African coastal states have been invited to increase the integration of the maritime dimension in their national economic planning. The call came at a meeting of environment ministers and experts from more than 40 African countries in Cairo last week (16-19 April 2016). IMO’s Jonathan Pace was in attendance at the Sixth Special Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), to discuss the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change within the framework of the continent’s Agenda 2063 “The Africa We Want”.
The meeting discussed the Africa Adaptation Initiative, which helps African countries build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, which seeks to foster renewable energy capacity on the continent by 2020. In particular, the sustainable harnessing and integration of natural capital, including within the blue economy, were discussed as ways to implement the 2030 Agenda and Agenda 2063.