The Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Ms. Angele Makombo NโTumba participated at the Twentieth Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN-20) which was held from 14-18 July 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya.ย
The Theme for the Session was: โFour Decades of Environmental Action in Africa: Reflecting on the Past and Imagining the Future.โ The session marked the 40th Anniversary of AMCEN.
AMCENโs role includes, among others:
Providing continent-wide leadership by promoting awareness and consensus on global and regional environmental issues;
Developing common positions to guide African representatives in negotiations for legally binding international environmental agreements;
Promoting African participation in international dialogue on global issues of importance to Africa;
Reviewing and monitoring environmental programmes at the regional, sub-regional and national levels;
Providing regional strategic and policy guidance to promote sound environmental management for sustainable development;ย
Promoting the ratification by African countries of multilateral environmental agreements relevant to the region; and
Building African capacity in the field of environmental management.
AMCEN20 provided an opportunity for ministers and experts to discuss and prepare Africaโs common position and engagement in upcoming global environmental fora including the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe; the Thirty-Seventh Meeting of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer to be held in Nairobi, Kenya; the 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-6) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury to be held in Geneva, Switzerland; the 30th Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP 30) to be held in Belem, Brazil; the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP20) to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan and; the 7th United Nations Environment Assembly that will take place in December 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya under the theme โAdvancing sustainable solutions for a resilient planetโ.
In addition, the ministers and experts reviewed progress made in the implementation of the decisions adopted at the eighteenth and nineteenth ordinary and tenth special sessions of AMCEN and agreed on Africaโs environmental priorities for the period 2025 to 2027. The session featured dialogues on key accelerators for achieving the agenda 2030 and Africaโs Agenda 2063. At the end of the conference, the ministers adopted a declaration, a set of decisions, and key messages reflecting the discussions under the various agenda items.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of AMCEN (AMCENat40), a high-level special session brought together high-level dignitaries from Africa and around the world to deliver statements and participate in dialogues on environmental sustainability in Africa. The special session culminates in a high-level statement on AMCENโs achievements over the last 40 years and policy recommendations on the โAMCEN we wantโ to address Africaโs environmental challenges in the future.
The involvement of SADC Secretariat at the AMCEN-20 is aligned to the regional environmental strategies with continental goals, fostering collaboration on environmental sustainability, and implementing regional action plans, including facilitating harmonization and coordination of regional and national actions to address environmental issues, aligning global and continental objectives. This includes enhancing regional integration and global cooperation on environmental issues.