The Tenth Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) is holding from September 1 to 6, 2024 in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, with a focus on land degradation, desertification, and drought, under the theme, “Raising Ambition for Accelerating Action on Drought Resilience, and Combating land degradation and desertification.”
Anthony Akpan, President, Pan African Vision for the Environment (PAVE), a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) accredited NGO, is participating and made a presentation on “Plastic Pollution” in the Regional Consultative Meeting of the UNEP Major Groups and Stakeholders, Africa, ahead of the Tenth Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).
To establish common ground, generate support within the continent and to elevate the momentum around the most pressing, prevailing issues, the outcomes of the Session will also be presented at various global fora including the upcoming Sixteenth Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from December 2 to13, 2024; the Summit for the Future to be held in New York from September 22 to 23, 2024; the Sixteenth Session of the COP of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD COP16) in Colombia from October 21 to November 1, 2024 in Cali, Colombia; the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-5) from November 25 to December 1. 2024. in Busan, Republic of Korea; and at the Twenty-Ninth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP29) to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan from November 11 to 22, 2024.
In keeping with established tradition and to institute adequate, organised space for African nonstate actors on the environment to present and represent the voices of their communities while contributing to the African environmental agenda, the Major Groups and Stakeholders of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Africa (UNEP MGS, Africa), held their Regional Consultative Meeting (RCM) from September 1 to 2, 2024 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and engage meaningfully to contribute actively to the 10th Special Session of AMCEN.
The 2024 RCM, Africa was held in a hybrid format with some participants attending in person and others attending virtually. The RCM will prepare inputs to be delivered to the African ministers of the environment at the Tenth Special Session. The RCM input will also be published on the UNEP website.
