secretariats of the relevant multilateral environmental agreements and programmes, including the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Convention to Combat Desertification, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Stockholm Convention, in partnership with the Global Environment Facility, to study the interlinkages between climate change, land degradation, persistent organic pollutants and other hazardous substances and wastes for a better understanding of their combined impacts on human well-being, biodiversity and ecosystems and to recommend specific measures targeted at reducing the vulnerability of affected groups and communities;
65. To continue to support the implementation of the TerrAfrica initiative for sustainable land management in sub-Saharan Africa;
66. To agree to hold an African summit on the green economy so as to support the mobilization of investments and accelerated economic growth alongside sustainable development;
67. To support the green economy initiative and to work with the United Nations Environment Programme and other partners in the process of reconfiguring businesses and infrastructure to deliver better returns on natural, human and economic capital investments while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, enhancing the efficient use of natural resources, creating less waste and reducing social disparities;
68. To urge all countries to explore fully opportunities for building green economies, through, among other things, the development of clean technologies, renewable energies, water services, green transportation, waste management, green buildings and sustainable agriculture and forests;
69. To urge the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank and the African Union Commission to undertake a study on the green economy in the context of poverty reduction and sustainable development within the framework of the preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development;
70. To engage young people, civil society, the Pan-African Parliament and national assemblies, government institutions and other stakeholders constructively in supporting measures aimed at environmental management;
71. To urge Governments to take the necessary action to ensure that the general trust fund of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment is replenished during the intersessional period;
72. To mandate the President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to submit the report of the thirteenth session of the Conference, including the recommendations of the Bamako Declaration and its other annexes, to the Executive Council of the African Union;
73. To pay tribute to the President, Government and people of Mali for the warm welcome and the hospitality extended to participants, the excellent facilities made available and their generous support to the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment at its thirteenth session that contributed greatly to its success.
_________________________
