UNEP Releases Their Latest Publication: The 3rd African Environmental Outlook

The 3rd African Environmental Outlook (AEO3), published by UNEP and commissioned by the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), recommends a bold statement for African environmental policy drivers. This would be to place the implementation of environmental and health initiatives at the top of their agenda's.

The report focuses mainly on the links between the environment and health, and how the environment contributes to major health impacts on livelihoods. The report also highlights indoor pollutants such as particular matter as a major impact on respiratory systems of the human body- as many African household still use wood as a resource for heating and cooking, these emissions remain in the immediate air for extended periods (without proper in house air circulation) and can be inhaled.

The Report also notes that although African countries have an array of good policies and strategies that concentrates on environmental change to implement, these initiatives are weekend by institutional inertia and the inability to implement due to lack of capacity. What the AEO3, as a framework for Policy Makers, intends on doing would be to produce measurements as to increase capacity, develop appropriate strategies and monitor the implementation and success of such policies.

H.E. Terezya Huvisa, Minister of State - Environment of the United Republic of Tanzania and President of AMCEN stated the following:

"As this report highlights, African governments are all too aware of the challenges facing the continent in terms of environmental impacts on human health. There are significant on-going efforts to combat these challenges, including putting in place many relevant policies," She Added: "However, these policies must be strongly implemented to have an impact, and enforcement mechanisms should be put in place and strengthened to reduce the negative consequences, ... If the recommendations in AEO-3 are followed, our citizens can look forward to healthier, and ultimately more productive, lives."

As for the above statement, we can only hope.

The report thus suggests key messages and policy recommendations. Furthermore, a section is dedicated to understanding the state of the environment within the context of environmental impacts on human health. The environmental factors looked at within this section includes:

• Air quality
• Biodiversity
• Chemicals and Waste
• Climate change
• Freshwater and Sanitation
• Land

You can read about this press release further on the UNEP website here.