Daily report for 20 September 2008

The aims of the Danish Government’s Africa Commission are to present new and creative strategies to revitalize and strengthen international development cooperation with Africa. The Commission, which held its first meeting in April 2008, will focus on economic growth, women’s role in development, climate change and education.

In its final report, due in the first half of 2009, the Commission aims to propose a strategy on how to increase the effectiveness of international development assistance, especially with regards to youth and employment. The report will contain recommendations on how to reduce poverty, increase economic growth and promote local ownership. Working towards fulfilling the United Nations Millennium Development Goals is an underlying goal of the work of the Commission.

In drawing up its conclusions, the Commission will build on recent analyses of development assistance to Africa, assessments of the development framework and principles for its implementation, as well as on a continued dialogue with high-level African and international experts. When the conclusions have been presented they will contribute to the framework for Danish development cooperation with Africa.

The Commission consists of international members drawn from Heads of States and Governments, politicians, experts, business people and representatives from international and regional organizations as well as academia.

AFRICA’S CLIMATE ROADMAP: FROM JOHANNESBURG THROUGH AFRICA TO COPENHAGEN

AMCEN: The twelfth session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN-12) took place from 7-12 June 2008, in Johannesburg, South Africa. AMCEN-12 began with an expert group segment, held from 7-9 June, which was immediately proceeded by a ministerial segment, held from 10-12 June. Climate change discussions during AMCEN-12 highlighted the urgency for Africa to articulate a common, coherent position during the ongoing international climate change negotiations for a regime beyond 2012. The expert segment, tasked with drafting decisions on a range of matters, divided into three working groups, one of which was devoted to climate change.

AMCEN-12 adopted a climate change decision comprised of two parts. The first section concerns Africa’s preparations for developing a common negotiating position leading up to UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December 2009. This signaled a clear intent to make strengthen Africa’s voice in Copenhagen by securing an African consensus on this issue.

The AMCEN President’s Summary articulates the importance of the Bali Action Plan and Roadmap as an opportunity to build consensus on the complex issues of climate change and sustainable development, to the benefit of the continent, and stresses that Africa must speak with one voice in advancing the continent’s climate interests. Importantly, the Summary also prompts the beginnings of Africa’s common position by proposing that Africa should seek agreement on a future global emissions reduction regime with targets for all developed countries to reduce their emissions, by 2020, towards the upper end of the 25-40% range for emissions reductions below 1990 levels and, by 2050, by between 80-95% below those levels, to achieve the concentration of 450 ppm of CO2 equivalent in the atmosphere. African ministers further agreed to support South Africa’s bid to host UNFCCC COP 17 and COP/MOP 7 of the Kyoto Protocol in 2011, and called for the modification of the Clean Development Mechanism.

The President and AMCEN Bureau are also mandated to initiate discussions with the African Union Commission (AUC) Chair for the necessary procedures for African negotiators to prepare a common African position for adoption at a special session of AMCEN, and to submit that common position for consideration at the African Union (AU) Summit in 2009, with a view to its adoption. Representatives proposed an African high-level expert panel on climate change, intended to feed into the African ministerial meeting on climate change to be held in Algiers, Algeria, in October 2008. Algeria offered to host that experts meeting and it has been scheduled for October 2008. The second section of the decision relates to the development of a comprehensive framework of African climate change related programmes and includes two annexes: the first containing an indicative list of Africa’s climate change decisions, and the second setting out an indicative conceptual outline of a comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes. It represents a response to repeated calls for consolidating work being undertaken on adaptation and mitigation by multiple agencies at various levels, drawing them under AMCEN’s auspices to ensure programmatic coherence. It also provides the opportunity to identify and address gaps within existing programmes. The establishment of an ad hoc working group to implement this decision is also envisaged.

AMCEN President’s Summary: On the section regarding “Africa’s Climate Roadmap, from Johannesburg through Africa to Copenhagen,” the AMCEN President noted that representatives made a number of points. These included that:

• Africa must speak with one voice in advancing the continent’s interests in negotiations for the climate regime beyond 2012;
• the Bali Action Plan and Bali Roadmap offered Africa the opportunity to build consensus on the complex issues of climate change and sustainable development, to the benefit of the continent;
• there should be an African high-level expert panel on climate change, to include senior officials, and African focal points for the UNFCCC, working in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the AUC and mandated to develop a draft common position, including a plan of action for building consensus in the region and supporting a focused and coordinated approach to the climate change negotiations;
• there is a need to establish a work programme with milestones for the development of the common position, with the President of AMCEN mandated to steer the African Roadmap process;
• Algeria has offered to host the first meeting of the planned AMCEN high level expert panel, working towards the African ministerial meeting on climate change to be held in Algiers, Algeria, in October 2008 and the adoption of a final common position at the special session of AMCEN to be held in June–July 2009 in the margins of the thirteenth AU Summit;
• the joint annual meeting of the AU Conference of African Ministers of Economy and Finance and the UN Economic Commission for Africa Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, has decided to establish an Africa Climate Change Policy Center at UN ECA;
• adaptation in Africa must be given higher priority in order to balance it with mitigation on the international negotiating agenda. The future regime should emphasize assisting developing countries with adaptation technologies, finance and capacity building;
• there is a need to scale-up adaptation financing that is new and additional and that does not divert existing official development assistance away from poverty eradication and other development priorities, and must be channeled through the Kyoto Protocol’s Adaptation Fund;
• a coherent financial architecture for climate change is important, and should be guided by agreed principles and with equitable governance with access to the international climate funds, the simplification of procedures, as well as the removal of conditionalities;
• there is a need to rectify the skewed distribution of CDM projects at the international level, and to rationalize financial and investment frameworks and mechanisms;
• the involvement of women and youth in climate strategies at all levels must be supported; and
• Africa should renew partnerships on an equitable basis with, inter alia, the Group of Eight, China, India, Japan, South America and the European Union, through concrete projects in Africa to deal with the global problem of climate change at the continental and sub-regional levels.

AMCEN Johannesburg Declaration on Environment and Sustainable Development: The AMCEN Johannesburg Declaration on the Environment for Sustainable Development contains 47 operational paragraphs setting out commitments to scale up national, sub-regional and regional programmes in the framework of the Environment Initiative of the NEPAD Action Plan. In the AMCEN Johannesburg Declaration, African ministers of the environment resolve to: participate effectively in upcoming negotiations on key multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), particularly those related to biodiversity, climate change, chemicals, land degradation and drought and desertification;

• mainstream climate change adaptation measures into national and, where appropriate, regional development plans, policies and strategies with a view to ensuring adequate adaptation to climate change in such areas as water resources, food and energy security and management of coastal and marine resources;
• request the UN agencies, Bretton Woods institutions, African Development Bank (AfDB) and other development partners to support African countries in taking measures to build economic and ecosystem resilience against climatic variability and change and to implement effectively the Bali Action Plan; and
• support the bid by South Africa to host UNFCCC COP 17 and the COP/MOP 7 of the Kyoto Protocol in 2011.

AMCEN Decision on Climate Change: The decision on climate change is divided into two parts. The first part concerns Africa’s preparations for developing a common negotiating position on a comprehensive international climate change regime beyond 2012, and the second part aims to establish a comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes. The decision contains two annexes. The first is an indicative list of Africa’s climate change decisions, and the second is an indicative conceptual outline of a comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes, which addresses adaptation, mitigation and supporting and enabling measures.

The section on Africa’s preparations for developing a common negotiating position on a comprehensive international climate change regime beyond 2012:

• requests UNEP, in collaboration with the AUC, the Secretariat of NEPAD, UN ECA, AfDB and other relevant intergovernmental institutions, to organize a series of preparatory meetings for Africa’s climate change negotiators and to provide the negotiators with substantive technical and policy analysis support to strengthen their preparations for UNFCCC COP 14 and 15, and COP/MOP 4 and 5 of the Kyoto Protocol;
• urges African countries to participate actively in international climate change negotiations, in particular, the Accra and Poznan meetings in August and December 2008, respectively;
• recommends that the AU, at its thirteenth summit in June and July 2009, considers, with a view to its final adoption, a common African position on the comprehensive international climate change regime beyond 2012, which is to be finalized in December 2009; and
• mandates the President and Bureau of AMCEN to initiate discussions with the Chair of the AUC regarding the necessary procedures for Africa’s climate change negotiators to prepare a common African position for adoption at a special session of AMCEN, and to submit that common African position for consideration at the AU Summit in June and July 2009.

The section on developing a comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes:

• creates, in view of the need for synergies in implementation, a comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes, bringing together existing and new intergovernmental decisions and initiatives and programmes in a consolidated manner, to be implemented at the regional, subregional, national and local levels;
• adopts and develops further a conceptual outline, as set out in Annex II to the decision, to serve as the basis for identifying and filling gaps in the comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes;
• establishes under the direction of the President and Bureau of AMCEN, an ad hoc working group to assist the President and the Bureau in the implementation of the decision;
• submits for adoption the consolidated comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes to a special session of AMCEN on the margins of the AU Summit in June and July 2009, and to request the AMCEN Secretariat to support the Bureau in organizing that special session;
• calls upon African governments, international organizations and regional economic communities to expedite the implementation of existing programmes and initiatives on climate change in Africa at all levels and to strengthen and mobilize the capacities of existing relevant facilities and institutions in Africa to meet the region’s pressing climate change challenges;
• mandates the AMCEN President to present the progress in the development of the comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes at the joint annual meeting of the AU Conference of African Ministers of Economy and Finance and the Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the UN ECA, to take place in March and April 2009, to ensure adequate financing of the programmes and activities under the comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes;
• calls upon Africa’s development partners to support, with financial and technical assistance through multilateral North-South and South-South cooperation, the implementation of the agreed decisions on climate change in Africa and to request multilateral financial institutions and other relevant donors to support the implementation of the comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes;
• invites multilateral financial institutions and other development partners to take into account the special needs of Africa in the decision making processes under international financing schemes, including, among others, adaptation funds, World Bank climate funds, AfDB funds and UN initiatives, and to streamline their procedures to improve access to finance; supports the process of developing the ClimDevAfrica programme and to request the AUC, UN ECA and the AfDB to accelerate the finalization of the programme document and the dissemination of this information to ensure the participation of AMCEN in ClimDevAfrica;
• endorses the decision of the AMCEN Bureau in December 2007 on the African panel on climate change and to request the Bureau to work further with the NEPAD Secretariat and the AUC, in consultation with the African Ministerial Council on Science and Technology (AMCOST) Bureau, UNEP and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in defining the modalities of establishing an African high level panel on climate change; and
• welcomes and supports the establishment of the Africa Climate Policy Centre at UN ECA, emphasizing its role in supporting the integration of climate change into economic development and planning processes in Africa, and to call upon UNEP, the WMO and other relevant institutions to play an active role in this initiative.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF KEY AFRICA-RELATED CLIMATE DECISIONS: 2008

TENTH AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT

The tenth AU Summit took place at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 25 January to 2 February 2008. The main theme of the Summit was “Industrial Development for Africa.” At the conclusions of its Tenth Ordinary Session, the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government adopted decisions on a variety of topics, including on: Strengthening of Cooperation between Africa and the Tokyo International Conference on Africa's Development (TICAD); Action Plan for the Accelerated Industrial Development of Africa; and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Assembly also adopted a Declaration on Africa’s Industrial Development.

At the close of its twelfth Ordinary Session, the AU Executive Council adopted decisions on a variety of topics, including on the: report of the Third Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology (AMCOST-3); outcome of the Sixth Ordinary Session of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW-6); Proposal to make Water and Sanitation the Theme of the July 2008 Summit; and Tunis Declaration on International Solidarity Against Climate Change in Africa and the Mediterranean Region.

In its decision on the Tunis Declaration, (EX.CL/Dec.413 (XII)), the Executive Council expressed concern at the seriousness of the phenomenon of climatic changes, which constitute one of the most important challenges in the international arena, especially for African countries that are still striving to acquire the appropriate tools and mechanisms to cope with the repercussions of this phenomenon and its economic and social implications. The Council welcomed the Declaration and Action Plan and decided that the Declaration be referred to AMCEN and AMCOST for further discussion.

AU CONFERENCE OF AFRICAN MINISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENERGY

The annual meeting of the AU Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Energy, held from 15-17 February 2008 in Algiers, Algeria, launched the African Commission on Energy (AFREC). Ministers adopted the Algiers Declaration on the Launching of AFREC, in which they reaffirmed the leading role played by the energy sector in poverty alleviation as well as speeding up growth and socio-economic development, in order to achieve the MDGs, and commitment to develop the energy sector so as to accelerate the industrial development of the continent while safeguarding environment and health. Ministers committed to: support and strengthen AFREC; strengthen subregional, regional, continental and intercontinental cooperation for the sustainable development and efficient use of energy resources to the benefit of our peoples; and support efforts towards the operationalization of the African Electrotechnical Standardization Commission as a subsidiary body of AFREC.

Ministers called upon the AfDB and other development partners to support the energy development programmes of Africa, and requested the AUC, NEPAD Secretariat, in collaboration with the regional economic communities, Regional Power Pools, African Forum of Utility Regulators, Specialized institutions, AfDB and other regional development banks as well as development partners, to actively support the implementation of the activities of AFREC for energy development and integration in Africa.

FIRST AFRICAN WATER WEEK

The First African Water Week (AWW-1) took place from 26-28 March 2008 in Tunis, Tunisia. The theme of the meeting was “Accelerating Water Security for the Socio Economic Development of Africa.” The meeting’s three objectives were to provide a forum for key actors in Africa’s water sector to discuss the opportunities and challenges of achieving water security for Africa’s socioeconomic development, take stock of the status of the achievement of the MDGs and related targets on water in Africa, and make recommendations for consideration by the 2008 AU and G8 summits, and the 2009 Fifth World Water Forum (WWF-5).

Participants agreed on two key outputs. The ‘Summary of Proceedings and Outcomes’, which highlights the issues and recommendations made in plenary and working groups, and the “Ministerial Declaration on Accelerating Water Security for Africa’s Socioeconomic Development,” which reflects the specific commitments that ministers’ would act on. In addition, WWF-5 launched its regional preparatory process.

The Ministerial Declaration calls upon governments, national and regional organizations, the international community, and development partners, to extend concrete, substantial and tangible support to the following quick impact actions on climate change and adaptation. This includes: putting in place adaptation measures to ensure sustainable water security for the social, economic and environmental needs; promoting co-operation in the development of effective early warning systems for water-related disaster prevention and mitigation to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on economic development, food security and poverty eradication efforts; and encouraging water use efficiency through appropriate measures such as demand management, reuse and other technological options to optimize on limited water availability.

FIRST SESSION OF THE JOINT ANNUAL MEETINGS OF THE AU AND ECA MINISTERS OF FINANCE AND ECONOMY

The first Session of the Joint Annual Meetings of the AU Conference of Ministers of Economy and Finance and the ECA Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development took place from 31 March to 2 April 2008 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Ministerial Conference was preceded by a technical preparatory meeting of the Committee of Experts held from 26-29 March 2008. The Joint Annual Meeting, which also marked the ECA’s 50th anniversary, convened under the theme ‘Meeting Africa's New Challenges in the 21st Century.’ Ministers concluded the meeting by adopting various statements and resolutions covering such issues as financing for development, climate change, research and development, and endorsed the ECA’s proposed strategic framework for the 2010-2011 biennium.

In their statement on rising oil and food prices, ministers underscored the need for countries to pursue alternative sources of energy, urged the AUC and the AfDB to finalize the feasibility study on the African Oil Fund, and called upon continental institutions to provide states with platforms and networks for the sharing of experiences on natural resources management. Regarding food prices, ministers agreed to explore appropriate policies and measures to mitigate the effects of rising food prices on living standards, especially for vulnerable groups, while harnessing opportunities for increased food production. Ministers also committed to take vigorous measures to implement all the pillars of the CAADP, with a view to achieving the structural transformation of the agricultural sector as well as promoting intra-African trade and regional integration.

In their statement on climate change, ministers expressed concern with the phenomena of desertification and deforestation and reaffirmed commitment to effectively integrate and implement climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies into national and regional development frameworks. Ministers stressed the importance of supporting efforts to build capacities in their countries in this area, including the capacity to access such funding mechanisms as the Clean Development Mechanism and Adaptation Fund and to take advantage of new trading opportunities, including carbon trading. Ministers also called on the AUC, in collaboration with ECA and AfDB, to support a consultative process of Africa’s preparation for effective participation in the implementation of the Bali Roadmap of multilateral negotiations for a post-2012 global climate agreement.

Ministers welcomed and endorsed the ECA’s initiative to establish the African Climate Policy Centre to serve as the policy arm of the Clim-Dev Africa programme and urge the AUC, ECA and AfDB to take necessary action for the effective implementation of this programme. They further called on the ECA to strengthen its support to and partnership with the African Centre of Meteorological Applications to Development.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RENEWABLE ENERGY IN AFRICA

The International Conference on Renewable Energy in Africa was held in Dakar, Senegal, from 16-18 April 2008. The conference focused on the theme “making renewable energy markets work for Africa: policies, industries and finance for scaling up.” The three-day meeting consisted of plenary and parallel sessions as well as a Ministerial Segment. Recommendations from these sessions were consolidated into a Plan of Action on Scaling Up Renewables in Africa, which was endorsed in the Dakar Declaration on Scaling Up Renewables in Africa. The Declaration was adopted during the Ministerial Segment and notes that conference participants, inter alia: agreed to an African continental target for governments, with support from development partners, to scale-up annual renewable energy investments to US$10 billion between 2009-2014; called upon African governments, their international development partners, NGOs and the private sector to support implementation of the Plan of Action with adequate resources; and recommended that the AU, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and other relevant development partners establish a ministerial-level policy advocacy group, to be supported by a coordination unit.

ELEVENTH AFRICAN UNION SUMMIT

The eleventh AU Summit took place from 24 June to 1 July 2008 in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, under the theme “Meeting the MDGs on Water and Sanitation.”

The eleventh Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government agreed on 19 decisions and on two declarations – the Sharm El-Sheikh Commitments for Accelerating the Achievement of Water and Sanitation Goals in Africa; and Responding to the Challenges of High Food Prices and Agriculture Development.

SHARM EL-SHEIKH COMMITMENTS FOR ACCELERATING THE ACHIEVEMENT OF WATER AND SANITATION GOALS IN AFRICA: In its declaration (Assembly/AU/ Decl.1 (XI)), the AU Assembly committed to: increase efforts to implement past declarations related to water and sanitation; raise the profile of sanitation by addressing the gaps in the context of the 2008 eThekwini Ministerial Declaration on Sanitation in Africa adopted by AMCOW; and address issues pertaining to agricultural water use for food security as provided for in the Ministerial Declaration and outcomes of the AWW-1. The Assembly also committed, inter alia, to:

• develop and/or update national water management policies, regulatory frameworks, and programmes, and prepare national strategies and action plans for achieving the MDG targets for water and sanitation over the next seven years;
• ensure the equitable and sustainable use, as well as promote integrated management and development, of national and shared water resources in Africa;
• put in place adaptation measures to improve the resilience of African countries to the increasing threat of climate change and variability to water resources and capacity to meet the water and sanitation targets;
• mobilize increased donor and other financing for the water and sanitation initiatives including national projects and rural water and sanitation initiatives, the African Water Facility, Water for African Cities programme and the NEPAD Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility, as committed in the Group of Eight Industrialized Countries (G8) initiatives on water and sanitation;
• promote effective engagement of African civil society and public participation in water and sanitation activities and programmes;
• strengthen AMCOW as a key regional mechanism, and other regional stakeholders, as relevant, for promoting cooperation on water and sanitation;
• strengthen AMCOW’s initiative on sustainable management of water resources, to implement its roadmap for the African Groundwater Commission; and
• call on African Ministers in charge of water and finance, in collaboration with the AfDB and development partners, to hold a meeting of Ministers of Water and Finance to develop appropriate financing policies.

DECLARATION ON RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGES OF HIGH FOOD PRICES AND AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT: In its declaration on food prices and agricultural development (Assembly/AU/Decl.2 (XI)), the AU Assembly committed to reduce by half the number of undernourished people in Africa by 2015, eradicate hunger and malnutrition in Africa and take all necessary measures to increase agricultural production and ensure food security in Africa, in particular through the implementation of AU-NEPAD CAADP and the 2003 AU Maputo Declaration.

Global Partnership: The Assembly urged a global partnership that deals with the causes and repercussions of the current crisis, tackles the issue of food security within a more comprehensive humanitarian scope and the right to food and life. This partnership would support efforts at the national, regional, and international levels to curtail the rise in food prices. The Assembly called for the immediate launching of an International High-level Dialogue between food exporters and importers from developed and developing countries aimed at: concluding an international strategy for the short, medium and long-term handling of the current crisis; examining the speculation risks pertinent to agricultural commodity prices; energizing scientific research in the field of fertilizers and new seed varieties that scrutinizes the effects of genetically modified seeds on sanitary and phyto-sanitary, human, as well as animal health; and confronting climate change challenges seriously and effectively, the relationship with prevailing consumption and production patterns, the repercussions on drought and land desertification, and the direct consequences on the world’s food security.

Biofuels: The Assembly further called for an international code of conduct that would reconsider the current expansion in the production of biofuel as an alternative source of traditional energy and set the standards for the responsible utilization of grain-based biofuel. Such a code of conduct would also reassess the actual social and environmental costs of biofuel and restrict its production to agricultural waste and specific designated non-food crops. It would reconsider the current subsidies offered to ethanol and bio-diesel producers and subject it to the rules governing world trade in order to avoid a hazardous distortion of the present international system of agricultural production and trade.

FIRST INTER-MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT

The first Inter-ministerial Conference on Health and Environment (AMHE) in Africa convened on 26-29 August 2008 at the Cité de la Démocratie in Libreville, Gabon. The Conference, co-organized by WHO and UNEP, in partnership with the Government of Gabon, adopted and signed the Libreville Declaration on Health and Environment in Africa that will be forwarded to the African Union at a future Summit, and endorsed the Summary Report of the Meeting of Government Experts. The Conference also launched the Joint WHO-UNEP Health and Environment Linkages Initiative Toolkit and Synthesis Report. In the declaration, African countries commit to:

• establishing a health-and-environment strategic alliance, as the basis for plans of joint action;
• ensuring integration of agreed objectives in the areas of health and environment in national poverty reduction strategies by implementing priority intersectoral programmes at all levels, aimed at accelerating achievement of the MDGs;
• building national, subregional and regional capacities to better prevent environment-related health problems, through the establishment or strengthening of health and environment institutions;
• supporting knowledge acquisition and management on health and environment, particularly through applied research at local, subregional and regional levels, while ensuring coordination of scientific and technical publications so as to identify knowledge gaps and research priorities and to support education and training at all levels;
• establishing or strengthening systems for health and environment surveillance to allow measurement of interlinked health and environment impacts and to identify emerging risks, in order to manage them better;
• implementing effectively national, subregional and regional mechanisms for enforcing compliance with international conventions and national regulations to protect populations from health threats related to the environment, including accession to and implementation of the Bamako Convention by those countries that have not done so;
• setting up national monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess performance in implementing priority programmes and peer review mechanisms to learn from each other’s experience;
• instituting the practice of systematic assessment of health and environment risks, in particular through the development of procedures to assess impacts on health, and to produce national environment outlook reports;
• developing partnerships for targeted and specific advocacy on health and environment issues towards institutions and communities including the youth, parliamentarians, local government, education ministries, civil society and the private sector; and
• achieving a balance in the allocation of national budgetary resources for intersectoral health-and-environment programmes.

The Brief History of the Danish Africa Commission and Key Africa-related Climate Decisions Taken in 2008 is a publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) <info@iisd.ca>, publishers of the Earth Negotiations Bulletin © <enb@iisd.org>. This issue was written by Richard Sherman. The Editor is Chris Spence. This issue is part of IISD Reporting Service’s African Regional Coverage (ARC) Project in partnership with South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), the UN Environment Programme’s Regional Office for Africa (UNEP ROA) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Director of IISD Reporting Services is Langston James “Kimo” Goree VI <kimo@iisd.org>. The Programme Manager of the African Regional Coverage Project is Richard Sherman <rsherman@iisd.org>. Funding for this issue has been provided by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the International Development Research Centre, Canada, through the African Regional Coverage Project for IISD Reporting Service’s coverage of African regional meetings. IISD can be contacted at 161 Portage Avenue East, 6th Floor, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 0Y4, Canada; tel: +1-204-958-7700; fax: +1-204-958-7710. The opinions expressed in this issue are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of IISD. Excerpts from this issue may be used in other publications with appropriate academic citation. For information on the ARC, including requests to provide reporting services, contact the Director of IISD Reporting Services at <kimo@iisd.org>, +1-646-536-7556 or 300 East 56th St. Apt 11A, New York, NY 10022, USA.