African Ministers of Environment have taken a leadership role towards harnessing
the knowledge and understanding of the region's environmental resources
for the formulation of appropriate socio-economic policies necessary to
achieve and sustain development in Africa. At the 8th Session of the African
Ministers Conference on Environment (AMCEN), in April 2000, the Ministers
decided that an Africa Environment Outlook (AEO) Report should be prepared
to provide a comprehensive scientific assessment of the environment, policies,
and environmental management programmes.
This decision was affirmed at the AMCEN Inter-sessional Committee, which
met in Malmo, Sweden in May 2000.
The first report, AEO-1, was launched during AMCEN’s 9th session
in Kampala in July 2002, where it was acknowledged as a flagship publication.
This report has continued to inspire dialogue in the region and has been
used as the primary background document in the preparation of the NEPAD
Environment Action Plan (NEPAD-EAP) – showing strong links between
environmental assessment and policy making. The 10th AMCEN session, in
June 2004, reaffirmed its endorsement of the AEO process as a valuable
monitoring and reporting tool for sustainable environmental management
and to provide a framework for national, sub-regional and regional integrated
environmental assessment and reporting in Africa.
During the 22nd session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial
Environment Forum, held in February 2003 in Nairobi, the AMCEN decision
AEO process was endorsed under decision GC 22/9, which recommended that
UNEP continue to support the process. In May 2003, UNEP’s Division
of Early Warning and Assessment (DEWA) launched the process of preparing
the second report, Africa Environment Outlook 2 – Our Environment,
Our Wealth (AEO-2).