DECISION ON AFRICAN PROCESS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT
AND PROTECTION OF THE MARINE AND COASTAL
ENVIRONMENT IN AFRICA
The Assembly:
1. RECALLS Decision AHG/Dec. 163 (XXXVII) of its 37"> Ordinary Session, held in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001, which further endorsed the African Process for the Development and Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment in ‘Sub-Saharan Africa and decided to hold its Partnership Conference at the level of Heads of State in conjunction with the World Summit on Sustainable Development;
2. AFFIRMS that the African Process is an important contribution of African countries to the World Summit in Sustainable Development and ACKNOWLEDGES the outstanding quality of the work carried out by African experts in the development of the Global Environment Facility (GEF MSP) for the Development and Protection of the Marine and Coastal Environment in Sub-Saharan Africa through which the African Process has been implemented to date;
3. ENDORSES the proposal made at the Second Meeting of the Steering Committee of the GEF MSP on the Environmental Component of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to include the African Process as the component of its oceans segment, and to recommend the application of its methodology to other thematic areas;
4. INVITES all participating countries in the process to provide adequate financial resources, as well as institutional, administrative, policy and regulatory support, for the implementation of the African Process, and in particular for selected project proposals and URGES all Member States to support and actively participate in the implementation of the African Process;
5. APPEALS TO the G8 countries and other external partners, bilateral and multilateral, as well as international financial Institutions, to assist with financing projects which are to be
Reservation by Libya presented at the Partnership Conference of the African Process;
6. REQUESTS the Global Environmental Facility and the World Bank to fund the second generation of the African Process project development cycle, with a view to enabling other Member States to participate and to assist in the development of viable “win-win” projects which address root causes of environmental degradation and promote sustainable development;
7. COMMENDS the innovative approach developed by the African Process, executed by a representative of civil society, the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) in partnership with UNEP, the GPA Co-ordination Office and IOC, of UNESCO, and recommends that such multistakeholder partnerships be further promoted for addressing pressing environmental issues, and that such mechanism should also include the OAU/AU;
8. EXPRESSES ITS APPRECIATION to the Government of Nigeria, and in particular to His Excellency President Olusegun Obasanjo, for his vision and leadership in fulfilling the mandate given to his country as Presidency of AMCEN, and his decision to host the Super Prep-Com as well as in ensuring that the Partnership Conference be held at the level of Heads of State during WSSD Conference;
9. FURTHER REQUESTS the Secretary General to report on the conclusions of the Partnership Conference to the next Summit of the African Union.