Regional Consultative Meeting of the UNEP Major Groups and Stakeholders, Africa Ahead of the 10th Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)
Date: 1-2 September 2024
Venue: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
10th Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN)
Theme : Reclaiming Africa’s lands: innovative pathways to reducing land degradation, desertification, and drought
The tenth special session of the Africa Ministerial Conference on Environment was held on 1-5 September 2024 in Abidjan, Côte D’Ivoire, with a focus on land degradation, desertification, and drought, under the theme “Reclaiming Africa’s lands: innovative pathways to reducing land degradation, desertification, and drought.”
The special session discussed innovative actions to consolidate the momentum around land degradation, desertification, and drought as a key challenge that further compounded the achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals and Africa’s 2063 Agenda. The session articulated a strong position on land degradation, desertification, and drought and adopted decisions to accelerate and scale up the implementation of land degradation actions and solutions, building on key regional and global initiatives. It explored multifaceted approaches needed to sustain the momentum around conserving existing ecosystems, turning degraded landscapes into thriving ecosystems, securing livelihoods, and building a more resilient future for generations to come.
To generate support and elevate the momentum around these issues, the outcomes of the special session were also presented at several global fora, including the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (2-13 December 2024), the Summit for the Future (22-23 September 2024), the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (21 October–1 November 2024), and the twenty-ninth session of the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (11-22 November 2024).
In keeping with tradition and to create adequate, organized space for African non-state actors on the environment to represent the voices of their communities and contribute to the African environmental agenda, the Major Groups and Stakeholders of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Africa, held their Regional Consultative Meeting (RCM) on 1-2 September 2024 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, and actively engaged in the 10th Special Session of AMCEN.
The 2024 Regional Consultative Meeting, Africa
Purpose
The 2024 Regional Consultative Meeting (RCM), Africa sought to provide an in-person and virtual dialogic and expert platform for UNEP Major Groups and Stakeholders, Africa, and other actors on the environment during a two-day meeting to prepare inputs for the 10th Special Session of AMCEN.
