The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) is organising two preparatory meetings: one for the seventh Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (COP-7 of UNCCD) and another for the eleventh Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the first Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol (COP-11 of UNFCCC and MOP-1 of Kyoto Protocol). They will be held in Nairobi on 22 nd and 23 rd October 2005 respectively.

The purpose of the preparatory meetings is to deliberate on issues of relevance to Africa that will be considered at the Conferences of the Parties. The COP-7 of UNCCD will be held in Nairobi from 17 to 28 October, while the COP-11 of the UNFCCC and MOP-1 of the Kyoto Protocol will be held in Montreal from 28 November to 9 December 2005 .

In addition, an extraordinary meeting of an Expanded Bureau of AMCEN will be held in Nairobi on 21 st October 2005 . The agenda for this meeting is to (i) consider issues pertinent to the above-mentioned Preparatory meetings for the COPs being held under the auspices of AMCEN; (ii) deliberate on the draft agenda and dates for the 11 th regular session of AMCEN to be held in Congo Brazzaville; (iii) discuss the progress made in the preparations of the Africa Environment Outlook-2 (AEO-2) report and its launch date; and (iv) briefly discuss an update on the linkages between AMCEN and the African Union Commission.

The following countries constitute the expanded Bureau of AMCEN: Libya (President of AMCEN), Central African Republic, Mali, Namibia, Sudan, Cote D'Ivoire, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville, Zambia, Algeria, Kenya and South Africa.