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On 5-7 May 2004, the Conference on progress made in leaded petrol phase-out in Sub-Saharan Africa was convened at UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The Conference was being jointly organised by The World Bank, the US Environmental Protection Agency, IPIECA, UNEP and the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles. The objectives of the Conference were to:
- Take stock of the progress made in each sub-region in the process of leaded gasoline phase-out;
- Identify key issues and potential constraints and recommend the remaining measures to be taken to reach the December 2005 deadline; and
- Debate the overall issues of urban air pollution.
BACKGROUND
In June 2001, a regional conference was held in Dakar, Senegal, to officially start a regional campaign to eliminate lead from gasoline in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The major output of the conference (attended by delegates from 28 countries) was the so-called Dakar Declaration. The Dakar Declaration set a date for the complete phase-out of leaded gasoline in SSA of end of 2005.
The success of the Dakar conference and the commitment from all the major stakeholders was mainly due to the comprehensive partnership of public and private actors: African authorities, NGOs, research institutions, the oil industry through IPIECA, donors, AFRICACLEAN, the World Health Organisation, US EPA, UNEP, and The World Bank.
The Dakar conference produced draft sub-regional action plans, which were followed by final versions needed to address the specific technical, institutional and regulatory issues required to eliminate lead in the most cost-effective manner in each sub-region. Five sub-regional working groups were established, covering refinery specificities in each sub-region, namely:
West Africa
Nigeria and neighboring countries
East Africa
Southern Africa
West Central Africa
Consequently, sub-regional workshops were organized to finalise the Action Plans to eliminate lead from gasoline (links are to Conference websites):
West Africa - held in Dakar, Senegal (March 2002)
Nigeria and neighboring countries - held in Cotonou, Benin (April 2002)
East Africa - held in Nairobi, Kenya (June 2002)
Southern Africa - held in Cape Town, South Africa (October 2003)
Central Africa - held in Douala, Cameroon (March 2004)
In addition, in September 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Governments and their Partners agreed that the phase out of leaded gasoline world wide is a matter of the highest priority. This was included in the WSSD Plan of Implementation. At the WSSD, organisation from the private sector, the NGOs, governments and international organisations set up a global Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles to promote better urban air quality through the promotion of clean fuels and vehicles. The Partnership is supporting the global phase out of leaded gasoline, with a focus on Africa.
During the second Steering Committee Meeting of the CAI-SSA held in March 2003, there was overall agreement among the key partners to organize a regional conference to assess progress made on the elimination of lead from gasoline in SSA since the June 2001 conference (the so-called "Dakar +2" conference).
Dakar Declaration
WSSD Plan of Implementation
Logistical Information Sheet
Methodology Note
Technical Session Agenda
Ministerial Session Agenda
Technical Session Participants List
Ministerial Session Participants List
Map indicating National Activities in Sub-Saharan Africa
Presentations
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