Africa
ECA SRO-EA held its 19th session of the Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) on 2–5 March 2015, in Antananarivo, Madagascar, on the theme “Harnessing the Blue Economy for the development of Eastern Africa.” The meeting urged States in Africa to mainstream the Blue Economy into their national and regional development plans, where applicable
Over the past 50 years (1963-2013) Africa focused her collective on the decolonization, the struggle against apartheid and attainment of political independence for the continent.
Fifty years after the first thirty-three (33) independent African states gathered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to form the Organization of African Union, now the African Union, the continent is looking ahead towards the next fifty years.
This month, the NAPA began our saga on the governance of protected areas in Africa. This issue quickly draws the overall context and future editions will be dedicated to the specific aspects of the different governance models namely: the private sector, and then governance by both the State and communities.
The Swedish support to Africa through the UNEP Africa Marine and Coastal Programme was instrumental in a number of ways in catalysing national action at both the Nairobi Convention and Abidjan Convention countries.
The objectives of the Agreement were:
The present Issues Paper aims at analysing how African countries can utilize the opportunities in the Blue Economy to bolster sustainable development and socioeconomic transformation. Agenda 2063 of the African Union declares the Blue Economy to be “Africa’s future” and recognizes the key role that the ocean plays as a catalyst for socioeconomic transformation. The paper examines the opportunities and challenges to developing the Blue Economy in Africa.
Broad-scale overharvesting of fish is one of the major drivers of marine biodiversity loss and poverty, particularly in countries with high dependence on coral reefs. Given the heterogeneity of fishing effort and management success, and the scarcity of management resources, it is necessary to identify broad-scale locations for promoting successful fisheries management and conservation.
Africa’s inland waters, oceans and seas are under pressure. Over the years, traditional maritime activities, such as shipping or fisheries have intensified, while new ones, such as aquaculture or offshore renewable energy, emerged. However, the rise in intensity of activities at sea is taking place against the backdrop of insecurity, various forms of illegal trafficking, degradation of the marine environment, falling biodiversity and aggravated effects of climate change.
The accurate quantification of the three-dimensional (3-D) structure of mangrove forests is of great importance, particularly in Africa where deforestation rates are high and the lack of background data is a major problem. The objectives of this study are to estimate (1) the total area, (2) canopy height distributions, and (3) above-ground biomass (AGB) of mangrove forests in Africa.
