Président de la Commission de l’Union Africaine (depuis le 1er. février 2008)
Président du Ghana,
Président de l’Union Africaine (depuis janvier 2007)
Twenty-seven countries are now participating in the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and five have completed the assessment process, Marie Angélique Savané, a member of the APR Panel of Eminent Persons, told a three-day training workshop for Francophone African journalists in Dakar, Senegal, on 16 October 2007.
The next countries to be assessed in the Peer Review process, she said, are Burkina Faso and Mali.
She described the APRM as an instrument for the assessment of good governance to which African countries voluntarily adhere. Countries that have joined represent 75% of the African populace, she said.
Referring to reports of the “slow” process between becoming members and completing the assessment, she said : “Government heads had thought that, in nine months, it would be possible to review a country, but experience has proved that the task takes 18 months.”
Francophone countries are finally waking up, Mme Savané said, noting that Senegal “is dragging its heels”, although it was one of the first countries to launch its self-assessment in 2003. Source : NEPAD, 26 octobre 2007
The latest United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report on environment — the Global Environment Outlook : Environment for Development (GEO-4) — will help NEPAD to address its environment strategies, said Estherine Lisinge Fotabong, NEPAD Advisor on Environment and Tourism, and South Africa UNEP representative. She was speaking at a ceremony to officially launch UNEP’s fourth GEO-4 environment assessment report on 25 October 2007 at the UNDP offices in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Said Fotabong : “The report offers an opportunity for people to acquaint themselves with the state of global environment, the progress made so far and the challenges we face together as we move into the 21st century. We hope the report will help various actors in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“The environment report is one of the tools of strategic importance that UNEP brings to the international community with the hope that it will support informed decisions that will have a lasting impact on the ground as well as have a catalytic role in fostering actions at all levels that will contribute to achievement of the MDGs.”
She said each individual had a role to play to ensure that messages in the report are carried across in a way that best advances the ideals of sustainable development. The report would be a vital tool in the realisation of NEPAD’s environment agenda.
“In the quest to address development challenges and take practical approaches towards the realisation of Africa’s development, environment is a key component to all NEPAD projects. This GEO-4 report could not have come at a better time, when NEPAD is soon to embark on a climate change initiative,” she added.
The GEO-4 report says the threat of climate change is urgent and that Africa is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity. Food security, it says, is likely to be further aggravated by climate variability and change.
The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is a participatory process for environmental assessment and reporting, aimed at bridging the gap between science and policy decision making.
The report, which is a culmination of five years of intensive consultations with various stakeholders in all regions of the world, was carried out by 393 experts. It links findings of the environment with policy analyses, incorporating historical, current and future perspectives, combining global perspectives with sub-global views. It also highlights emerging environmental issues that require policy attention.
Says Dr. Noberto Fernandez, Head of the UNEP Department of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) : “The flagship report is the most comprehensive publication and authoritative assessment in the areas of environment in the world.
“We now have better science to manage the environment and a more informed public. We have also developed faster over the last two decades, but the unprecedented environmental change has made us more vulnerable than ever before. Our common future depends on our actions today, not tomorrow or sometime in the future.”
He said the unprecedented changes were due to human activities in an increasingly globalised, industrialised and interconnected world, driven by expanding flows of goods, services, capital, people, technologies, information, ideas and labor, even affecting isolated populations.
The report contains 10 chapters that include atmosphere, biodiversity, water, vulnerability, outlook, options for action, development and human well-being and regional perspectives, among others. It was simultaneously launched in New York, Bangkok, Geneva, London and the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi. Source : NEPAD, 26 octobre 2007