THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTARIANS IN DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF MULTILATERAL ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS IN AFRICA A SOURCEBOOK FOR PARLIAMENTARIANS IN AFRIC

This Sourcebook has been developed with the support of the African component of the ACP Capacity Building Programme related to Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs Project).  The MEAs Project is housed at the African Union Commission (AUC) and has as overall objective to build the capacity of Africa to adequately implement MEAs thereby contributing to sustainable development and poverty reduction on the continent.

Capacity development in Africa is needed in several areas including in the area of mainstreaming MEAs into developmental plans and processes by policy makers. Capacity is needed to facilitate the development and establishment of appropriate approaches, mechanisms and processes in support of decision-making processes that enable mainstreaming of MEAs into national and regional policies and strategies in order to achieve sustainable development.

Parliaments as legislative bodies of states are crucial partners for promoting sustainable development, environmental governance and advancing environmental law and policy.  The main roles of Parliaments are to develop, review, debate, enact and ratify laws and agreements including those relating to the environment. They are also responsible for policy oversight and should therefore monitor government efforts to protect the environment in order to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction. Accordingly, the technical capacities of Parliamentarians, in as far as environment management is concerned, must be enhanced and supported in order for them to fulfill their roles in society and also for them to compliment  the roles of other institutions of the state including the public to fulfill their constitutional and other mandates and obligations.

The African Union Commission, as the Secretariat of the African Union, is responsible, inter-alia, for promoting environmental sustainability on the continent. Its principal role in this regard is to coordinate and facilitate implementation of programs and strategies related to the environment, to enhance capacity of Africans in environmental management and to raise environmental awareness.  Among the organs of the African Union (AU) is the Pan African Parliament (PAP) which forms part of the Africa parliamentary governance and has its Headquarters in South Africa.  In addition to the national assembly in each member state across the continent there are several parliamentary bodies at the sub-regional levels, such as the East African Legislative Assembly, the SADC Parliamentary Forum, the Parliament of ECOWAS, IGAD Inter -Parliamentary Union, the network of Parliament Members of Central Africa. There are other parliamentary organizations that support the above assemblies such as the Parliamentary Centre based in Accra.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) plays a crucial role in MEAs implementation by supporting the negotiations and implementation of MEAs and is the secretariat to many MEAs.  In addition, UNEP also supports countries to make legal and institutional mechanisms for the ratification and effective domestication of MEAs. It also supports human and institutional capacity-building programmes and projects for implementation of MEAs.  It is on the basis of the foregoing that the AUC in collaboration with UNEP held the African parliamentary Colloquium on Multilateral Environmental Agreements in Entebbe, Uganda, from 4 – 6 June 2012 to raise awareness of Parliamentarians in Africa on the importance of MEAs and also build their capacity to mainstream MEAs into developmental plans and policies. The Colloquium took the form of expert presentations and highly interactive panel discussions among the members of Parliament and sharing of experiences relating to negotiations and implementation of MEAs in the context of national and regional development.

The Parliamentarians who attended the Colloquium adopted the Entebbe Declaration on “The role of Parliamentarians in the Development and Implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements”. The Entebbe Declaration, among others, called upon Parliaments across Africa to address the issues of environmental mainstreaming in general and MEAs implementation in particular in development policies, plans and programmes. The Declaration together with summary of the main issues raised during the Colloquium and some important recommendations from the observations of the proceedings are annexed hereto.

This Sourcebook therefore is a result of the outcomes of the   Colloquium and is intended to provide policy guidance to assist members of Parliament across Africa in their work including integration of MEAs in the sustainable development planning and processes.