By UN Environment
In a ministerial declaration issued today at the closing of the 17th Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), African governments agreed to make the Conference the forum for making regional environment policies with effective mechanisms for implementation.
Held under the theme, “Taking action for Environmental Sustainability and Prosperity in Africa”, the Conference was held from 11 to 15 November and focused on the need for African countries to take practical action, including implementation of policies, relevant regional and global frameworks, in order for the continent to attain environmental sustainability and prosperity and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Africa’s Agenda 2063.
“We need to ramp up our efforts to implement the decisions for the benefit of our Continent,” Barbara Creecy, President of AMCEN and Minister of Forestry and Fisheries and Environmental Affairs of the Republic of South Africa said. “As we deliberated on the contribution that the Circular Economy, Blue Economy and biodiversity can make, this is an ideal opportunity to involve our youth and women in a more meaningful way in these, whilst guarding against environmental degradation.”
