United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (May 2015-April 2016) UNEP s support for the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD)

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (May 2015-April 2016) UNEP s support for the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD)"

Transcription

1 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (May 2015-April 2016) UNEP s support for the New Partnership for Africa s Development (NEPAD) Collaboration with other UN agencies in support of NEPAD As with previous years, UNEP continued to collaborate with other UN agencies to provide support to the African Union and its NEPAD Programme through the Regional Coordination Mechanism (RCM). This support was provided through the cluster on Environment, Population and Urbanization which is co-convened by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Division of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission (AUC). It will be noted that the RCM-Africa directed that UN support to the AU should be aligned with the priorities of Agenda The AU Summit in June 2015 endorsed the Partnership on Africa's Integration and Development (PAIDA) as the successor framework of the UN Ten Year Capacity Building Programme for AU which expires at the end of The work of the Environment, Population and Urbanization Cluster within the RCM aims at providing assistance to the AUC and its NEPAD programme in the formulation and implementation of environment, population and urbanization policies through joint projects and collaborative efforts by all relevant partners in line with the RCM mission to ensure meaningful contribution to planning and delivery of coherent support and synergistic assistance from UN agencies. Specifically, UNEP s contribution was related to development and implementation of the regional flagship programmes. UNEP is facilitating the development and implementation of three flagship programmes namely: (i) African Green Economy Partnership (AGEP); (ii) Partnership for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) in Africa; and (iii) Africa Integrated Environmental Assessment for Sustainable Development. UNEP engagement during this period, included support of the implementation of AU Summit decisions pertaining to environmental sustainability and climate change. Currently UNEP is supporting the implementation of AU decision on the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI) and the Africa Adaptation Initiative (AAI) in the context of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). AREI was launched during UNFCCC-COP21 in Paris and has continued to receive expression of support from various partners. In addition UNEP continued to support the AU in the finalization of the African strategy on combatting illegal trade in African wild fauna and flora which was endorsed by the AU summit in June 2015 in Johannesburg. UNEP is also supporting the AU on institutional capacity building through the ACP-MEAs programme. UNEP, through its Addis Ababa office, has a strategic role and presence which facilitates closer cooperation in furtherance of the AUC programmes, including NEPAD. The UNEP Addis Ababa office takes part in the UN partnership initiatives aimed at extending support to 1

2 the implementation of the actions recommended by the regional coordination mechanism particularly with respect to the UN clusters in support of NEPAD. Equally, the UNEP liaison office in Pretoria continues to work closely with the NEPAD Secretariat based in Midrand, South Africa. UNEP as the secretariat of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) continues to support the implementation of the decisions of AMCEN and its work programme, which are an integral part of the action plan for the environment initiative of NEPAD. Financial support for NEPAD programmes and projects In 2012, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) made a decision to develop and implement a number of regional flagship programmes as a means of contributing to the implementation of the outcomes of Rio+20 in Africa. During the period since May 2015 through April 2016, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) which is the Secretariat of the steering committee for the RFPs, the African Union Commission and AMCEN, with the support of UNEP, undertook a number of activities in the context of the implementation of the RFPs. In order to support the NEPAD Agency fulfill its responsibilities as the Secretariat of the steering committee of the RFPs, a Small Scale Funding Agreement (SSFA) to the tune of US Dollars Fifty Thousand ($ 50,000) was concluded between UNEP and the NEPAD agency. The objectives of the SSFA was to enable NEPAD to carry out an assessment of existing activities related to the regional flagship programmes; develop a framework for the resource mobilization strategy for the regional flagship programmes; and organize meetings of the steering committee and other events related to the regional flagship programmes Institutional support to the NEPAD Secretariat Steering Committee meetings of the regional flagship programmes A Steering Committee meeting of the Regional Flagship Programmes was held on 25 May 2015 in Cairo, with the support of UNEP, to review the status of the development and implementation of the regional flagship programmes. The steering committee agreed that a detailed assessment of existing programmes should be undertaken at national and regional levels with a view to ensuring that the RFPs build upon existing programmes. The operationalization of working groups of RFPs was deemed a priority and the NEPAD agency will engage with the facilitating institutions and take the necessary measures to operationalize the working groups. It was also proposed that Regional Economic Communities (RECs) should be included as observers to the Steering Committee of the RFPs. Side event on regional flagship programmes UNEP and the NEPAD agency organized a side event on the regional flagship programmes on 5 December 2015 at the African Pavilion in Paris in the margins of UNFCCC-COP21. The side event was aimed at creating awareness on the RFPs and discussing practical ways of implementing the RFPs in Africa in the context of the NEPAD Environment Action Plan. It also featured a discussion of current and anticipated regional and continental level 2

3 coordination and implementation support for the RFPs. The side event informed on Africa s efforts to implement the outcomes of the Rio+20 summit and discuss new opportunities for collaboration as well as strengthening or refining existing ones both in terms technical collaboration as well as finance-investment partnerships. Advocacy work by UNEP in support of African development Within the framework of its medium-term strategy , UNEP s support for Africa s development is in the context of the seven cross-cutting thematic priorities: climate change; disasters and conflicts; ecosystem management; environmental governance; harmful substances and hazardous waste; and resource efficiency; and environment under review. In this regard, UNEP works with other partners to implement various activities in response to the needs of the region. Africa s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change is widely acknowledged. UNEP worked with partners to support African countries on adaptation and mitigation (including REDD+). The UNEP climate adaptation programme continued to focus on implementing concrete ecosystem- based adaptation (EBA) options as well as integrating EBA into key sectoral and national development strategies. The Africa Adaptation Gap Report published by UNEP found that climate change adaptation efforts must be ramped up, as costs could reach $300 billion per year by UNEP provided support for the development of both the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative and the Africa Adaptation Initiative. Support was also provided to the Africa Group of Negotiators on climate change. In the area of disasters and conflicts, UNEP aims to promote better environmental management to reduce the risk and impact of natural and man-made disasters, through assessments and technical support that enable countries to identify and address environmental risks, which could have serious economic and social impacts. While UNEP provides environmental assessments immediately after a crisis on request from the country or UN system, the organization also supports those countries that require more sustained environmental assistance for recovery, which has meant longer-term support in several postcrisis countries. Such programmes were carried out in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan, among others. These programmes contributed to improved environmental management and sustainable natural resource use to help those countries recover from crisis. UNEP s work on ecosystem management seeks to safeguard the long-term health of ecosystems while delivering on multiple needs for services and goods sustainably and equitably among countries. UNEP provided support to a number of African countries to enable different sectors of these countries to use an ecosystem approach to meet their needs on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Some of the countries (including Angola, DRC, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Liberia, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo and Uganda) took steps to integrate the ecosystem approach in sector-based natural resource management with UNEP support. 3

4 Under governance, many African countries were variously supported to mainstream environmental sustainability in their UNDAF and UN country programmes. In collaboration with UNDP, the Poverty- Environment Initiative, focused on mainstreaming povertyenvironment objectives and indicators into national, sub-national and sectoral policies, plans and processes. UNEP engaged with relevant national institutions (including judiciary, parliamentarians, and enforcement officers) and major groups and stakeholders in promoting the rule of law in the field of the environment, or environmental rule of law. Regional capacity and awareness on mountain ecosystems law and governance was strengthened. A mountain Atlas was launched with significant chapters on mountain governance. The capacity of Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique to cooperate on trans-boundary aspects of Lake Malawi was enhanced by facilitating a policy dialogue on institutional and legal arrangements to strengthen its governance. UNEP is helping countries create an enabling environment for sound chemicals and waste management by supporting them to put in place the appropriate policy instruments and institutional frameworks. UNEP, UNIDO, and UNITAR are supporting countries under the interim secretariat of the Minamata convention on mercury to develop their mercury initial assessment and national action plans in order to protect human health and the environment from the anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds. UNEP and UNIDO jointly conducted Capacity Strengthening and Technical Assistance for the Implementation of Stockholm Convention National Implementation Plans (NIPs) in African Least Developed Countries (LCDs). The main objective was to strengthen and/or build the capacity required in LDCs in Africa to implement their Stockholm Convention NIPs in a sustainable, effective and comprehensive manner, while building upon and contributing to strengthening their foundational capacities for sound management of chemicals Under UNEP s Resource Efficiency sub-programme, the development of SCP plans in 11 African countries set good example for promotion and implementation of the African 10-YFP on SCP; acted as a basis for the development of the SWITCH Africa Green project; contributed to the increased interest in eco-labelling in Africa; and the strengthening of the African Eco-labelling Mechanism secretariat which is ongoing. A number of African countries have recognized the potential contribution that Green Economy could make to their development and have started taking strategic measures at national level with the support of UNEP. This ranges from the development of a comprehensive national Green Economy and climate resilient strategies, as in the case of Ethiopia and Rwanda, to undertaking of a Green Economy Scoping study and development of a Roadmap, as in the case of Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique. Some of the notable projects in Africa being supported by UNEP and collaborators include: (i) SWITCH Africa Green Project; (ii) Operationalizing Green Economy; (iii) Zambia Green Jobs programme; (iv) Green Economy Initiative and Partnership for Action on Green Economy. With regard to environment under review, UNEP uses its expertise to provide early warning information on emerging environmental issues to inform decision-making by policy-makers 4

5 and the public. Evidence-based decision-making is critical for a solid outcome of policy processes. UNEP therefore facilitates access to up-to- date, quality-assured data and information for policy-makers and other stakeholders. In Africa UNEP supported the publication of the Africa Mountains Atlas; Atlas of Africa s Energy Resources; the Uganda wetlands atlas; and a Regional Water Hyacinth Assessment. The UNEP Live an open information platform connecting individual, national and regional activities with global knowledge continued to grow. African countries with country data flows available in UNEP Live include Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia. In addition, UNEP as the AMCEN Secretariat continues to support AMCEN whose mandate is to promote regional cooperation in addressing environmental issues confronting the region. UNEP working with other partners supports the implementation of the decisions of AMCEN and its work programme, which are an integral part of the action plan for the environment initiative of NEPAD. UNEP also participates in NEPAD s regional meetings. UNEP and NEPAD are jointly planning for the preparation of the the NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Environment Development Programme. The first discussions on the process are scheduled for the second quarter of Assessment of results and impact of the key programmes and projects implemented in As a result of UNEP s support, particularly through the provision of the much appreciated scientific assessments and gap reports on climate change, there is an increased understanding by African countries of the existing and emerging environmental issues that require urgent attention. The significant number of African Ministers who attended COP21 in Paris reflects an increasing member s states engagement on the global environmental agenda, and in particular on the AU Agenda 2063, the Africa we want. In view of UNEP s support to the Africa group, Africa s priorities as expressed by the Committee of African Heads of State and Government on Climate Change (CAHOSCC), are primarily affirmed under the decision to effect the Paris agreement and provided for in the Paris agreement, through critical Articles covering adaptation, mitigation and means of implementation - climate finance, technology development & transfer and capacity building. Africa s priorities were also expressed through the INDCs, where the Africa region had the highest submission rate at 80% going into Paris, indicating it s desire for ambitious climate action as well as the AMCEN Cairo Declaration which called on action to keep global temperature rise at 1.5 C and a par between adaptation and mitigation tally with the CAHOSCC expressions. 5