Governments are concerned; accordingly all countries in the region are signatories to many conservation-oriented international conventions (Table 3). Also, the region has significant areas under protected areas (Table 2) - Botswana, for example, has some 26 percent of its forest land so protected, Malawi 45 percent. However, according to Cowling et al (op cit.), these protected areas are often mismatched with the location of particularly biodiverse forests (i.e. hotspots). The security of existing protected areas is limited. Sometimes protection leads to wildlife overpopulation: in Zimbabwe, there are relatively large areas under protection but the abundance of large mammals has sometimes (e.g elephants) destroyed or simplified vegetation, according to Timberlake and Muller, (1994).

War-torn Angola is abnormal: according to Huntley, B.J, and Matos, E.M, et a (1994)l., "The impact of the protracted civil war on the fauna of Angola has been catastrophic"; of larger mammals, some 21 species have been reduced to near-extinction. At the same time, war-induced rural depopulation has reduced human pressure on natural resources and vegetation has recovered in many abandoned areas. At the same time, difficulty of travel has led to slower adoption of new varieties of crops and thus to greater conservation of local varieties.

USE OF THE RESOURCE AND PRESSURES UPON IT

The pressures exerted upon forests arise from desire for survival through farming; economic gain from farming or harvesting wood and other forest products; or abuse of fire and other dangers to vegetation. These pressures are combined - some arising from need, others from greed - some from sheer carelessness and unthinking behaviour. Forest destruction from need dominates when forests supply many local needs of farmers and herders. They want the land to farm; they need medicines as they cannot afford modern ones; they need food (meat, fruit, vegetables) - for forest/woodland-dependent communities such as the hunter-gatherers of the Kalahari and its margins, the woodland is home and they often manage it sustainably. Woodlands offer dry-season fodder in drought-prone areas particularly in much of Botswana and Namibia, large expanses of South Africa and Southwest Zimbabwe. In these areas the mopane woodlands offer innumerable food and browse benefits for man and beast - they are a key life-support system in rural Botswana. Also in such areas, forests or scattered trees serve to protect farmland from dessicating winds and sand/dust.

Destruction comes when outsiders settle in to establish ranches or farms - often pressing for livestock or cultivation intensities beyond the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. In the expansive areas of marked dry and rainy seasons can be found some nitrogen-fixing tree species that are indispensable in retaining soil fertility among folk that cannot afford fertilisers - many areas of miombo woodlands have trees of Faidherba albida - a tree with nitrogen-fixing that loses its leaves during the rains so allowing rich crops to grow in its shade.

The forest habitat offers home to game, the basis for lucrative tourist industries in almost all countries of the region. In Maun (Botswana) on the inland Okavango delta, the sky buzzes with frequent single-engined aircraft ferrying tourists from near and far; the entire Maun economy is supported by tourism. Similar stories or the potential for income opportunities exist for Etosha Pan in Namibia; Kruger National Park environs in South Africa; parts of Zimbabwe; the Ngorongoro crater, Manyala national park, and Selous game reserve of Tanzania; and for the huge protected areas of Zambia.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF FORESTS TO PRODUCTIVITY OF OTHER SECTORS

The question may be asked - but why invest in forestry? What follows does not apply only to Southern Africa but is near universal. We may quibble about details but the broad core truths outlined below are valid and should be the basis for assessing whether to give priority to forestry as opposed to other investments in the economies of Southern Africa.

• Links: Forestry is organically linked with all other uses of the land, with complex and broad environmental life-support systems, and with social needs for mankind. Sustainable development of forests retains forests in the landscape but has far more important results outside the forest, including:

• False choices - for forests, the distinction between environment and productivity, between environmental and economic roles is false, misleading, and undermines the fact that mankind needs forests for both functions

• Immediate gratification: Desire for immediate gain often blinds all to long-term benefits of conserving resources; it creates a false separation between environment and productivity. People generally choose short-term productivity - but there is always a price to pay for ignoring environmental functions of forests, even if delayed.

• Environment protecting productivity

- By adding new productive opportunities in the economy: where forests are the only thing that will grow (such as on degraded or bare lands)
- Supporting productivity within the forestry sector (Box 1)
- Supporting productivity outside forestry sector (Box 2)

There is official recognition of forest/productivity links with the broader economy, as shown by several examples from within Africa:

• Governments try to jealously protect the upper watershed forests and wetlands on the Zambezi river in southern Africa due to concern that major hydropower infrastructure at Kariba and other gorge dams downstream will be filled by silt prematurely - dams that supply power to the economically vital mining and manufacturing economies of Congo, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

• For long during the 1980s, the world's largest "food for work" aid of the UN World Food Programme was in Ethiopia. In that poor country, this major investment went not into productive infrastructure but environmental rehabilitation (terracing for tree planting) of the erosion-prone highlands so as to secure future land productivity.

• In Kenya, a leading big game tourist destination, the country's prime foreign exchange earner is wildlife, the tourist attraction of which is made possible by conservation of essential woodland and wetland habitats.

Future commitment to ensuring that forests can continue to fulfill all the beneficial functions listed earlier is possible. It can be demonstrated by the broad society and could include:

• Accept responsibility - Southern Africa should not rely on foreign resources for core forestry management functions.

• Draw attention of society and promote awareness regarding the value of forests - only partly for themselves but most easily by stressing what they do for key economic sectors such as power generation, tea, tobacco, tourism etc.

• Make environment an article of faith in society because in the end the environment is the economy.

• Stress rapid development of the general economy and create livelihoods opportunities that do not require direct use of the land and vegetation. Only healthy economies have the long-run capacity to also maintain their environment and protect it from needs-driven over-exploitation.

• Increase productivity of agriculture: unless more food can be grown on less land, forests are in peril. Governments and their aid partners should think hard about policies that stop subsidies for fertilisers. The real price of such economic fundamentalism against subsidies may be environmentally irreversible loss of some forests.

• Offer incentives for good forest management or conservation but also maintain credible punishments for misbehaviour, i.e. enforce the law.

• Encourage responsible land use decisions: among other things, establish a level playing field in land use decision-making for both environment and production by providing incentives for people to take a long-term view in resource use.

• Provide incentives to make people value less visible and less immediate ecological gains to a greater degree than at present.

• Make forest protection the responsibility of more than Forestry Departments (they are too small) and mobilise instead the broader community both corporate and citizens.

• Create new forest plantations or rehabilitate degraded natural forests: mobilise the masses for this through any means available.

The principles governing FUNDECOR's activities are:

• Conservation must be a profitable activity for forest owners.

• The ecosystems have the capacity for, and must eventually become important elements of, private economic activities.

• The business of putting these concepts into practice must be accompanied by the education and experience required to make it possible for sustainable activities to be developed in the national parks.

• The Certified Sustainable Forest Management and Protection designs and implements improved forest management techniques for small forest owners under the Forest Stewardship Council certification. Certification, among other things, guarantees that forest management and conservation activities are the environmental services for which forest owners receive payment from other stakeholders.

The first step towards the development of a successful plan for sustainable forest management is helping forest owners meet the administrative and legal requirements to formally register the ownership of their lands. FUNDECOR collaborates with forest owners to do this, enabling them to benefit from the incentives offered under Costa Rican law to those who place their forest under a sustainable forest management plan.

• The Reforestation Programme establishes contracts with small and medium sized forest owners to replant their properties mostly with native species. In collaboration with a research institution, 70 native species were identified as the most suitable species for reforestation. Work was begun on the production of tree seedlings of those species in nurseries set up by people in the area.

With the financial help of the International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment arm of the World Bank, FUNDECOR designed and implemented a system of wood futures that provides farmers a cash flow commensurate with what might be gained from other land uses.

• The Environmental Education Programme aims to raise public awareness, especially among young people, about the sustainable management of Costa Rica's natural resources. The Programme works with both public and private Costa Rican schools, and since its beginning more than 100.000 students have participated in its activities.

Work is underway to extend FUNDECOR's activities to other regions within Costa Rica. They are devising a strategy for the transfer of their technologies to the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment and Energy. FUNDECOR also makes their technologies and expertise available to other countries, as well as international environmental organizations.

The key to FUNDECOR's success is its creativity in creating markets that make conservation viable for forest owners. FUNDECOR stands out as one of the world's leading organizations working on the production of new environmental technologies and financial plans for the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity. For these reasons, the Board of Governors of the King Baudouin Foundation was pleased to award the 2000 King Baudouin International Development Prize to FUNDECOR, for its innovative approach to environmental protection which brings together economic, ecologic and social concerns in a realistic vision of sustainable development, benefiting local communities as well as the entire planet.

4. TROPICAL DEFORESTATION

Introduction

The clearing of tropical forests across the Earth has been occurring on a large-scale basis for many centuries. This process, known as deforestation, involves the cutting down, burning, and damaging of forests. The loss of tropical rain forest is more profound than merely destruction of beautiful areas. If the current rate of deforestation continues, the world's rain forests will vanish within 100 years - causing unknown effects on global climate and eliminating the majority of plant and animal species on the planet.

Why Deforestation Happens

Deforestation occurs in many ways. Most of the clearing is done for agricultural purposes - grazing cattle, planting crops. Poor farmers chop down a small area (typically a few acres) and burn the tree trunks - a process called Slash and Burn agriculture. Intensive, or modern, agriculture occurs on a much larger scale, sometimes deforesting several square miles at a time. Large cattle pastures often replace rain forests to grow beef for the world market.

Commercial logging is another common form of deforestation, cutting trees for sale as timber or pulp. Logging can occur selectively - where only the economically valuable species are cut - or by clear-cutting, where all the trees are cut. Commercial logging uses heavy machinery, such as bulldozers, road graders, and log skidders, to remove cut trees and build roads, which is just as damaging to a forest overall as the chainsaws are to the individual trees.

The causes of deforestation are very complex. A competitive global economy drives the need for money in economically challenged tropical countries. At the national level, governments sell logging concessions to raise money for projects, to pay international debt, or to develop industry.

Deforestation by a peasant farmer is often done to raise crops for self-subsistence, and is driven by the basic human need for food. Most tropical countries are very poor, and farming is a basic way of life for a large part of the population. Farmers in these countries do not have the money to buy necessities and must raise crops for food and to sell.

There are other reasons for deforestation, such as to construct towns or dams which flood large areas. Yet, these latter cases constitute only a very small part of the total deforestation.

The Rate of Deforestation

The actual rate of deforestation is difficult to determine. Scientists study the deforestation of tropical forests by analyzing satellite imagery of forested areas that have been cleared.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 53,000 square miles of tropical forests (rain forest and other) were destroyed each year during the 1980s. Of this, they estimate that 21,000 square miles were deforested annually in South America, most of this in the Amazon Basin.

The rate of deforestation varies from region to region. Recent research results show that in the Brazilian Amazon, the rate of deforestation was around 6,200 square miles per year from 1978-1986, but fell to 4,800 square miles per year from 1986-1993. By 1988, 6% of the Brazilian Amazon had been cut down (90,000 square miles). However, due to the isolation of fragments and the increase in forest/clearing boundaries, a total of 16.5% of the forest (230,000 square miles) was affected by deforestation.

The much smaller region of Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam) lost nearly as much forest per year as the Brazilian Amazon from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, with 4,800 square miles per year converted to agriculture or cut for timber.

Deforestation and the Global Carbon Cycle

Deforestation increases the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other trace gases in the atmosphere. The plants and soil of tropical forests hold 460-575 billion metric tons of carbon worldwide with each acre of tropical forest storing about 180 metric tons of carbon. When a forest is cut and burned to establish cropland and pastures, the carbon that was stored in the tree trunks (wood is about 50% carbon) joins with oxygen and is released into the atmosphere as CO2.

The loss of forests has a profound effect on the global carbon cycle. From 1850 to 1990, deforestation worldwide released 122 billion metric tons of carbon into the atmosphere, with the current rate being approximately 1.6 billion metric tons per year. In comparison, fossil fuel burning (coal, oil, and gas) releases about 6 billion metric tons per year, so it is clear that deforestation makes a significant contribution to the increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. Releasing CO2 into the atmosphere enhances the greenhouse effect, and could contribute to an increase in global temperatures.

Deforestation and the Hydrologic Cycle

Tropical deforestation also affects the local climate of an area by reducing the evaporative cooling that takes place from both soil and plant life. As trees and plants are cleared away, the moist canopy of the tropical rain forest quickly diminishes. Recent research suggests that about half of the precipitation that falls in a tropical rain forest is a result of its moist, green canopy. Evaporation from trees and plants returns large quantities of water to the local atmosphere, promoting the formation of clouds and precipitation. Less evaporation means that more of the Sun's energy is able to warm the surface and, consequently, the air above, leading to a rise in temperatures.

Deforestation and Biodiversity

Worldwide, 5 to 80 million species of plants and animals comprise the "biodiversity" of planet Earth. Tropical rain forests - covering only 7% of the total dry surface of the Earth - hold over half of all these species. Of the tens of millions of species believed to be on Earth, scientists have only given names to about 1.5 million of them, and even fewer of the species have been studied in depth.

Many of the rain forest plants and animals can only be found in small areas, because they require a special habitat in which to live. This makes them very vulnerable to deforestation. If their habitat is destroyed, they may become extinct. Every day, species are disappearing from the tropical rain forests as they are cleared. We do not know the exact rate of extinction, but estimates indicate that up to 137 species disappear worldwide each day.

The loss of species will have a great impact on the planet. We are losing species that might show us how to prevent cancer or help us find a cure for AIDS. Other organisms are losing species they depend upon, and thus face extinction themselves.

After Deforestation

What happens after a forest is cut is very important in the regeneration of that forest. Different cutting techniques and uses of the land have diverse effects on the ground and surviving organisms that make up a rain forest.

In a tropical rain forest, nearly all of the life-sustaining nutrients are found in the plants and trees, not in the ground as in a northern, or temperate forest. When the plants and trees are cut down to sow the land, farmers usually burn the tree trunks to release the nutrients necessary for a fertile soil. When the rains come, they wash away most of the nutrients, leaving the soil much less fertile. In as little as 3 years, the ground is no longer capable of supporting crops.

When the fertility of the ground decreases, farmers seek other areas to clear and plant, abandoning the nutrient-deficient soil. The area previously farmed is left to grow back to a rain forest. However, just as the crops did not grow well because of low nutrients, the forest will grow back just as slowly because of poor nutrients. After the land is abandoned, the forest may take up to 50 years to grow back.

Intensive agricultural systems use large quantities of chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers. These chemicals kill a lot of the living organisms in the area, seeping into the soil and washing into the surrounding areas. On banana plantations, pesticides are used on the plants and in the soil to kill pest animals. However, these pesticides also kill other animals, and weaken ecosystem health. Banana plantations also use irrigation ditches and underground pipes for water transport, changing the water balance of the land. After the abandonment of a banana plantation, or other intensive agricultural systems, it can take many centuries for a forest to re-grow.

A study in Indonesia found that when only 3% of the trees were cut, a logging operation damaged 49% of the trees in the forest. Yet, even with that much damage, the rain forest will grow back relatively quickly if left alone after selective logging, because there are still many trees to provide seeds and protect young trees from too much sun.

Clear-cutting is much more damaging to a tropical rain forest. When the land is commercially clear-cut and all of the trees removed, the bare ground is left behind with very little re-growth. Unlike when the farmer cleared the land, there are almost no nutrients left behind because all the tree trunks were removed. A clear-cut forest can require many years to regenerate - in fact, scientists do not know how long it takes for a clear-cut forest to grow back.

The Future

The deforestation of tropical rain forests is a threat to life worldwide. Deforestation may have profound effects on global climate and cause the extinction of thousands of species annually. Stopping deforestation in the tropics has become an international movement, seeking ways to stop the loss of rain forests.

Because the loss of rain forests is driven by a complex group of factors, the solutions are equally complex. Simple solutions that do not address the nature of world economics and rain forest ecology have little chance of succeeding. The future requires solutions based on solving the economic crises of countries holding rain forests, as well as improvement of the living conditions of the poor people often responsible for deforestation.

5. THE PREPARATORY PROCESS FOR THE WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, 2-11/09/2002

Introduction

The 55th General Assembly of the United Nations, in December 2000, decided that the 2002 Summit to review the 10-year implementation of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development be officially titled the The World Summit on Sustainable Development and that it would be held in South Africa. The Summit review in 2002 is expected to reinvigorate, at the highest political level, the global commitment to sustainable development. The Summit, including its preparatory process, will ensure a balance between economic development, social development and environmental protection, as these are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development.

The preparatory activities of the 2002 World Summit will be carried out at the local, national, regional and international levels by governments and the United Nations system. The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) serves as the Secretariat and the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The PrepCom is an open-ended preparatory committee to provide for the full participation of all state Members of the United Nations and State members of the specialized agencies.

Preparations at the National Level

The CSD invited member States to establish national preparatory committees to be responsible for and facilitate national preparations for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Representatives from government, local authorities, professional associations, major groups, media and other partners including local offices of relevant United Nations organizations are involved in the work of the national preparatory committees. The national preparatory committees would undertake national reviews/ assessments and raise awareness and mobilize stakeholders at the national and local levels.

Member States would submit their reports to CSD to be made available on the Summit web page. The following African countries are among those that have established national preparatory committees: Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.

Preparations at Regional Level

Each of the five regions - Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Asia would make their preparations to undertake the following tasks according to CSD:

1. Conduct a regional assessment of progress, taking into account national reports and country profiles. This would include:
• Main achievements in the region since UNCED in the implementation of Agenda 21 and other outcomes of UNCED, including any major regional, sub-regional and national initiatives towards sustainable development.

• Progressive outlooks and main constraints faced by the region and by the countries of the region.

• Common constraints faced by countries in the region.

• Specific constraints faced by the region (or by the sub-regions).

• Constraints resulting from global developments and changing conditions.

• New initiatives and commitments within regions and subregions towards overcoming constraints and fostering further progress.

2. Provide opportunity for inter-action and dialogue with major groups and other stakeholders.

3. Share experiences and provide an opportunity to better prepare and understand the concerns and positions of the countries involved.

4. Prepare regional "platforms" which would outline key policy issues, priorities and follow-up actions based on regional assessments. Such platforms could form the basis of a contribution to the global intergovernmental preparatory process. The main areas of focus would include:

• Key sustainable development issues, which, in view of the region, require priority attention and action at the global level.

• Issues which, in view of the region, could be more effectively addressed at the regional/subregional levels.

• Specific proposals from the region regarding international cooperation, including proposals regarding regional and international institutions.

• Subregional PrepCom for West Africa: jointly organized by the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) and Inter State Committee on Fight Against Drought in the Sahel (CILSS): Abijan, Cτte d'voire, 1-3 October 2001.

• Subregional PrepCom for Southern Africa: Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mauritius, 17-19 September 2001.

• Subregional PrepCom for Central Africa: Economic Community for Central African States (ECCAS): Libreville, Gabon, 17-19 September 2001.

• Subregional PrepCom for Northern Africa: Tunis, Tunisia, 5-7 September 2001

• Subregional PrepCom for East Africa: Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD): Djibouti, Djibouti, 10-12 September 2001.

The Africa Roundtable was attended by eminent persons, including Dr. Mostafa Tolba, former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, who chaired the Roundtable. Although the Roundtable noted some achievements in the implementation of Agenda 21 towards sustainable development, these were found to be insufficient overall, due to limited financial support. There was, thus, need to increase resources from African countries to deal with sustainable development challenges. However, external resources were also required. The Roundtable noted that globalisation posed new and major challenges for Africa, which experience more adverse impacts than had been the case in other regions. Other constraints included poor economic performance that impacted negatively on socio-economic conditions of the population; internal and external debt burden; civil wars and conflicts; unsustainable management of natural resources, including land degradation and desertification; deforestation; reliance on traditional energy sources such as wood and charcoal; as well as lack of sustainable development indicators appropriate for African countries.

The Roundtable identified several priority issues to be addressed and these were: consolidating sustainable development strategies; investing in people; food security; energy issues; technological issues; investment in infrastructure; accelerating regional integration; peace and security and good governance. For further implementation of sustainable development in the priority areas, implementation focuses on institutional and social reform as well as financing.

The Roundtable called for real leadership on sustainable development to be shown by the region' heads of government and African PrepCom to identify from the Roundtable report time-bound priority proposals that should be taken to the Johannesburg Summit for endorsement and to further develop them.

The Report of the African Region Roundtable can be accessed at

http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/web_pages/africa_roundtable_report.htm

Preparations at International Level

At international level, a series of Preparatory Committee Meetings were planned as well as thematic global roundtables. All these would be organized and coordinated by the CSD Secretariat in collaboration with various partners. Input from the United Nations family would be coordinated by the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD).

The First PrepCom, 30 April to 2 May 2001:

This was held at the UN Headquarters in New York. It dealt with organizational matters for the Summit and achieved the following: elected a Bureau composed of 10 members, with two representatives from each of the five geographic groups; considered progress in preparation of activities at the local, national, subregional, regional and international levels, as well as by major groups; decided on the specific modalities of its future preparatory meetings; and considered a process for setting the agenda and determining possible main themes for the Summit.

The Second PrepCom, January-Februar 2002:

This meeting will also take place in New York. Tentative dates are 28 January to 8 February 2002. It will start the substantive assessment of progress at the global level by undertaking the comprehensive review and assessment of progress achieved in the implementation of Agenda 21 and the programme for its further implementation. Early in the course of the Second PrepCom, a two-day multi-stakeholders dialogue with all nine major group is planned. The topics of the stakeholder dialogue would be based on the outline of the Secretary-General's overall review report.

The Third PrepCom, 25 March - 5 April 2002, New York:

As a second substantive preparatory session, this meeting will aim at arriving at an agreed text of a document containing the results of the review and assessment, as well as conclusions and recommendations for future action.

The Fourth PrepCom, 27 May - 7 June 2002, Indonesia:

This meeting will be at ministerial level. It will draw upon the agreed text from the Third PrepCom to prepare a concise and focused document that will aim to:

• Emphasize the need for a global partnership to achieve the objectives of sustainable development;

• Reconfirm the need for an integrated and strategically focused approach to the implementation of Agenda 21; and

• Address the main challenges and opportunities faced by the international community in this regard.

The outcome of the Fourth PrepCom will be submitted for further consideration and adoption at the 2002 Summit meeting.

The African Regional Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for the World Summit and Sustainable Development (WSSD), to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2 to 11 September 2002, was convened in Nairobi from 15 to 18 October 2001. It assessed progress made, constraints encountered and considered new challenges confronting Africa and action required for further implementation of Agenda 21 in the next decade.

The meeting, which was at ministerial level, reaffirmed that poverty eradication was an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. Accordingly, the ministers reiterated their commitment to address the three components of sustainable development ? economic growth and development, social development and environmental protection, as these were interdependent and mutually reinforcing.

The African PrepCom noted with concern the limited progress in the implementation of Agenda 21, thereby hampering the achievement of sustainable development in developing countries, particularly in Africa. Several reasons contributed to this including lack of fulfillment by the international community of its commitments made in Rio with regard to the means of implementation; and the process of globalization which has further marginalized Africa.

Among the achievements since Rio in 1992 were:

• Increased awareness of the fragility of the African environment and its natural resources;

• Establishment and strengthening of policy, legislation and regulatory framework by many African countries; and

• Ratification of regional and global environmental conventions as well as the formulation of implementation of various environmental action plans.

• Low life expectancy in many African countries;

• Overall literacy which has remained low in many countries in Africa;

• Lack of universal access to safe water (only 58% of the population in Africa have access to safe water);

• Increased incidence of natural disasters in Africa;

• Continued food insecurity in Africa (currently over 200 million people in Africa are undernourished);

• Increased soil degradation and desertification;

• Decline in economies in most African countries; and

• Wars and conflicts.

The African Regional PrepCom has identified the following priority areas for action: eradication of poverty; industrial development; agriculture and food security; human development; youth; trade and market access; financing for sustainable development; investment; debt relief; increased official development assistance (ODA); global environmental facility (GEF); infrastructure and sustainable human settlement; science and technology; desertification and land degradation; coastal and marine environments; biodiversity; forests; mineral resources; climate change and atmosphere; disaster prevention; waste; environmentally sound management of chemical products; fresh water and sanitation; energy; support for regional cooperation and economic integration; governance; and stakeholders participation.

The African PrepCom appealed that the outcome of WSSD in 2002, the "Johannesburg Vision" should be a practical expression of political commitments made by the international community in the Rio Principles and Agenda 21 and the Millennium Declaration. In addition it also appealed that the WSSD adopt a result-oriented Programme of Action with clear timeframes and specific targets in order to realize the Johannesburg Vision.

The SADC Committee of Ministers of Environments, at its meeting in Maputo-Mozambique in June 2000, undertook to support the preparations towards the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be hosted by South Africa. The SADC Environment and Land Management Sector (ELMS) was requested to take a lead role in the preparations of a SADC Subregional Report as input into the Africa Regional PrepCom towards the WSSD. The SADC Consultation Meeting was convened in Port Louis, Mauritius from 17-19 September 2001 and was attended by representatives from all the 14 SADC member States. There were also representatives from ECA, UNEP Regional Office for Africa, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and UNIDO.

The objective of the consultations was to review a SADC Subregional assessment of the implementation of Agenda 21 and agree on a common position to be submitted as input to the Africa Regional Preparatory Committee Meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The following documents served as basis for the discussions at the Consultations in Mauritius: "SADC Progress Report on the Implementation of Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development", and a "Report of the SADC Workshop on the World Summit on Sustainable Development" held at Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa from 22 - 24 August 2001.

Deliberations focused on three major aspects related to sustainable development - social, economic and environment issues of Agenda 21. On each of these, highlights were analyzed on achievements and constraints and suggestions made for the way forward.

Among the constraints was the impact of globalisation which has increased the capacity of developed countries to advance their interests in trade and finance to the detriment of developing countries, particularly because of the widening digital divide. Other constraints recognised included insufficient market access for African products in the industrialised world, extremely low levels of foreign private capital and ODA, the debt burden and unbalanced terms of trade.

Some of the achievements in the SADC subregion were: further enhancement and consolidation of economic integration through infrastructure development and adoption of various protocols including trade; market liberalization and privitization; signing and ratification by nearly all SADC member States of the three United Nations Conventions agreed upon at RIO (Convention on Biological Diversity - CBD, Convention for the Combating of Desertiviation - CCD, and Framework Convention for Climate Change - FCCC). The SADC subregion has approved a protocol on shared water courses.

SADC has undertaken to further take concrete steps to redress critical issues in its way forward for implementation of Agenda 21. Critical social priority issues identified included poverty, gender, globalization, health, education and land use. Economic issues identified as requiring urgent action were debt, ODA, industrialization, agricultural development, removal of trade barriers, market access and capacity building. Environmental priority issues included water, oceans and coastal management, biodiversity, climatic change, land management and desertification, environment and trade. The SADC Consultation Meeting recommended that the WSSD agree on a Johannesburg Plan of Action to meet its targets in the period 2002 to 2012.

In July 2001, Africa's leaders launched the transformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) into the African Union (AU), a political initiative with a major economic component, manifest in the commitment to economic and monetary union. The AU obliges Africa's leaders, at all levels, to consider seriously how to transform today's important but limited integration processes into a more far-reaching and effective continent-wide instrument for economic and political unification. Mr. Amara Essy of Cote d'Ivoire, was elected as the new Secretary General of OAU, replacing Mr. Salim Ahmed Salim, who retired at the end of September 2001 after serving the OAU for twelve years. President Frederick Chiluba of Zambia took over as the new Chairman of OAU.

Among the key decisions taken at the Lusaka OAU Summit was the endorsement by the African Heads of State and Government of an economic-centred recovery programme, called The New African Initiative (NAI) as the core for achieving the objectives of the AU. NAI was derived from two regional initiatives, namely The Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme [MAP] and the OMEGA PLAN. The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) was specifically included in the institutional mechanism set up for the implementation of the Initiative.

MAP was the brainchild of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, arising from The African Renaissance. President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria joined in after the United Nations Millennium Assembly in September 2000. Following the presentation of MAP at the Extra-ordinary Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Sirte, Libya in March 2001, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt then joined the initiative. MAP "…is a pledge by African leaders based on a common vision, and a firm and shared conviction that they have a pressing duty to eradicate poverty and place their countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development, and to participate actively in the world economy and body politic."

The OMEGA Plan for Africa was the initiative of President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal. "The objective of the Plan is to evaluate the needs of the continent with a view to eliminate the fundamental disparities between the Continent and the developed countries…" The OMEGA Plan was also presented at the Sirte OAU meeting.

Having considered both the MAP and OMEGA Plan, the African Heads of State and Government were convinced that both were important initiatives. Accordingly, they recommended that efforts should be made to merge them so that Africa would pursue a single common programme. Thus, the programme, which was endorsed by the African Heads of State and Government at the OAU Assembly in Lusaka, Zambia in July 2001 as "A New Africa Initiative" represents a merger of MAP and OMEGA Plan.

The long-term objectives of NAI are:

• To eradicate poverty in Africa and to place African countries, both individually and collectively, on a path of sustainable growth and development and thus halt the marginalization of Africa in the globalization process.

• To promote the role of women in all activities.

• To achieve and sustain an average gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate above 7 per cent per annum for the next 15 years. • To ensure that the Continent achieves the agreed International

• To reduce the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by half between 1990 and 2015.

• To enroll all children of school age in primary schools by 2015.

• To make progress towards gender equality and empowering women by eliminating gender disparities in the enrollment in primary and secondary education by 2005.

• To reduce infant and child mortality ratios by three-quarters between 1990 and 2015.

• To reduce maternal mortality ratios by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.

  q To provide access for all who need reproductive health services by 2015.

• To implement national strategies for sustainable development by 2005, so as to reverse the loss of environmental resources by 2015.

Three sets of strategies will be pursued in achieving the above goals:

A. Preconditions for development - What African countries must do to ensure that the above goals would be attained:
• Peace, security, democracy and political governance.
• Economic and corporate governance, with focus on public finance management.
• Regional cooperation and integration.

B. Priority Sectors - Focus and selectivity in view of the vast development challenges in Africa:

• Infrastructure.
• Information and Communication Technology.
• Human development, with a focus on health, education and skills development.
• Agriculture.
• Promoting diversification of production and exports, with a focus on market access for African exports to industrialized countries.

C. Resource Mobilization: Internal actions as well as partnership arrangements:

• Increasing domestic savings.
• Debt relief.
• Increased ODA flows.
• Increased private investment (domestic and foreign).
• Better management of public revenue and expenditure.

The New Initiative demands a new partnership arrangement among Africans as well as between Africa and the rest of the world. It will include pre-conditions set by the Africans, first to be achieved by Africa and a corresponding commitment from the development partners. This new partnership will build on current partnerships, including:

• The United Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa in the 1990s - UN-NADAF.
• Africa-Europe Summit's Cairo Plan for Action.
• The World Bank-led Strategic Partnership with Africa.
• International Monetary Fund-led Poverty Reduction Strategy papers.
• The Japan-led Tokyo Agenda for Action.
• Africa Growth Opportunity Act of the United States.
• The Global Compact with Africa led by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

A new mechanism will be put in place for implementation of the New Initiative, including an institutional mechanism consisting of: Implementation Committee of 15 Heads of State and Government, which includes the original 5 Initiating Presidents; a Steering Committee of Experts; a small Secretariat; and ECA. The Implementation Committee of Heads of State and Government will be responsible for identification of strategic issues at continental level and setting up of mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation.

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) will play a role in the African Union, which is consistent with its mandate as the institution of the United Nations solely dedicated to support social and economic development in Africa. Its terms of reference include "…to initiate and participate in measures for facilitating concerted action for economic development in Africa, including its social aspects, with a view to raising the level of economic activity and levels of living in Africa…"

The Heads of State and Government, in endorsing the New African Initiative, recognized the value of ECA and specifically included ECA in the institutional mechanism for implementing the Initiative. This decision was based on well recognized past contributions of ECA to African regional initiatives, as well as to two specific on-going activities of ECA, which are relevant to the success of AU. These are The Compact for African Recovery, a framework for new partnership with Africa, and the African Development Forum 2001, which will focus on regional integration imperative for Africa.

The Compact for African Recovery was developed by ECA following the decision by the Joint Conference of African Ministers of Finance and Ministers of Economic Development and Planning, held in 2000. The Compact outlines actions which Africa would need to take in order to put in place the necessary political and economic reforms to ensure that their economies take off. In turn, it calls upon the development partners to invest the necessary resources through a combination of aid, debt relief and market access to give African economies the jump-start they need.

The Compact was subsequently developed as a possible mechanism for operationalizing the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme [MAP]. It draws extensively on ECA's research into the many components of development challenges in Africa.

The Compact proposes a transformed partnership between Africa and its international partners, focussing on the quality of aid. The wider new partnership is underpinned by the following guiding principles:

• African ownership of visions and goals for Africa's development.
• Stable long-term resource flows into Africa and predictability of support by cooperating partners.
• Mutual accountability to agreed development programmes.
• Recognition of Africa's diversity in terms of development challenges.

• Enhanced Partnership - Countries that meet the criteria for governance, economic performance and commitment to poverty reduction laid out in the Compact should receive enhanced support, including direct budgetary support in line with the medium term expenditure frameworks towards agreed poverty reduction strategies.
• Limited Partnership - This targets countries which are currently unable to make full and effective use of aid flows. International partnership will seek to promote governance and economic reforms, increasingly leading them towards the goal of enhanced partnership.
• Post Conflict Countries - Assistance would include enhancing post-conflict funds and interventions targeted at rebuilding the state and its key institutions, supporting demilitarization, and reconstructing communities.

The New African Initiative was renamed the New Partnership for Development (NEPAD) at the meeting of the Implementing Committee of Heads of State and Government that was was held in Abuja, Nigeria on 23 October 2001.

The policy organs of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) held their annual meetings in Blantyre, Malawi, from 6 to 14 August 2001 as follows:

• Meeting of the Standing Committee of Senior Officials, 6-8;
• Meeting of the Council of Ministers, 9-11;
• Summit Meeting of Heads of State and Government, 12-14.

All 14 Member States of SADC participated at all levels, but ministers represented Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius and Seychelles at the Summit. The Secretary-General of OAU and Secretary-General of COMESA as well as representatives of ADB and ECA also attended the meetings. President Bakili Muluzi of Malawi was elected Chairman of SADC for the next one year.

The Summit signed five protocols and other legal documents as follows: