Regional Consultative Meeting: Africa 2019

The seventeenth regular session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) took place from 11 to 15 of November 2019 in Durban, South Africa. The Conference was held under the theme: "Taking action for Environmental Sustainability and Prosperity in Africa ".

The Regional Multi-stakeholder consultations was held from 9 to 10 November at the Protea Hotel Edward, in Durban, South Africa.

Purpose and Objectives of the Meeting

The scope of the two-day consultations was for the African Major Groups and Stakeholders to prepare their inputs for the next session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and discuss the outcomes of the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly. The outcome of the meeting was a regional statement by the Major Groups which constituted, among other things, recommendations on the UN Secretary General’s Special Summit on Climate Change. Several issues were discussed which form the objectives of the meeting:

• AMCEN 2019 should focus more on action and reflection on decisions from previous AMCENs, especially following on the UN SG call on actin (3 key actions) by governments in the upcoming September Summit.
• Many policies exist but the gap is in implementation and there are no resources either to support implementation; how do we strengthen implementation in these processes?
• How do MGS hold government accountable? Do they have the structures, credibility, capacity and legitimacy to do so?
• What mechanisms should be put in place for reporting by MGS?
• How do we mobilize and strengthen NSAs including the private sector?
• Given the shrinking space of the CSOs, we need to mobilize the youth as a disruptive group to energize the movement on environment/climate action.

Outcomes:

• Key messages to the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) with focus on the implementation of the policies that have been agreed upon.
• Key messages from the African Major Groups and Stakeholders to contribute to the regional statement for AMCEN which will also serve as Information Document to the Assembly. This Information Document will be part of the official background information.
• The Civil Society were able to meet the representative of the UNEA president, H.E. State Secretary of Norway (deputy minister) Mr. Sveinung Rotevatn. The deputy minister reiterated the importance of civil society on the UNEP work and the need to work together to solve the environmental challenges. He confirmed his governments committal to ensure adequate space for civil society participation at UNEA and its subsidiary meetings.
• The Civil society also met, Governance Affairs Secretary, Mr. Laguna Celis who assured the civil society on the committal of UNEP to engage civil society meaningfully to achieve the greater goal of sustainable development and better environment for all.

For more information on AMCEN, kindly click here