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The African Union (AU) is the
principal organization for the promotion of socioeconomic
integration across the continent. It includes 53 African
countries as member states, while Morocco has special
status. The Heads of State and Government of the
Organization of African Unity called for its establishment
in the Sirte Declaration on 9 September 1999, as a means to
accelerate integration, so that Africa could play a
significant role in the global economy, and to address
shared social, economic and political problems. Its
objectives include: achieving greater unity and solidarity
between African countries and the peoples of Africa;
promoting and defending common African positions on issues;
encouraging international cooperation; establishing enabling
conditions for the continent to play its rightful role in
the global economy and in international negotiations;
promoting sustainable development and integration of African
economies; and advancing the continent’s development through
research in all fields, particularly science and technology
(S&T).Â
SIRTE DECLARATION:
The second Extraordinary Session of the AU Assembly, which
took place from 27-28 February 2004, in Sirte, Libya,
adopted the Sirte Declaration on the Challenges of
Implementing Integrated and Sustainable Development of
Agriculture and Water in Africa. In this Declaration, Heads
of State and Government agreed to:
promote the strengthening and establishment of centers of
excellence and/or networks on crops, animals, forestry,
fisheries, range management, water management,
desertification, drought, floods and environmental
management;
support AMCOW in its role of preparing plans and policies
related to water
resource management on the continent;
encourage bilateral agreements on
shared water resources and
Enjoin the Regional Economic
Communities to develop appropriate
regional protocols to
guide integrated
water resources management;
strengthen existing river and lake
water basins organizations
where they exist and establish new ones wherever
appropriate; and
adopt the
African Water Facility and acknowledge the African Water
Vision 2025 for a comprehensive integrated development of
the water sector.
AFRICAN REGIONAL STRATEGY FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION:
In 2003-4 the African Union and the NEPAD Secretariat,
assisted by other partners, facilitated country-level
consultations to develop an African regional strategy for
disaster risk reduction. The Strategy was adopted by the
African Union and the African Ministerial Conference on the
Environment and acknowledged by the Assembly of the African
Union in 2004. The aim of the Africa Regional Strategy for
Disaster Risk Reduction is to contribute to the attainment
of sustainable development and poverty eradication by
facilitating the integration of disaster risk reduction into
development. The objectives of the Africa Regional Strategy
for Disaster Risk Reduction are to: increase political
commitment to disaster risk reduction; improve
identification and assessment of disaster risks; enhance
knowledge management for disaster risk reduction; increase
public awareness of disaster risk reduction; improve
governance of disaster risk reduction institutions; and
integrate disaster risk reduction into emergency response
management. |
