African Union commemorates eighth Africa Environment Day
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, February 25, 2010/African Press Organization (APO)/ — THEME: “Africa Resilience to Climate Change: Biodiversity Conservation and Enhancing Traditional Knowledge”.
Invitation to representatives of the media
WHEN: 03rd of March 2010
WHERE: The United Republic of Tanzania
WHO: Organized by the African Union Commission (AUC)
WHY: The need for all African Union Member States to all Member States arouse a huge awareness of the local communities, responsible of their land.
OBJECTIVES: – The purpose of the celebration is to raise awareness on sustainable environmental management among decision makers at national, regional and continental levels. March 03 has been commemorated by the AUC and the Members States every year, since 2003, in order to recall the climate change as the main factor of land degradation and desertification, results of hunger, deprivation, poverty and underdevelopment in Africa.
BACKGROUND:
The Africa Environment Day was designated by the then Organization of the African Unity (OAU) Council of Ministers in their Seventy-Sixth Ordinary Session, which took place in Durban, South Africa in July 2002, adopted Decision CM/Dec.685 (LXXVI) calling on all Member States to commemorate March 03 every year as the Africa Environment Day. This Decision was the recognition of the numerous environmental challenges confronting the African continent, which over the years have been further aggravated by loss of biological diversity, climate change and desertification.
SOURCE
African Union Commission (AUC)
