COASTAL ZONES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
A SCIENTIFIC REVIEW OF THE PRIORITY ISSUES INFLUENCING
SUSTAINABILITY AND VULNERABILITY IN COASTAL COMMUNITIES
WSSD FOLLOW-UP AND NEPAD
The Natural History Museum and Royal Society
London 27th and 28th May 2003
Organising Committee:
Support from:
Fugro GEOS
Summary of Main Points and Conclusions by Lord (Prof) Julian Hunt FRS, ACOPS
Chairman
Aims and Background:
This high level conference with 80 plus participants focused on the scientific and policy
aspects of the sustainability, environmental vulnerability and massive human poverty
(average income is less than $1/day) of the coastal zones of Africa where about 50% of the
population live and work and about 30% of the economic activity is based. 22 papers were
presented by authors representing the science community, governmental, intergovernmental,
and non-governmental organisations, these are available at www.unep-
wcmc.org/conventions/ACOPS. The meeting derived from a joint suggestion of Prof Isabelle
Niang Diop (University of Dakar, Senegal) and Prof Julian Hunt (University College London,
Lord Hunt of Chesterton in the House of Lords and ACOPS1 Chairman) firstly to be a follow
up of three years work by teams of African experts working on technically based, practical
project plans for improving the sustainability and environment of African Coastal Zones (see
www.acops.org). This `African Process' that began in Cape Town in 1998 had been funded
by GEF2 and was endorsed at a Heads of State Partnership Conference, held at the WSSD3 in
Johannesburg in 2002.
Secondly the meeting provided a unique opportunity for establishing better collaboration
between Africa and Europe to involve a wider community of experts in their acute, complex
social and environmental issues and thereby publicise the issues to more of the organisations,
including those in the private sector, throughout the world who could contribute to their
solutions.
The political importance of this meeting was all the greater for the African Governments
having recently decided, in mid 2002, to initiate their own plan for the continent's
development `NEPAD4'. As was explained by the Senegalese Minister of Environment, Hon
Mr Modou Fada Diagne, the environmental development in NEPAD is being coordinated by
his country under the leadership of President Wade, a strong advocate of both Africa's
enormous needs and of the new determination to use democratic structures as the only
effective basis for Africa's development. This conference was able to contribute towards
shaping the environmental agenda and possible plan of action still being developed in the
NEPAD process as became clear in the concluding session addressed by African ministers
and their representatives. The importance of NEPAD as a framework for the UK and other
developed countries to engage and support African on sustainability and poverty eradication
was explained in his speech on behalf of HMG5 by Lord Evans of Temple Guiting (See
Annex 1 & 2) and in a powerful message read to the conference from US Congressman
Greenwood, Chairman of GLOBE6 (See Annex 3).
1 Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea
2 Global Environment Facility
3 World Summit on Sustainable Development
4 New Partnership for Africa's Development
5 Her Majesty's Government
6 Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment
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Environmental Threats:
The steady degradation of many components of the terrestrial and marine environment in
coastal areas and the devastating affects on the societies and economies of those areas are
being carefully monitored not only by professionals, international centres (e.g. UNEP-
WCMC7, see www.unep-wcmc.org) but increasingly at the local level by community groups
trained by governmental and non governmental organisations. This involvement (like well
established rain gauge observational networks by interested amateurs, farmers, builders etc. in
developed countries) is seen as an essential step towards understanding the environment and
the adoption of more sustainable local practices, for example, in sewage treatment, fishing,
forestry and exploiting materials such as coral, sand and oil.
The statistics show that current levels of degradation cannot continue. In Kenya the area
covered by forest has decreased from 14% in the 1960's to less than 1% now (Mr Ali
Mohamed, Kenya). Guinea has lost 80% of its forest forever. These losses accelerate soil
erosion which in turn damages coastal ecology, leading to loss of many forests, feeding
grounds for fish and coral reefs.
Fish stocks are also being directly depleted by unregulated over fishing by boats from Europe
and East Africa on an industrial scale that the African artisan fisheries cannot match (Dr
Kwame Koranteng, Ghana). With growing populations along the coasts, more poverty, ill
health and starvation are an inevitable consequence unless the trends of environmental change
can be reversed.
Up to the present, such food shortages have been met by importing food from other parts of
the world. A sign of the shortage is that bush meat is now being sold in markets, where before
fish was plentiful. This has many wider environmental dangers from destruction of species to
damaging human health.
Coastal populations have always been at risk from natural disasters, but their impact is
growing with changes in the local and global environment and as vulnerability increases with
more housing and industry being concentrated into large coastal conurbations.
Flooding, as in Mozambique, can be exacerbated by the conjunction of high precipitation
inland and coastal flooding from the arrival of tropical cyclones for the warm water of the
Indian Ocean. The operation of inland hydroelectric dams for optimising electricity
generation is often not optimum for reducing flooding of coastal plains (Dr Antonio Hoguane,
Mozambique).
The long term environmental changes on a regional and global level were reviewed and
shown how they are likely to have particularly serious effects on African coastal zones. The
likely rise in temperature over the next 100 years over the surface of the globe will be, in
theory, 2-6oC, caused by the greenhouse gases largely from fossil fuels used for
industry/transportation/heating/ventilation and from forest burning. This process will not only
cause sea level rise of about 0.5 0.8m over the next century, but a similar rate of rise will
continue over the next 1000 years even with the likely decrease in greenhouse gas emissions
after 2100 as the global population begins to fall. Low lying islands and coastal areas will
inevitably be submerged. Other environmental dangers are the average reduction in rainfall
7 United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre
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and changes in its pattern, while at the same time the intensity of rainfall events increases. A
member of Kenya's parliament was recently drowned in an unusual flash flood. The increase
in atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing the acidity of the sea, where it erodes the coral
and damages other ecosystems. Local climate, desertification and related geophysical
processes are strongly affected by human activities; some trials have indicated that
reforestation either inland or with coastal mangrove plantations may well mitigate some of the
effects of environmental change (Dr David Griggs, Met Office; Prof John Lawton, NERC8;
Mr Rolph Payet, Seychelles). At the same time environmental changes in the Russian and
Canadian Arctic, where the permafrost is steadily retreating northwards, may lead to further
release of methane, a particularly damaging greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. This would
lead to even faster increase in global temperatures and sea level rise. Aerosols from industry,
transportation and forest burning may influence the atmospheric circulation patterns with
particular impact on the inter tropical convergence zone and West African rainfall. These long
range interactions are very complex. The British Prime Minister at Johannesburg in
committing himself to supporting environmental solutions, also commented that they do not
require `rocket science'. He was correct, but perhaps not quite in the way he meant.
Environmental scientists believe the problems are considerably more difficult!
Remedial Actions:
There are laudable international targets for the eradication of environmental blight, for
example, caused by sewage, water shortages, as was emphasised by the UK Minister, Lord
Evans. However, many of the papers, discussion contributions and video presentations
pointed out how positive, confident, self-funded and responsible approaches in Africa are
leading to sustainable practices and solutions to many of its environmental problems (Mr
Horst Kleinschmidt, South Africa). But of course it was recognised that many of the problems
also require global economic, as well as environmental, solutions which need to be taken by
all the countries of the world.
It is a managerial truism that the successful remedies to a problem require everyone involved
to understand and accept the nature of the problem first. This is why community based
monitoring and environmental education/consultation schemes are being introduced in many
African countries, for example, in the Niger Delta Environmental Survey there are growing
numbers of marine protected areas and marine reserves. There the fishing and other
exploitative practices are having to change with significant social and economic consequences
in the short term (Dr Jonathan Amakiri, NDES9). Marine protected areas (MPAs) have been
used for fisheries management for some time, but work has commenced on considering how
to implement a network of MPAs for habitat and species conservation. MPAs can be useful in
managing fisheries, but their utility is case specific, and models exist to aid prior evaluation of
any benefits (Dr Joe Horwood, CEFAS10). Detailed monitoring is necessary as the movement
of fishing boats using satellites and other technology. These techniques now current in
Europe, are beginning to be applied in African coastal waters; strong policing by the South
African Government (with large fines) has led commercial fisheries there to adhere to
government guidelines (Mr Horst Kleinschmidt, South Africa; Mr Rolph Payet, Seychelles).
This `hands-on' approach also needs to be supplemented by stronger national and
international legal frameworks and institutional commitments to protect national interests in
Africa (Prof Jacquie McGlade, European Environment Agency).
8 Natural Environment Research Council
9 Niger Delta Environmental Survey
10 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
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A combination of planning, technology and community/political involvement is essential for
improving the environment and livelihoods of the intensely populated delta areas and urban
conurbations along the coast. Although there have been several previous overall plans for
Accra, Ghana, they have been narrowly based and somewhat idealistic, western based urban
plans. The new holistic approach now being developed will ensure that new transportation,
sewage, water and building plans allow for the realities of the shanty towns on the outskirts
of cities and their huge commuting populations. Rubber tyre trams may be one way of
expanding public transport without adding to the already unhealthy levels of air pollution (Ms
Elsie Owusu, Elsie Owusu Architects).
Increasing reliance on the data and prediction provided by measurement and assessment
technology, computer systems and research is one of the main ways in which societies and
individuals throughout the world now plan for their future action and attempt to mitigate
adverse changes to their situation whether in health, economies or environment. For example,
seasonal climate forecasts over the past 20 years have greatly helped many countries and
individual farmers plan their planting and water management (Mr Andre Kamga
Foamouhoue, ACMAD11; Prof Howard Roe, SOC12). From the UNEP World Conservation
Monitoring Centre at Cambridge, the Global Ocean Observing System, to regional and
national centres (such as the African Centre for Meteorological Application for Development
in Niger) and to local community centres ever more measurement and collation of the data for
practical purposes are being performed (Dr Mark Collins, UNEP-WCMC; Dr Patricio Bernal,
IOC of UNESCO13, see www.ioc.unesco.org). The new techniques of Geographical
Information Systems and environmental modelling for global scale to local processes such as
fisheries, air pollution and coastal morphology are widely used with small computers,
standard software and excellent graphics. These should enable the data to be displayed
effectively to decision makers and local groups. The question raised at the conference was
whether those efforts are efficient, in particular, whether data is being shared and stored to
facilitate its easy access by interested groups in or out of government (Dr Ralph Rayner,
Fugro GEOS14). To the question of whether institutional information technology and
organisational capability is available in Africa, one possible answer might be to broaden the
areas of responsibility of existing regional centres for data and prediction in Africa, such as
those in agriculture, medicine and meteorology, who have considerable experience in
efficiently storing/disseminating/processing large quantities of data (in Europe progress in
data sharing and open data centres has also been painfully slow until recently!).
Social and Political Action:
Even when technical solutions or at least mitigation strategies have been developed, they are
of no use unless there is the social and political will to understand and implement and fund
them effectively. Following the lead given by the Rio Summit in 1992, sustainability has been
the key concept that has helped decide on appropriate technical approaches, and relate these to
the necessary social and economic measures to overcome environmental problems. Some
broad conclusions emerged about these issues in Africa. The first necessity is to convince
politicians and communities why decisions and action on environmental issues are essential
11 African Centre for Meteorological Application for Development
12 Southampton Oceanography Centre
13 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation
14 Fugro Global Environmental and Ocean Services
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for their well being, and therefore need to be an integral component of all planning and
funding policies i.e. `mainstreaming'(Mr Simon Maxwell, ODI15); a powerful example
where a community's economic and environmental interests diverge being Niger delta
communities who regularly puncture oil pipelines so as to get jobs for repairing them
afterwards (Dr Jonathan Amakiri, NDES). (Fishing communities were doing the same in
Europe until recently, breaking sewage pipes, `accidentally' to `feed' the fish and to get the
subsequent construction work).
Secondly, scientific and environmental education needs to be improved at all levels from
primary to the highest level of continental post graduate research. Complex environmental
monitoring and actions, that may well be revisited in the short term, can best be understood
when the community has some basic education and also if their leaders have more advanced
training. The experience from many countries is that small scale local ecological research
centres for example, those based in marine regions such as the WWF Kiunga Reserve, Kenya
provide an excellent focus for local community action and education, information to tourists
(whose capacity to do great damage to local ecology is increasing with technology) as well as
providing data and valuable advice to governments. From research in the Seychelles it was
concluded that the most sustainable strategy for preserving the marine ecology while
expanding the tourist economy was in fact to focus on high level value added tourism and
deliberately avoid the damage of more tourism (Mr Terry Jones, Seychelles). The Seychelles
marine research centre is the focal point for the Nairobi Convention for the Protection,
Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern African
Region, and for the newly instituted International Coral Reef Initiative. Other marine research
centres are, we learnt, developing strong programmes and working with governments in
Dakar, Ghana, Western Cape, Maputo and Dar Es Salaam. Research centres are also needed
for the study of environment and health. In response to a question about the number of cases
of malaria rising not only being dangerous to local populations but also inhibiting foreign
investment effort. Dr Kulundu, Minister for Environment, Kenya, responded that he would
like to encourage studies by African centres into the use of DDT and other equally effective
agents, that may have less environmental impact, which the meeting was informed, are now
on the market.
In Africa, as elsewhere, many of the ablest scientists want to study and undertake research on
the deepest questions of pure science. Two major centres are now being established in the
Cape at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and at Luxor, for Physical Sciences,
with world class academics participating and attracting the best students and researchers in
Africa. Stephen Hawkins will be lecturing on Cosmology over the next year! However, as
with its role model, the third world academy in Trieste, progressively more of these students
and faculties will be applying their mathematical and scientific ideas to problems of practical
importance a transition whose outcome is notoriously hard to predict, except that as other
areas of the world have found, important results can be expected once the best researchers are
encouraged to remain in their own country. The setting up of comparable north/south research
centres of excellence should be encouraged, wherever possible situated in Africa (Prof (Sir)
David King, Office of Science and Technology, UK).
The governmental and non-governmental network structure was the third aspect of the
political and social actions required for the sustainable development of African Coastal
Zones. This was the main theme of the addresses by the Hon Mr Fada Diagne of Senegal, Dr
15 Overseas Development Institute
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Kulundu of Kenya and Mr Jumeau of Seychelles and Lord Evans of Temple Guiting, UK.
The main point of the presentations of the African Ministers and also those of contributing
specialists (Mr Horst Kleinschmidt, South Africa; Dr Isabelle Niang Diop, Senegal; Dr
Fatimata Dia Toure, Senegal) was that NEPAD provided a new and inspiring `launch pad' for
a framework and a network for action at many levels to plan and implement projects for
environmental improvements linked to social and economic needs. Although there are to be
eight broad themes for NEPAD's environmental programme (combating desertification,
wetland conservation, invasive alien species, coastal management, global warming, cross-
border conservation areas, environmental governance and financing) it appears that most of
the project planning and choice of responsible countries has not yet been completed except for
coastal management, of which Kenya is the responsible country.
It was clearly stated that, to ensure success and support, the NEPAD initiative should also
involve those international and multinational organisations (UN agencies, private sector,
partner/donor countries) with expert knowledge and experience of coordinating the kind of
large projects and programmes envisaged for the various environmental themes. The EC has
programmes that could enable external experts to collaborate in African-European networks
that should help with many of the NEPAD projects (Dr Cornelia Nauen, EC16).
Civil society and non-governmental organisations can play a vital role both with local
community based initiatives and at a broader multi country level in bringing different sectors
of society together, for example, to frame objectives for community action as WWF is doing
and forming networks of professionals and to exchange best practice experience, data etc. (Dr
Melita Samoilys, IUCN17; Dr Amani Ngusaru, WWF18; Dr Isabelle Niang Diop, Senegal). A
generally agreed conclusion of the conference was that consideration be given to the setting
up of an African wide network (or community) for study and practical action on the coastal
zones involving all kinds of organisations (government, academic, NGO, local community
etc.). It would be natural that this be initiated by Kenya because of its NEPAD responsibility.
Based on the experience of other networks, it would need a small secretariat to receive modest
contributions from members, seek funds for particular studies, provide a newsletter, set up
special interest groups, and aim to produce guidelines, data and share best practices and
research results. It should collaborate closely with existing groups who have developed a
substantial presence. There should certainly not be any competition. Perhaps existing
specialist of regional groups could be affiliated to the broader proposed network or become a
special interest group.
Finally, in considering informally a future meeting, it was suggested that this be held under
the auspices of NEPAD in 1-2 years when the environmental projects are well established.
Acknowledgements:
The organising committee and co-chairs19 are very grateful to the sponsors of the meeting:
DEFRA, Fugro GEOS, Met Office, NERC, Shell, Trinity College Cambridge, UCL,
University of Plymouth and WWF. They also wish to acknowledge all the hard work of
Viktor Sebek, Beth Allen, Leisa Clemente and the very useful advice of Ali Mohamed,
16 European Commission
17 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources
18 World Wildlife Fund
19 Co-chairs: Dr Patricio Bernal, Dr Mark Collins, Mr Horst Kleinschmidt, Prof Jacquie McGlade, Mr Rolph
Payet & Dr Ralph Rayner.
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Isabelle Niang Diop, Terry Jones, Paula Caballero, Ed Green, Ed McManus, Chris Tompkins,
Jo Horwood and Howard Roe, all of which enabled this conference to be such a success.
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Annex 1
SPEECH BY LORD EVANS OF TEMPLE GUITING, GOVERNMENT WHIP AND
SPOKESPERSON FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, SCOTLAND
OFFICE, WALES OFFICE
I am delighted to take part in this conference today on coastal zones in sub-saharan Africa. It
continues the long and distinguished tradition of the Royal Society in bringing together
scientists and policy makers from around the world to work in partnership.
It also marks the continuing role of ACOPS in helping to shape the international oceans
agenda. ACOPS, whilst, an international organisation, is British based and set up 50 years
ago in the UK when there were no international NGOs working in this field.
I would like to thank them, and my colleague Lord Hunt in particular, and also extend a
personal welcome to Minister Fada Diagne from Senegal, Minister Jumeau from the
Seychelles and Minister Kulundu from Kenya.
It is important that we focus on the policies and approaches which can best achieve the
conference's prime aim of helping to promote sustainable livelihoods and poverty reduction
in Africa. This is an international priority for the UK Government.
It is reflected in the personal commitment of the Prime Minister, our support for NePAD
under the Africa Action Plan, and our multi-lateral and bilateral development assistance,
including through the GEF. It is also reflected in our support for UNEP and the International
Oceanographic Commission, both of whom I am delighted to see are playing a full role in
this conference.
It is also reflected in the outcome of the World Summit in Johannesburg last year. And, I
would like to congratulate you and others for your role in what was achieved, demonstrating
that marine and coastal issues are essential to the broader goals of the Summit poverty
elimination, food security, health, halting the decline of biodiversity in short in making
globalisation work for sustainable development.
Indeed, the Summit's Plan of Implementation sets out a package of targeted and challenging
international commitments. We now have a clear and urgent mandate:-
- to build sustainable fisheries and restore depleted stocks by 2015 where possible, including
through a concerted effort to eradicate illegal fishing
- to establish networks of marine and coastal areas by 2012 and apply the ecosystem
approach to marine management
- address sewage and other coastal pollutants through a prioritised implementation of the
Washington Global Programme of Action, and
- to improve oceans governance, including of particular interest to those here today, the
establishment of a new regular, global marine assessment, which will bring marine science to
bear more effectively on policy making.
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If we concentrate our efforts, and deliver on these commitments we have the opportunity to
achieve a step change in marine and coastal management over the next decade. So I would
like to end by outlining some of the ways of delivering on these commitments, and challenge
us all to start work straight away.
First, these marine and coastal priorities need to be mainstreamed into country driven
strategies and programmes, as well as those of multi-lateral bodies, bringing out their wider
sustainable development and poverty reduction benefits. This can help ensure that processes
such as NePAD remain Africa led.
On fisheries, a particular focus of the Africa Process, we need to re-orientate regional and
international fisheries to sustainable development. Developed countries must show leadership
in this, and our Department for International Development are showing the way through their
support for West African fishing communities through FAO.
We also need to end damaging subsidies which export over-capacity and over-fishing to the
high seas and the waters of developing countries. These are issues we have been pressing in
the EU, and EU subsidies for joint enterprises are to end by 2005.
We also hope to see the adoption of a new distant water fisheries strategy, which would focus
on sustainable fisheries agreements and capacity building with developing countries, and a
new model approach to eradicating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
We also need integrated approaches to bed in key sectors, including fisheries, into wider
marine sustainability, notably through the adoption of tools such as the ecosystem approach
and marine protected areas. The UK is committed to working with our neighbours to
establish a network of marine protected areas in the North Sea by 2010, and we will be
promoting this approach through the Convention on Biological Diversity, regional seas
organisations and other fora.
And, we need partnerships to help drive implementation of international and regional
agreements, bringing governments, multi-lateral bodies, NGOs, the private sector, and indeed
the scientific community together around shared objectives and programmes. The UK is
promoting a twinning arrangement between our own regional seas convention for the North
East Atlantic (OSPAR) and the Abidjan Convention for West and Central Africa.
Rejuvenating the sub-saharan regional seas conventions is also an objective of the Africa
Process.
Finally, I would like to draw attention to a new partnership we are entering into with the
Government of Seychelles in co-hosting the Secretariat of the International Coral Reef
Initiative. I am delighted, therefore, that Minister Jumeau is here today, and indeed the Head
of UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Centre, who are to help us and the Seychelles in
this work. We see this as an important opportunity to engage African countries in conserving
coral reefs to promote sustainable livelihoods, linking in with fisheries, marine protected
areas, sustainable tourism and improved marine science, many of the key themes which are
being discussed at this conference.
Thank you
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Annex 2
THE UNITED KINGDOM PARLIAMENT
HOUSE OF LORDS
WEDNESDAY 21ST MAY 2003
DEVELOPMENT OF AFRICAN COUNTRIES
Lord Hunt of Chesterton: My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Lea on arranging
this debate on NePAD, which potentially provides a new start for Africa and for improved
relations between Africa and the rest of the world. I declare an interest as chairman of
ACOPS, an international non-governmental organisation set up by my noble friend Lord
Callaghan to promote sustainable development worldwide, especially in marine and coastal
areas.
I shall focus my remarks on environmental issues and how they are being tackled by NePAD
and other, supporting initiatives. There is no doubt that environmental issues are of central
concern for individual Africans suffering from lack of clean water, depleted fish stocks and
desertification, to mention only a few. Those issues are included as one of the five groups of
themes--the others in the group being infrastructure, IT and energy--where new initatives
are to be developed under NePAD. The other groups are focused on economic, political and
commercial issues.
While the UK Government are, rightly, focusing on urgent political and administrative issues,
they are apparently not including those environmental issues in their work with NePAD, at
least according to the DfID/FCO document of November 2002. That is perhaps surprising, as
the Prime Minister in his visit to Africa in August 2000 and in the conclusions of the World
Summit on Sustainable Development, emphasised environmental issues. However, some
government departments and agencies are certainly working with African partners on
environmental and sustainability projects, inside and outside the framework of NePAD, as I
shall mention.
One key area for the African environment and for providing sustainable livelihoods is the
coastal zones on and offshore. That was identified in the collaborative project called the
African Process, involving many African and partner countries, which culminated in an
agreed set of priorities and practical projects at a meeting of African heads of state at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development. I witnessed the energy and intelligence of many
African environmental experts, Ministers and officials last year at Abuja as we prepared for
that world summit, with the support of President Obasanjo, whose important role in Africa
was mentioned by my noble friend Lord Desai.
Those proposals are now being considered for practical action in the framework of NePAD.
The responsibility and the secretariat for the overall co-ordination of environmental issues in
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NePAD, belongs to the Government of Senegal, under the leadership of President Wade and
their environment Minister, the honourable Mr Diagne Fada. President Wade last year
presented those issues at the G8 meeting in Canada. Other countries are given specific tasks
within the specific areas of the environment programme. In the case of coastal zones, the lead
is taken by the Kenyan environment Minister.
The emergence of such a structure, which I have described in a little detail, for doing business
is clearly a great step forward. But it appears that the diplomacy involved has been quite
stressful, as we have seen in the European Union when smaller countries are leading the
activities of larger countries. As the new approach shakes down, agreements at high levels of
government must be accepted at the working level, as other noble Lords have mentioned. The
establishment of those structures should also enable partner countries, international
organisations and individuals to work more effectively with Africa on those issues.
It is encouraging that some major donor countries, including Japan, I believe, are providing
substantial funds for the NePAD infrastructure. Similarly, officials in international and UN
agencies, with their important conventions, such as the Abidjan and Nairobi conventions
regarding coastal areas, must also work with the new arrangements. That will require some
adjustment as, or we hope, they will in future be able to support the designated NePAD lead.
Also, the NePAD structure should help non-governmental organisations and the private sector
to work more effectively and transparently with African countries' civil society in future.
To illustrate that, next week, a unique conference is being held at the Natural History
Museum and the Royal Society here in London to help to support the NePAD initiative on the
environment and sustainability of coastal zones in sub-Saharan Africa. Twenty-five
specialists and government representatives from about 10 African countries will meet about
50 UK, European and international specialists and officials. My noble friend Lord Evans of
Temple Guiting will be representing Her Majesty's Government. Addresses by the
Government's chief scientist and the Foreign Secretary at the Royal Society also show the
strong commitment of the scientific community to follow up commitments made by
governments at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
As I have already mentioned, there are other UK agencies, such as the Met Office, DEFRA,
NERC and DfID, all of which recognise the vital interest to the whole world of the
environment in Africa. At a somewhat more local level, I was delighted to hear of a splendid
initiative undertaken by the World Wildlife Fund and Kiunga Marine National Reserve on the
Kenyan coast, which even provides jobs for women--recycling flip-flops into delightful
ornaments. These flip-flops wash up in enormous quantities on the coasts of Africa.
I join with other noble Lords in congratulating my noble friend the Secretary of State on her
new appointment. I look forward to hearing from her as regards how she will be directing the
excellent capabilities of her department towards the solution of critical environmental and
sustainability problems in Africa. As my noble friend Lord Judd might have shouted out,
these are moral imperatives.
Finally--I hope that I do not break the rules here--I thought that noble Lords might be
interested to hear about the strong support for NePAD from a senior official in Senegal who,
this morning, sent an e-mail, which read:
"Le NePAD doit être connu, diffusé et compris par tous les partenaires de l'Afrique"--
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NePAD must be known about, publicised and understood by all the partners of Africa.
The Secretary of State for International Development (Baroness Amos): My Lords, I
congratulate my noble friend Lord Lea of Crondall on securing a debate on this important
issue, and on his work with the All-Party Group on Africa, at whose inaugural meeting I had
the pleasure of speaking earlier this year. I also thank my noble friend for his work in seeking
to build relationships between French and British parliamentarians. I thank noble Lords for
their very positive remarks about my work and my role. In particular, I agree with the noble
Baroness, Lady Chalker, that we share the same objectives. I hope that the House will not
mind if I thank the noble Baroness in particular for her very warm words and support.
A debate on NePAD and mutual accountability is timely in the run-up to the G8 Summit at
Evian, where G8 leaders will receive a report on implementation of the G8 Africa Action
Plan. Our debate focused on four main areas: why NePAD is important, the response of the
G8 to NePAD, areas of particular concern highlighted by noble Lords, and the key challenges
that remain.
NePAD matters for Africa's development. The challenges faced by Africa are widely known,
and the noble Lord, Lord Rogan, mentioned them. At present, one fifth of the world's poorest
people live there, and on current trends that will rise to a half by 2015. Without major changes
in how Africa does business and how we do business with Africa, it will become even further
marginalised. NePAD matters because it is an African response to its own development
problems. It is an African articulation of African priorities. It sets out a set of principles for
the economic, social and political development of the continent and is, therefore, a major step
towards achieving sustainable development in Africa and managing its reintegration into the
global economy. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord St John of Bletso, that this represents a
step change in the way that African leaders think about their continent.
NePAD identifies the priorities to be pursued by African governments. Africa needs to create
an enabling environment to stop capital flight--and skills flight, as my noble friend Lady
Warwick of Undercliffe, noted--and to secure investment. To do so, it needs to put an end to
conflicts that blight the lives of its people. It needs to put in place sound economic policies to
address corruption, improve the quality of governance and tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS. I
shall return to that point.
Without such action, the millennium development goals will not be achieved. Without
change, there will be little domestic or foreign investment in Africa, resulting in continued
low growth or stagnation. Furthermore, the noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, was right to point
out that the diversity that exists in Africa is not recognised by business when thinking about
investment in Africa.
NePAD acknowledges these problems. African leaders have said that they are going to take
responsibility and that they are willing to be judged by their peers and citizens. Principles for
economic, corporate and political governance have been set out, and 12 heads of state have
already signed up to them. The first peer reviews will begin later this year. However, we must
recognise that these are early days and that the peer review mechanism is a long-term agenda
for raising standards of governance. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, asked a series of
questions about the nature of the peer review process, while the noble Lord, Lord Rogan,
along with other noble Lords, was critical of the fact that, so far, only 12 countries have
signed up to the principles.
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It is important to be realistic. It is my view that good progress has been made. Only in July
last year did the African Union adopt NePAD. Our own OECD-DAC peer review process,
although set up some 40 years ago, is still being refined. That demonstrates the complexity of
the exercise when countries judge each other through a peer review mechanism. Building on
the notion of mutual accountability, the African peer review mechanism will examine African
commitments to political, corporate and economic governance in a specific country. It is a
voluntary process to monitor and raise governance standards in Africa. It has almost been
finalised, but has not yet been launched. Work in progress includes setting up a panel of
eminent persons, finalising technical work on developing agreed definitions of mutual
accountability and selecting an institution to undertake the reviews of corporate governance.
All this will be done at the NePAD Heads of State Implementation Committee meeting to be
held at the end of May.
I take the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, about the need for an inclusive
process; he spoke about the importance of including NGOs in this. I hope that that will
develop over time. With respect to the political aspects of peer review, I understand that, for
the time being, NePAD will draw on experts selected on an individual basis until the
institutions of the African Union take on this role. It is likely that economic governance
reviews will be undertaken by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Economic governance reviews are likely to begin earlier than the political reviews. UNECA
has said that it believes that two or three reviews will be completed by the end of the year. I
think that that is a very ambitious timetable, but it is what the organisation has said. I can also
assure the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, that the NePAD secretariat has been in discussion and
consultation with the OECD about the peer review process. It is intended that the NePAD
secretariat will eventually go into the African Union once restructuring of the union has been
completed.
As regards mutual accountability, the UNECA paper recommends that donors should be
reviewed on policy coherence, medium-term aid flow, donor practices and capacity building.
The African side should be reviewed on peace, security and political governance, economic
and corporate governance, and human development.
If Africa is to make progress, donors as well as African governments must work together to
improve performance. That means increasing the volume of aid, improving the quality and
ensuring coherence in other policies such as trade, as well as working to attract investment.
The noble Baroness, Lady Chalker, was correct to remark that the right kind of framework
needs to be put in place to attract investment and create employment. Africa's development
will come from economic growth.
The last G8 summit announced its Africa Action Plan, which includes a commitment to
ensure that half or more of the new development funds announced last year in Monterrey will
be used in African countries to create the right policy environment. The plan also listed the
responses to be made to NePAD by G8 countries, including those on conflict, trade, health,
education, water and aid effectiveness. My noble friend Lady Warwick asked for a checklist
against which we can judge progress. The G8 will report concrete indicators of progress at the
summit in June. A number of countries will produce country progress reports at Evian so that
the public will be able to judge our performance. But we should be clear that this year's
summit, although it is a key milestone, is not an end in itself. We and our G8 partners will
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continue to work on implementation of the action plan through our bilateral programmes and
our multi-lateral engagements beyond Evian. We have performed a key role in maintaining
high-level political interest. We need to build on that momentum, including through our
increased development assistance to Africa.
I turn now to peace and security issues. We want to highlight the commitment to a co-
ordinated effort to bring the peace process in Africa to a rapid conclusion, and to make a
longer-term commitment to post-conflict reconstruction. Concrete progress has been made
towards building peace in Sudan--which is a particular interest of the noble Lord, Lord
Alton--in Burundi and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We need ensure that final
important steps are taken in those peace processes, as well as to intensify efforts to plan for
peace and ensure that reconstruction efforts are successful. We also need to consolidate peace
elsewhere, including in Angola, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Eritrea.
A number of noble Lords, including the noble Lord, Lord Alton, the noble Earl, Lord
Sandwich, and the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, raised the problem of the DRC. I should
remind the House that the DRC is the size of western Europe and that there is no
infrastructure. I acknowledge that there are weaknesses in MONUC. International partners
have been working together much more closely. Those partners include South Africa, France,
Belgium, ourselves and African countries neighbouring the conflict area.
Noble Lords will have been concerned about the recent upsurge in violence in the east of the
country despite the signing-off of the peace process in South Africa and moves to put in place
a transitional administration. The upsurge in violence was discussed last week in the Security
Council and urgent consideration is now being given to the possibility of creating an
international force to complement the work of MONUC and try to stop this violence as soon
as possible.
I cannot agree with the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, that there have been no African initiatives
in the DRC. South Africa has played a critical role in securing the peace. The noble Earl
mentioned the important role played by Sir Ketumile Masire, while my predecessor, Clare
Short, facilitated talks between Rwanda and Uganda.
It is also important to mention our work to build African capacity in conflict management. A
plan has been produced and will be put to leaders at the Evian summit to be held at the
beginning of June. I should also like to say something about small arms and light weapons--
an issue raised by the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, and the noble Baroness, Lady Northover.
The United Kingdom has pledged over £20 million to combat small arms problems, including
a regional programme for east Africa, the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa. We also
have national plans in Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.
My noble friend Lord Lea asked for more information about the multi-donor-funded
public/private infrastructure facility. The facility advises governments on improving the
enabling environment for private sector participation. The Emerging Africa Infrastructure
Fund, launched in 2002, recently made its first investment in a pan-African
telecommunications company. The noble Viscount, Lord Goschen, was quite right to point
out that, while we cannot make business invest in Africa, we can work with the governments
of developing countries to put in place the right enabling framework.
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I mentioned earlier the money committed by the international community at Monterrey. I
agree with my noble friend Lord Judd that we need to ensure that that money is delivered, as
well as ensuring that the aid is targeted and distributed in such a way that it can produce the
most positive results.
On health, since 1988 the United Kingdom has contributed over 354 million dollars towards
the eradication of polio, including an additional 25 million dollars at Kananaskis last year. I
assure my noble friend Lord Judd that we have worked with others to encourage pledges to
close the critical funding gap. We have increased our assistance for basic education.
With regard to the global health fund, my noble friend will be aware that, for 2004, the United
States has pledged an additional 1 billion dollars, which is conditional on the US contribution
to the fund not being more than 33 per cent. It is an incentive for other donors to make
contributions. The United States has also made a commitment of an additional 15 billion
dollars for HIV/AIDS. The noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool, spoke movingly about the
situation of AIDS orphans. We provide substantial support to UNICEF, which is helping to
tackle the problem of HIV/AIDS orphans. We also have partnership agreements with several
international development NGOs.
I am happy to write to noble Lords with more information about what we are doing with
respect to health and HIV/AIDS, as there are several other issues that I would like to cover in
the time available. We are proposing to the G8 that we demonstrate the success of the access
to medicines framework for public/private partnership in Ghana and Rwanda initially. We
hope that that will lever further international commitments onto the agenda.
The replenishment of the HIPC trust fund has now been agreed. The UK has made a further
bilateral pledge of 95 million dollars, bringing our total pledges so far to over 400 million
dollars, in addition to our share of any further EC pledge. Donors have pledged an additional
850 million dollars to the HIPC trust fund, to cover the costs of debt relief for multilateral
creditors that do not have sufficient resources to pay for HIPC debt relief.
The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, referred to the extractive industries transparency initiative. It
seeks to create transparency in payments and revenues in the extractive industries--oil, gas
and mining--in countries heavily dependent on those sectors. We hope that, at the G8
summit, we will get endorsement of action to take forward the initiative as part of a broader
action plan on transparency and corruption, which is one of the priorities that the French have
set.
I turn to some of the challenges that remain. Some noble Lords questioned whether we should
support NePAD, when it has taken no decisive action over Zimbabwe. The noble Lord, Lord
Blaker, is right: the situation in Zimbabwe is dire. I hope that the initiative taken by Presidents
Muluzi, Mbeki and Obasanjo results in some positive changes in Zimbabwe. However,
NePAD is not an organisation, person or entity. It is a framework that prioritises key
development issues for Africa and is bought into by African governments.
The noble Viscount, Lord Goschen, referred to my previous statement that Zimbabwe was not
a test case for NePAD. The success or failure of NePAD cannot be judged on the issue of
Zimbabwe alone. As I said, the peer review process was endorsed by the African Union only
in July last year. We would blight an entire continent if we were to judge it on the basis of
what happens in one country. I cannot agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Rawlings, that
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nothing has been done to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe. The British
Government feed 1,500,000 Zimbabweans a day, and we are the second largest humanitarian
donor after the United States.
Trade was mentioned by the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, my noble friend Lord Desai and the
noble Baronesses, Lady Northover and Lady Rawlings. We know that Africa's full integration
into the international trading system would have a hugely beneficial impact on Africa's
development. Africa has 12 per cent of the world's population but only 2 per cent of the trade.
The summit comes at a critical time in the trade round. It will be important to demonstrate
some concrete progress on the commitments made in the Africa action plan on trade.
We have made progress on improved trade-related capacity building, on support for regional
economic integration and on improving the preference schemes accessible to African
countries. Huge challenges remain, and we will continue to try to get agreement in the run-up
to Cancun.
Humanitarian crises are a third major challenge. I was encouraged by the response of the
international community to meeting recent humanitarian needs in southern Africa, Ethiopia
and Eritrea. The UK played a major role in that. However, the role of the international
community must go further than supplying food aid. We must support Africa in addressing
the underlying causes of food insecurity, which include poverty, ill health, poor governance
and conflict.
The noble Baroness, Lady Chalker of Wallasey, touched on the importance of regional co-
operation, working in partnership and actively involving the people. That was also mentioned
by the noble Lord, Lord Rogan, the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, and the noble Baroness, Lady
Rawlings. Noble Lords will be pleased that the Department for International Development has
funded an NGO in South Africa to communicate NePAD ideas and principles to NGOs in
South Africa, as part of the process of communicating ideas.
My noble friend Lord Hunt of Chesterton raised the issue of the environment. Environmental
issues are part of sustainable development and part of our fight against poverty. We are
engaged through international processes and through our commitments under the G8 Africa
Action Plan, focusing on water and agriculture. I was also asked about agriculture, and the
noble Viscount, Lord Goschen, asked about capacity building. If noble Lords will allow me, I
will write on those matters, given the time.
In conclusion, I reiterate our support for NePAD, because of its African ownership, because
of mutual accountability and because of the importance of performance measurement. I assure
noble Lords that no resources have been diverted from Africa to Iraq, and I assure the noble
Baroness, Lady Northover, that there is a commitment to talking about Africa at the Evian
summit. President Chirac has made that clear. I also assure noble Lords that we are seeking
international support for the international financing facility, which would mean a doubling of
development assistance and would mean that we could achieve the millennium development
goals.
The UK Government will continue to support NePAD and Africa. We will continue to work
with others for further progress towards the achievement of the millennium development
goals.
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Annex 3
Statement of GLOBE International President
The Honorable James Greenwood
US House of Representatives
to the
Meeting on Coastal Zones in Sub-Saharan Africa
London, 27-28 May 2003
I would like to send my warmest greetings to the participants of the Meeting on Coastal Zones
in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is being organized by ACOPS, UNESCO, and the UNEP. I
hope and expect that the meeting will be a success through the excellent agenda that has been
organized to discuss in depth the challenges that face African coastal zones by some of the
world's foremost experts. I look forward to seeing the synopsis of the meeting and
disseminating the results to GLOBE members who share my interest and concern for Sub-
Saharan Africa's coastal resources.
GLOBE International, an association of over one thousand national legislators from over one
hundred countries worldwide, is recognizing the importance of Africa and its environment by
working aggressively to expand its network of legislators in Western Africa and continuing to
build on the efforts of GLOBE Southern Africa to be a resource for all African legislators on
the most pressing environmental issues. GLOBE was very active at the WSSD, has had a long
partnership with ACOPS to highlight the importance of the African Process, and we are
working around the world to highlight the impact of land-use policy on marine environments.
It is an important accomplishment for Environment to be a prominent goal of the New
Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) with the President of Senegal being charged
by the other Heads of State to coordinate environment and science for the NEPAD initiative.
The establishment of an environment secretariat in Senegal is an important step to ensuring
the central consideration of environmental policy in NEPAD. GLOBE hopes to work closely
with the Government of Senegal and its legislators to help make the secretariat an effective
instrument under NEPAD.
NEPAD's central focus, to eradicate poverty in Africa, is the most important goal for the
conservation of Africa's environment including especially, for the conservation of Africa's
coastal resources. We stand ready to work with you to show the important linkages between
poverty alleviation and the environment and the important role that legislators can play.
I congratulate ACOPS on its initiative to organize this important forum. I would like to thank
the ACOPS Chairman, Lord Hunt, who is an active member of GLOBE, for his leadership of
ACOPS and for being a champion of marine environments everywhere. ACOPS has gathered
an impressive list of partners for this meeting, which will help make it a success.
I look forward to hearing the results of this meeting and I hope that new, practical methods for
improving the condition of Africa's coastal environment are developed so that the condition
of Africa's most populous areas can become more prosperous, peaceful and a better
environment for communities as well as nature.
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Document Outline