Over thirty African Ministers of the Environment gathered in Cairo, Egypt, during the first week of March for the 15th Session of AMCEN (March 2-6), the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment.

UNEP had the privilege of hosting a two-day regional workshop (28 February – 1 March) in Cairo between a number of these Ministers, along with representatives from some of the institutions and agencies committed to supporting environmental sustainability in the region. The meeting was a pre-session to AMCEN.

During the regional workshop, organized by UNEP jointly with UNECA and the African Development Bank, and with the support of the European Union (EU), Ministers from African countries and key policy makers explored the theme ‘Inclusive Green Economies for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development in Africa: From Inspiration to Action’, with the aim to distil the valuable lessons learned both from countries’ endeavours to move towards an inclusive green economy, and from entrepreneurs to establish and scale up their social and environmental enterprises.

The meeting also sketched out next steps for actions with a goal to achieve poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa. Additionally, participants had the opportunity to discuss how more coordinated support, including financing, to implement these strategies and action plans, can be mobilized and secured.

Some of the issues tackled included: assessing where Africa, as a region, stands in terms of its progress towards a green economy; distilling and sharing good practices and valuable experiences of implementing green economy policy and strategies at the country level; promoting social and environmental entrepreneurship; enhancing countries’ capacities to incorporate inclusive green economy as a central frame of reference in national development planning.

For more information: Chiara.moroni@unep.org

Related link: www.unep.org