African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)
The 12th session of AMCEN was organized from 7-12 June 2008 in Johannesburg, South Africa. One of the main outcomes of the twelfth session was its decision on climate change. The session decided (Decision 2 of the 12th session of AMCEN) to work towards achieving the following:
- the development of Africa’s common negotiating position on a comprehensive international climate change regime beyond 2012; and
- the preparation of a comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes. The Ministerial Conference further decided that that these should be submitted for adoption by a special session of AMCEN and subsequent final adoption by the African Union at its thirteenth summit in June or July 2009.
Health and Environment
The first ever Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa was held in Libreville, Gabon from 26 to 29 August 2008 under the slogan "Health security through healthy environments". The conference was jointly organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNEP and hosted by the Government of Gabon. The Conference called on WHO and UNEP to support, along with other partners and donors the implementation of the Libreville Declaration, and to increase their efforts in advocacy, in resource mobilization and in obtaining new and additional investments in order to strengthen the strategic alliance between health and environment. WHO and UNEP are also expected to help African countries in sharing experiences, developing capacity, and establishing a mechanism to monitor progress towards the fulfilment of the commitments made at this Conference, through peer review, and to organize a second Inter-Ministerial Conference on Health and Environment in Africa before the end of 2010.