What: The African Union will hold a Special Session of Ministers responsible for Environment and Natural Resources under the auspices of the Specialized Technical Committee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Water and Environment (STC, ARDWE)

When:     Friday, 13 November 2020

    Time:       12:00 – 18:00 (GMT+3)

Where:    Zoom virtual platform registration: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1JYVHUyuTwuHE2CACeQC0A

Who:       Organized by the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) of the African Union Commission (AUC).

Objectives: Within the context of providing political guidance on Africa’s response to COVID-19 and beyond, the STC aims to achieve the following:

• Ø  Assess the impacts of COVID-19 on the relevant sectors that fall within the scope of Environment and Natural Resources;
• Ø  Review the measures that have been taken by the African Union Commission to manage the impacts of the pandemic; and
• Ø  Approve the proposed mechanisms aimed at building resilience in Africa and achieving accelerated recovery in a post COVID-19 era.

Participants:

The meeting is targeting Ministers and experts of the following sectors: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction, Environment (including Multilateral Environmental Agreements), Forestry, Land Management (including the Great Green Wall initiative), Meteorology, Water and Sanitation, and Wildlife.

Representatives of the media are invited to attend and cover the event scheduled to be held virtually on Friday 13^th November 2020 at 12:00.

Further information:

Mrs. Olushola Olayide, Senior Policy Officer, Rural Economy and Agriculture Department, African Union Commission. E-mail: OlusholaO@africa-union.org; Tel: +251-11- 5517700

Media contact:

Mr. Molalet Tsedeke, Directorate of Information and Communication of the AUC, Tel: 0911-630631; Email: molalett@africa-union.org;