Calendar of events

APRM
 3-23 February 2008, APRM Country Review Mission for Uganda.
 February 2008, Country Review Mission for Nigeria (date to be finalised). Source : NEPAD, 25 janvier 2008

Cameroon aligns action plan to NEPAD environment strategy

Environmental experts met in Mbalmayo, Cameroon, on 10-12 January 2008 to discuss and endorse the proposed Cameroon environment action plan, fine-tuned to NEPAD’s environmental component.

Cameroon is the first pilot country to carry out the exercise which is intended to prepare national environment action plans to ensure sustainability in environmental management.

NEPAD, a vision and strategic framework for Africa’s renewal, is designed to address the current challenges facing the African continent, such as escalating poverty levels, underdevelopment and the continued marginalisation of Africa. Environment is a key NEPAD programme.

“Cameroon, which will soon start implementing its national environment action plan, is one of the five pilot countries together with Mozambique, Ethiopia, Ghana and Libya to undergo the process of fine-tuning their environment action plans to that of NEPAD under a programme supported by the Regional Office for Africa of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Lessons learnt from this exercise will feed into the roll-out to other African countries,” said Estherine Lisinge-Fotabong, NEPAD advisor on environment.

“It is encouraging to see that countries are taking concrete measures to ensure that national environment policy frameworks are in tune with the NEPAD environment action plan,” she said.

The Cameroon action plan was a culmination of a rigorous participatory consultation process that involved :

evaluation of a global framework ;

organisation of eight thematic workshops to integrate African expert contributions ;

finalisation and adoption of the plan.

The Cameroonian Minister of Environment and Nature Protection, Hele Pierre, who presided over the opening ceremony of the Mbalmayo workshop said : “Cameroon is one of the countries that received support from the United Nations Environment Programme to draw up a national environmental action plan aligned to NEPAD strategy.

The plan aims to :

fight against soil degradation, drought and desertification ;

conserve humid zones ;

prevent, control and manage invading exotic species ;

conserve and use marine and coastal resources ;

fight against climate change in Africa ;

conserve and manage trans-border natural resources.

The Minister said the plan would also handle issues related to health and environment, transfer of ecologically rational technology, evaluation of a natural catastrophe monitoring system, and the NEPAD environmental programme. Source : NEPAD, 25 janvier 2008

NEPAD Secretariat announcement

Prof. Mucavele leaving NEPAD to return to Mozambique The NEPAD Secretariat would like to confirm that effective January 21, 2008, Professor Firmino Mucavele, who has been Chief Executive of the NEPAD Secretariat since 2005, has been released from his duties at the NEPAD Secretariat and has been recalled by the Government of the Republic of Mozambique.

To this effect, the general management and administration of the NEPAD Secretariat will be handled by its two Deputy Chief Executive Officers, namely Ambassador Stephen Olukorede Willoughby and Dr. Hesphina Rukato, while Ambassador Willoughby will assume the responsibilities of Acting Chief Executive Officer.

Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, South African NEPAD Steering Committee Member, shall accordingly, take on the responsibilities of overseeing the activities of the NEPAD Secretariat, on behalf of the Steering Committee, as mandated by the Personal Representatives of Heads of State of the five NEPAD initiating countries and the Co-Chairs of the Steering Committee.

The mandate was entrusted to Professor Wiseman Nkuhlu, at the end of the 33rd Meeting of the NEPAD Steering Committee meeting, held in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 16 January 2008. Professor Nkuhlu shall be seized with issues of a political or highly strategic nature, but will not exercise normal executive functions.

The NEPAD Secretariat takes this opportunity to thank Professor Mucavele for his contribution to NEPAD and to the development of the African continent and wishes him well in his new responsibilities in Mozambique. Source : NEPAD, 25 janvier 2008