By Winnie Kamau
As the World is about to celebrate Four days of the Day of African Environment and Wangari Maathai Day in Niamey, Niger, we are cognizant to the fact that Environmental management in Africa continues to be challenged by numerous constraints including population growth, economic and industrial development needs.
The levels of environmental pollution and degradation are on the rise as cities and
infrastructural expansion to ease transportation. Natural resources; land, forest,
water, and biodiversity bear the brunt of the degradation and pollution. These have
seriously and disproportionately affected the advancement of women in particular.
Africa Environment Day was designated in 2002 by the then Organization of the African
Unity Council of Ministers in their meeting in Durban, South Africa, based on the
recognition of the numerous environmental challenges confronting the African continent,
which over the years have been further aggravated by loss of biological diversity,
climate change, desertification and increased pollution and disposal of waste chemicals.
In January 2012, the African Union adopted a decision calling for the joint celebrations
of the African environment and Wangari Maathai Day. The celebrations of the
Wangari Maathai Day is in recognition of the work and life of the late Nobel Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai who dedicated her life to promoting environmental conservation and
sustainable development in Africa.
The 4 Days will draw attention to the enormous opportunity that Africa has in the
sustainable management of its natural resources including forest resources like Gum
Arabic and other commercial tree species. These are of a particular importance for
women empowerment. The values of these products could be enhanced through
improved marketing, standard setting and value addition. The international standard
setting bodies in attendance, notably the FAO will champion capacity building needs of
women on meeting Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards.
The purpose of the celebration is to raise awareness of sustainable environmental
management among all stakeholders at national, regional and continental levels. It also
aims to highlight the plights certain vulnerable group including women and minority
groups with regards to access to and ownership over natural resources in order to
promote sustainable management of the resources.
To promote the nexus between gender and sustainable environmental management, a
new dimension has been added to the celebrations. For the past three years, the
commemoration of the Africa Environment and Wangari Mathaai Day have been
preceded by a two-day Women and Environment Forum.
The objective of this forum is to raise awareness on strengthening women access to land and other natural resources to enhance their empowerment, increase agricultural productivity and sustainable management of natural resources. Women leaders in the various field are invited to make presentations on critical issues affecting women. Recommendations at the end of the Forum are shared with the AUC Gender Directorate and relevant agencies for policy considerations.
On the 4th day there will be a Ministerial Forum on Environment and Natural Resources, the African Union Commission (AUC), the Government of the Republic of Niger, NEPAD and the World Bank (WB) organized to examine the status of African regional land restoration initiatives including the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI) and the Fouta Djallon Highlands Programme and their synergies with the Africa Agenda 2063, the Sustainable Development Goals and other global and regional commitments in the domain of environment.
