Action Plan for the Phase-out of Leaded Gasoline in East Africa (June 2002)

The Participants recommended that the following actions be taken urgently to prepare for and execute the phasing out of leaded gasoline:

1. For East African Governments to declare their intention to phase out the use of lead in gasoline and to organise a group of people to work on the specific modalities for the implementation of such phase out;
2. For multi-stakeholders to convene meetings in each country to develop road maps for the phase out of leaded gasoline (including fuel specifications, pricing and taxation, and enabling activities);
3. For respective authorities of East African Governments to work towards harmonisation of fuel specifications in the region to ease the introduction of unleaded gasoline and facilitate regional trade, recognizing different timeframes and needs;
4. The enactment of appropriate national legislation/ regulation to ensure more stringent fuel quality – including unleaded gasoline - and emission standards, and monitoring and enforcement of these standards;
5. The development of awareness campaigns to train and educate government officials, fuel pump operators, and service attendants, and others, to promote unleaded gasoline;
6. For industry (oil, automotive, and retailers) to declare that leaded fuel is not necessary in East Africa and to provide sound technical information and authoritative statements to government and public;
7. For Governments to remove any barriers to the provision of unleaded fuel, and for oil companies and retailers to take a leadership role in ensuring that unleaded gasoline is widely available throughout East Africa;
8. For Governments and international agencies to purchase unleaded fuel only for their own vehicle fleet consumption;
9. For civil society to encourage actions by governments and the private sector to accelerate the phase out of lead in gasoline;
10. To develop public awareness campaigns addressed to the whole population focussed on key health and environmental issues and reasons for phasing out leaded gasoline;
11. To develop awareness-raising campaigns addressed to car users, auto trade, mechanics, etc., focussed on vehicle performance, user benefits, etc. to dispel myths about unleaded gasoline;
12. To initiate programmes to gather and generate data and information in support of the awareness campaigns (ambient air quality, emissions, lead pollution, lead blood levels, vehicle population…); and
13. For the National Environment Council in Kenya, as well as similar organisations in other East African countries, to put on their agenda the phase out of leaded gasoline.

To monitor progress in implementing this Action Plan,

• A review, organised by UNEP, will take place during the second half of 2003 (or first half of 2004) in connection with the meeting of the African Ministers of Environment (AMCEN); as part of this review each government will prepare a short report on progress, IPIECA will prepare a report on actions taken by the private sector, and civil society organisations will be invited to report on activities in relation to the action plan. UNEP will prepare a report of this review which will be sent to all participants of the East Africa Sub-Regional Workshop.
• The international organisations that have supported this workshop, IPIECA, UNEP, USEPA, and The World Bank Group, will continue to support activities for the phase out of leaded gasoline in East Africa as well as in the rest of the world.