FAQs
Frequently asked questions
1. What are the ACP Countries?
ACP is an acronym which stands for African, Caribbean and Pacific. The ACP countries are a group of 78 countries which benefit from special development cooperation status with the European Union. To find out if your country is an ACP country, please visit the website of the ACP Secretariat.
2. What is a Multilateral Environmental Agreement (MEA)?
A Multilateral Environmental Agreement is an environment-related treaty or other agreement signed between three or more countries. There are hundreds of MEAs amongst which the most reknown ones include the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flaura (CITES), the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, the Rotterdam Convention for the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
3. What is UNEP’s role?
UNEP is the overall coordinator and facilitator. It provides guidance to its partners and ensures that the contractual obligations of the project are complied with. It assists the partners in planning, implementing and monitoring activities and will identify potential synergies to build on complementarities and avoid overlap.
4. What is FAO's role?
The FAO executes a subcomponent of the MEAs Programme focused on building the capacity of the ACP coutnries to enforce the chemical Conventions and to integrate agriculture in the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity. In particular, the FAO applies the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management developed with the WHO to guide ACP countries to reduce risks associated with chemical pesticides throughout their life cycle. The FAO promotes an ecosystem approach to pest mangement, one which is aimed at producing a healthy crop with reduced reliance on chemical pesticides, based on ecosystem services such as crop pollination and biological pest control. FAO provides frameworks, tools and training to national, sub regional and regional focal points to implement the MEAs conventions.
5. Who reviews progress and implementation?
The Programme Steering Committee (PSC) is responsible for overall guidance and technical orientation and coherence. It is mandated to discuss, amend and approve the programmed activities. The PSC members are the ACP Secretariat, UNEP, FAO and the European Commission and PSC observers are the AUC, the CARICOM Secretariat, SPREP.
6. Where to find information on development cooperation and relations between the European Union (EU) and the ACP countries?
Information on development cooperation and related policies targeting African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries can be found on the web sites of the following Directorates General (DGs) of the European Commission (EC) in charge of EU external relations:
DG Development: http://ec.europa.eu/development/index_en.cfm
DG EuropeAid-Co-operation Office: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/index_en.htm
DG External Relations: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/index_en.htm
DG Humanitarian Aid: http://ec.europa.eu/echo/index_en.htm
DG Trade: http://ec.europa.eu/trade/index_en.htm