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Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
The Tenth Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) convened from September 1 to 6, 2024, at the Sofitel Hotel Ivoire in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, focusing on the critical themes of land degradation, desertification, and drought. Under the theme “Raising Ambition for Accelerating Action on Drought Resilience and Combating Land Degradation and Desertification”, African ministers and environmental experts gathered to tackle these growing challenges with renewed urgency and ambition.
A key feature of this session was the inclusion of African non-state actors who played a vital role in shaping discussions. In line with long-established tradition, the Major Groups and Stakeholders of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Africa (UNEP MGS, Africa) held their Regional Consultative Meeting (RCM) on September 1 and 2, 2024. This meeting provided a critical platform for non-state actors to present and represent the voices of their communities, ensuring their contributions to Africa’s environmental agenda.
The 2024 Regional Consultative Meeting (RCM) provided an in-person and virtual forum for UNEP’s Major Groups, Stakeholders, and other environmental actors to prepare meaningful inputs for the Tenth Special Session of AMCEN. This consultative meeting underscored the importance of including diverse perspectives in environmental policy, with particular emphasis on the roles of civil society, youth, and community organizations in shaping Africa’s future environmental policies.
Among the key participants at the RCM was Eugenia Yayra Agbley, Programs Coordinator for the United Youth Initiative for Africa, a UNEP-accredited NGO based in Ghana. Eugenia delivered a presentation on the pressing issue of plastic pollution. Her presentation highlighted the need for Africa to hold a strong position in the ongoing International Negotiating Committee (INC-5) processes to develop a legally binding treaty to end plastic pollution, including in marine environments.
Eugenia’s participation aimed to build consensus among UNEP’s African Major Groups and Stakeholders, ensuring that Africa speaks with one voice on the global stage in the fight against plastic pollution. This unified approach will play a significant role in international negotiations and is expected to influence discussions at the upcoming INC-5 session, scheduled to take place in Busan, South Korea, from November 25 to December 1, 2024.
The outcomes of the Tenth Special Session of AMCEN and the discussions at the RCM will resonate far beyond Abidjan. The resolutions and proposals generated during the event will be presented at several global environmental fora, including:
1. The Sixteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (December 2-13, 2024)
2. The Summit for the Future in New York (September 22-23, 2024)
3. The Sixteenth Session of the COP to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD COP16) in Cali, Colombia (October 21 – November 1, 2024)
4. The Twenty-Ninth Session of the COP to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP29) in Baku, Azerbaijan (November 11-22, 2024)
In her opening remarks at the Regional Consultative Meeting, Dr. Rose Mwebaza, UNEP Director and Regional Representative for Africa, issued a stark reminder of the urgency of Africa’s environmental challenges, stating, “It’s about our dying lands: our soils in Africa are dying.” Dr. Mwebaza called for innovative solutions and consolidated actions to combat land degradation, desertification and drought, which pose significant obstacles to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s 2063 Agenda.
As Africa’s environmental leaders, civil society and youth activists continue to build momentum towards global climate events, the collective goal is clear: to ensure that Africa’s voice is not only heard but that it leads the charge in addressing some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.
Emmanuel Ameyaw
