The event will run until August 18th, and brings together senior government officials and environmentalists, representatives of several African countries and international organizations, among others.

A meeting of the expert group will take place from Monday to August 16th, followed by a ministerial segment on the 17th and 18th, according to the United Nations Environment Program website.

AMCEN will represent an opportunity for ministers to provide policy guidance for key upcoming environmental events, including the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held from next November 30th to December 12th in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Participants will address Africa’s participation in the development of an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, as part of the preparations for the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, scheduled for December 2nd-13th, 2024, in Saudi Arabia.

It also includes the fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management, expected to be held in Germany, from September 25th through 29th, 2023, and how the continent will respond to the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, resulting from the Conference of Biodiversity of the United Nations Organization of 2022.

That framework proposes “stopping and reversing the loss of nature in a context of dangerous decline that threatens the survival of a million species and affects the lives of billions of people.”

AMCEN was established in December 1985, following a conference of African industry ministers held in Cairo. Its mandate is promoting environmental protection in Africa and ensuring that basic human needs are adequately and sustainably met.

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