Sirte Declaration On The Environment For Development
Source: http://www.iisd.ca/whats_new/PS-SIRTE%20DECLARATION%20(10th%20Session%20of%20AMCEN).doc, downloaded 20060528
We, the African Ministers of Environment, having met in Sirte, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, on 29 and 30 June 2004, at the tenth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment,
Noting with satisfaction the contribution of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in providing political guidance and leadership for environmental advocacy in Africa,
Concerned that many African countries may not be able to achieve the goals and targets of the Millennium Development Goals, in particular the goals on extreme poverty and hunger,
Also concerned about increasing environmental threats facing Africa and the continent's vulnerability to global environmental change, including climate change and desertification, which in turn compromise the efforts of the continent to promote sustainable development,
Recognizing adverse effect of conflict on the environment and particularly the threat it poses to peace and security which constitute the basis for the sound management of the environment and sustainable development,
Noting with concern the weak capacity of African countries to cope with the adverse effects of environmental change and to manage emergencies and disasters,
Recognizing the adverse effects of conflicts on sustainable development in Africa,
Also recognizing that Africa has the highest rate of urbanization in the world,
Emphasizing the need for global peace and security, as the basis for stability and sound environmental management,
Welcoming the adoption of the New Partnership for Africa's Development as Africa's common vision for achieving sustainable development and its acceptance by the United Nations General Assembly as the framework of international support for Africa, and in this regard, further welcoming the endorsement by the African Union of the action plan for the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development,
Noting the roles of regional, subregional and national bodies in the implementation of the action plan for the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development,
Noting also the role of international organizations, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and financial development institutions in the implementation of the action plan for the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development,
Noting further the role played by the Global Environment Facility in funding the implementation of environmental programmes and projects,
Noting with satisfaction the establishment by the Global Environment Facility of a pilot programme for adoption and the operationalization of the Special Climate Change Fund, in which funding for adaptation will be a priority,
Noting the need to revise the existing Constitution of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment with a view to revitalizing the Conference,
Acknowledging the usefulness of the first report in the African Environment Outlook series as the first regional comprehensive report on the state of Africa's environment and its contribution to the understanding of environmental challenges facing the continent and, in this regard, looking forward to the preparation of the second Africa Environment Outlook report to be launched in July 2006,
Recognizing the weak capacities of African States to implement the programmes and projects identified in the action plan for the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development,
Recalling the United Nations Millennium Declaration of September 2000, in which the international community recognized the special challenges of Africa and committed itself to supporting Africa in achieving sustainable development,
Recalling also recent major United Nations conferences and summit meetings, as well as the summit meetings of the Group of Eight and the third Tokyo International Conference for Africa's Development, held in October 2003,
Emphasizing the inextricable linkages between environmental management, poverty eradication and sustainable development,
Emphasizing also that policy, legal and institutional framework at all levels is essential for achieving sustainable development,
Recalling the commitments made at the Partnership Conference on the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development held in Algiers in December 2003,
Noting the declaration made in Paris on 26 January 2004 by ministers of environment of six African countries on the promotion of the use of biosphere reserves as operational sites for sustainable development in combating poverty,
Noting with satisfaction the establishment of the African round-table on sustainable consumption and production and the Casablanca Statement on Sustainable Consumption and Production adopted in Casablanca, Morocco, in May 2004,
Hereby declare our resolve:
1. To implement fully the action plan of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development;
2. To stress the urgent need to promote the integration of the environmental dimension into poverty reduction strategies;
3. In particular, to implement fully the capacity development programme of the action plan of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, as well as the 81 priorities projects, including those selected as part of the African process, presented to the Partners' Conference in Algiers in December 2003;
4. To request the President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to develop a mechanism for consensus building, through transboundary projects, in the management of natural and shared resources in order to minimize or even eliminate the risk of internal conflict;
5. To develop subregional action plan as part of capacity building for the implementation of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa Development;
6. To commit ourselves to the promotion of thematic centres of excellence in support of capacity-building, data collection and analyses, and identification of information gaps and needs in capacity-building;
7. To forward the capacity development component of the action plan of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development as Africa's input to the work of the High-Level Open-Ended Intergovernmental Working Group on an Intergovernmental Strategic Plan for Technology Support and Capacity-Building, and Africa's specific request for support in capacity-building;
8. To urge Governments to take necessary action to ensure that the General Trust Fund of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment is replenished within the inter-sessional period;
9. To request the President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to mobilize additional financial resources from bilateral and multilateral institutions, including the Global Environment Facility;
10. To call upon the Global Environment Facility to continue giving high priority to African countries in allocating financial resources for the successful implementation of the action plan to combat desertification;
11. Further to call upon the donor community to provide adequate resources to the special climate change fund;
12. To urge African members of the Global Environmental Facility Council to advocate, in the Council, support for the implementation of the capacity development programme in full within the context of the implementation of environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development;
13. To welcome the adoption of the revised Algiers Convention by the African Union at its second ordinary summit and to urge all African countries to take steps to sign and ratify that Convention;
14. To urge our development partners to implement the decision of the World summit on Sustainable Development to establish a world solidarity fund to eradicate poverty by providing the necessary resources to this fund;
15. To await the decision of the Global Environment Facility to provide partial financing for the implementation of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development;
16. To call upon the President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment in collaboration with the Minister responsible for the environment in Senegal to convene an extraordinary meeting of the Conference in December 2004 to review the implementation of the action plan of the environment initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development;
17. To call upon the President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to forge cooperative links with the relevant structures of the African Union, its secretariat and its appropriate commissions, as well as with the secretariat of the New Partnership of Africa's Development, with a view to harmonizing institutional arrangements, taking into account the new structures of the African Union;
18. To commit ourselves to make every effort to integrate the environmental dimension into national sustainable development in Africa and to recognize the peculiar needs of the poor and marginalized communities;
19. To commit ourselves further to prioritizing and drawing synergies from the issues of chemical management, the strategic approach to international chemicals management (SAICM) process, environmental impact assessment, the phasing out of leaded gasoline, sustainable human settlements, post-conflict environment assessment, health and environment and disaster risk management highlighted during the tenth session of the conference;
20. To strengthen further cooperation with all regional and subregional bodies, including external partners, in the pursuit of sustainable development;
21. To reaffirm our endorsement of the Africa Environment Outlook process as a monitoring and reporting tool for sustainable environmental management and to provide a framework for national, subregional and regional integrated environmental assessment and reporting, as well as strengthening the role of African universities in training in environmental assessment and reporting;
22. To note with appreciation the implementation of the Africa environmental information network at national, subregional and regional levels, to strengthen access to reliable environmental data and information in Africa;
23. To welcome with appreciation the distribution by the United Nations Environment Programme of comprehensive Landsat data of each country and to request the United Nations Environment Programme to support the effective use of these datasets;
24. To urge African Governments to support and attend the international meeting for the small island developing States scheduled to be held in Mauritius from 10 to 14 January 2005;
25. To urge African Governments to support and attend the tenth summit of the Francophonie, with the theme sustainable development, scheduled to be held in Burkina Faso in November 2004;
26. To welcome the courageous decision of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to abandon all programmes which might lead to the production of weapons of mass destruction;
27. To give effect to the decisions adopted by the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment at its tenth session, in Sirte, on 30 June 2004;
28. To mandate the President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment to submit the report of the tenth session of the Conference, including the Sirte Declaration and its annexes to the Assembly of the African Union;
29. To pay tribute to the leader of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, his Government and the Libyan people for the warm welcome, the hospitality extended to participants, the excellent facilities made available and the generous support given by the Government and people of Libya to the tenth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, which vastly contributed to its success.
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