1

Eight Annual Regional Consultation Meeting (RCM) of the UN Agencies and Organizations in

Support of AU and NEPAD

5-6 October 2007UNCC, Addis Ababa

Cluster Report: Environment, Population and Urbanization

Presented by Mr. Strike Mkandla (UNEP)

2

A Mixed Legacy

- The Good

- The Bad

- The Ugly

• Fantastic cooperation on projects and joint initiatives • Rudimentary cluster coordination structure • No agreed programme of action in spite of

demonstrated synergies and complementarities

3

Cluster Coordination/Cohesion

• UN-HABITAT was designated Convener but there was no elaborate structure to support that role among members

• The Convener has consequently shouldered coordination as well as reporting

• There also has been no Deputy Convener, whereas there could be that and a separate function of Secretariat

• The participation of AU/NEPAD-Secretariat has not been institutionalized

• No sub-clusters created but lead roles allocated to cluster members: UNFPA & IOM (Population); UN-HABITAT (Housing and Urbanization); and UNEP (Environment)

4

Cluster Meetings(1)

• Cluster members had a number of meetings, using the attendance of members in some events

- On 5th April 2006 during the Special African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD), Nairobi, 3-4 April 2006

- On 17 April 2006 during the 21st session of UN-HABITAT Governing Council, Nairobi

5

Cluster Meetings(2)

• There has been no formal and dedicated cluster meeting although permutations of members have met and discussed common issues

• On specific projects (examples are in the activity report) members have met and agreed collaborative ventures and implemented them successfully

• Contact with AU and NEPAD-Secretariat has been on projects and programmes and not on general cluster coordination and strategy

6

Activities Activities reported here are examples of collaboration but do

not include all activities carried out by groups of membersPOPULATION• This component is inadequately utilized in spite of demonstrated

potential and cross-cutting nature Examples of work in this area: Publication of “2007 State of World Population: Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth”. This UNFPA global report had input

from cluster members at the global level and analyzes trends and their implications for some of the sector activities (housing, environment, population health etc.)

UNECA produced a report on “International Migration and development: Implications for Africa” in collaboration with IOM, UNEP, UNFPA Country Support Team, population division of the Department of Economic and social Affairs (DESA) in September 2006

7

Activities

HOUSING AND URBANIZATION Examples of interagency work: Under UN-HABITAT leadership, cluster members provided support to

the AU in the convening of the African Minister’s Council on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD)

UNEP Global Environmental Facility with UN-HABITAT developed a regional climate change and adaptation project for seven African states to reduce the impact of climate change on their urban coastal zones

UN-HABITAT and partners have finalized Phase I of the NEPAD Cities Programme

UN-HABITAT and UNEP have collaborated towards the Kigali Industrial Environmental Management framework (KIEM) in the Gikondo Valley, Rwanda, to provide the government with a framework for environmental protection

8

Activities

ENVIRONMENT Examples of interagency achievements: UNECA, UNEP, FAO and WMO, among others provided support to the AU

Commission's Department for Rural Economy and Agriculture's preparation for the Climate Change Theme in the AU January 2007 Summit

UNEP, FAO, UNCCD participated in a workshop convened by the AUC to draft

framework for the implementation of the "Green Wall for the Sahara Initiative" (GWSI) in September 2007

UNEP, CLEAA, UNECA, IUCN EARO and partners organized an African Experts Workshop on effectiveness of Environmental Impact Assessment Systems

AU/UNEP/UNECA collaborated in convening experts to develop an Eco-labeling Scheme for Africa

UNEP, UNECA & UNSD organized a workshop on Environmental Statistics aimed at advancing implementation of the Africa Environment Information Network (AEIN)

9

Strengths

• Cluster members can capitalize on pre-RCM experience of working jointly to benefit from the additional coordination and collective vision offered by the new framework

• Some cluster members have a high-level representation on the continent which they can call upon for closer coordination in the execution of their African mandates (UN-HABITAT, UNEP and UNECA have USGs in Africa

10

Challenges

o Creating a viable cluster coordination mechanism

o Committing partner organizations to provide staff time and resources for inter-agency collaboration at the continental level

o Agreeing on a long-term set of topics and issues to be included in their respective programmes of work for synchronized implementation

o Financing agreed priorities or requests from African governments where the resources are not already programmed

o A need for evaluating the impact and efficacy of joint interventions

o Ingraining the habits of collaboration and elimination of unproductive competition, to make collaboration the first option and to build on comparative advantage, synergies and cost-effectiveness

o Supplementing and building the capacity of AU and NEPAD counterparts

11

The Way Forward1. Current and forthcoming opportunities for collaborationi. Chief Executives of UNEP and UNECA agreed in July 2007 to cooperate on a number of

environmental issues. There is scope for participation by other cluster members in all threeii. UN-HABITAT with input from UNEP and UNECA will publish a report entitled : “The State of

African Cities”; cluster members should deliver on their commitments to contribute to the report

iii. AU will work with UNEP and other cluster members to build capacity in compliance and enforcement of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) in Africa with funding from the EU

iv. AU is pressing for implementation of regional environmental agreementsv. Earlier volumes of the African Environmental Outlook (AEO), a UNEP coordinated AMCEN

publication, contained contributions from UNECA and UN-HABITAT but other cluster members should ensure that their specialties also inform the content

vi. A wide range of UN organizations working on remote sensing are potential partners in the AU’s upcoming African Monitoring of the Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD) venture with the European Space Agency

vii. African negotiators were training in Abuja on 29-31 October 2007, in preparation for the Bali round of meetings on climate change; the cluster may wish to reflect on this process and how to participate collectively

12

The Way Forward

2. Responding to emerging issues

i. Information exchange on a regular basis

ii. High-level cooperation on engagement with AU and NEPAD-Secretariat

iii. Coordinated response to request from AU and NEPAD Secretariat needed on all major development and implementation of the 10-Year Capacity Building Plan

13

THANK YOU