Technology-Supported Learning for Environmental Education

27-29 May 2009. Dakar, Senegal. The fourth eLearning Africa conference on ICT for Development, Education and Training. Under the patronage of the Republic of Senegal eLearning Africa attracted 1315 eLearning users, newcomers, providers and experts from 85 countries, who gathered over the three conference days.

The benefits of e-learning systems are not, though, without disadvantages, and many respondents to a Survey of e-Learning in Africa Based on a Questionnaire Survey of People on the e-Learning Africa Database in 2007 drew attention to these, typified by the following:

Moodle has a quite steep learning curve and it needs a fair time investment in face-to-face, hands-on, training to get started, which is not easy to arrange when working on a voluntary base. The saying „The first online course you do well is the second“ is very true. To overcome this starting inertia is very hard because it takes time to really deeply understand the potential of eL and see the results, especially when working with a foreign language and being a newbie with PC. Prompt tutoring is crucial (Burundi) See also: Workshop A10: A Hands-On Guide to Using an Open Source Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle)

One of the pre-conference events related to agriculture and the environment: Technology-Supported Learning for Environmental Education. The overall objective of this seminar was to further the implementation of Decision 6 of the 12th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment 12 (AMCEN-12)1, which addressed the interrelated issues of environmental education and technology-supported learning with the aim of mainstreaming technology-supported learning in African environmental institutions to enhance the delivery of environmental education, training and awareness-raising.

Speakers and participants at the seminar included decision-makers, eLearning experts, educators, environmental education programme managers, eLearning programme managers and information specialists working in international organisations, UN agencies, environment ministries, environmental protection agencies, universities, non-governmental organisations, research institutions and the private sector.

Climate Change sub-theme stakeholder workshop at AMCEN

25-30 May, Nairobi - Kenya. AMCEN Meeting/AU Summit Preparations: 3rd Special Session of AMCEN on Climate Change.

On 29 May, ministers from more than 30 African countries adopted the Nairobi Declaration on climate at a weeklong special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) in the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya.

The landmark document highlighted the major challenges and opportunities that African countries face in the upcoming negotiations in Copenhagen on a climate agreement that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol. The Declaration urges all parties - and particularly the international community - to base increased support for Africa on the priorities for the continent, which include adaptation, capacity-building, financing and technology development and transfer.

Reference
Nairobi Declaration on the African Process for Combating Climate Change
UNEP Press Release 2 June African Ministers Adopt the Nairobi Declaration on Climate

Background AMCEN at a glance The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) was established in December 1985, following a conference of African ministers of environment held in Cairo , Egypt . Its mandate is to provide advocacy for environmental protection in Africa; to ensure that basic human needs are met adequately and in a sustainable manner; to ensure that social and economic development is realized at all levels; and to ensure that agricultural activities and practices meet the food security needs of the region.

Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment.

One of the major highlights of the 12th Session of AMCEN is the launch of "Africa: Atlas of our changing environment". The Atlas is the first major publication to depict rapid environmental change in Africa's countries using satellite imagery, and is a resource for remedial action at all levels.

Charles Sebukeera, UNEP,

during his presentation on Africa:

Atlas of Our Changing Environment

The Atlas, compiled on behalf of the ministers by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), underlines how development choices, population growth, climate change and, in some cases, conflicts are shaping and impacting the natural and nature-based assets of the region.

The nearly 400-page long publication was launched on Tuesday 10/06 by President Thabo Mbeki of the Republic of South Africa who is hosting the AMCEN meeting in Johannesburg. Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment features over 300 satellite images taken in every country in Africa in over 100 locations. The 'before' and 'after' photographs, some of which span a 35-year period, offer striking snapshots of local environmental transformation across the continent. In addition to well-publicized changes, such as Mount Kilimanjaro's shrinking glaciers, the drying up of Lake Chad and falling water levels in Lake Victoria, the Atlas presents, for the first time, satellite images of new or lesser known environmental changes and challenges.

The Atlas, compiled in cooperation with researchers and organizations in Africa and elsewhere, offers a sobering assessment of thirty-six years of environmental change, including: 'The swell of grey-coloured cities over a once-green countryside; protected areas shrinking as farms encroach upon their boundaries; the tracks of road networks through forests; pollutants that drift over borders of neighboring countries; the erosion of deltas; refugee settlements scattered across the continent causing further pressure on the environment; and shrinking mountain glaciers'.

The satellite images also highlight positive signs of management that is protecting against and even reversing environmental degradation, say the authors.

The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) believes that the growing environmental degradation of Africa is perhaps most starkly reflected in satellite images beamed from the skies. So, the Nairobi-based U.N. agency introduced previously another atlas in August 2006 which had as title: "Africa's Lakes: Atlas of our Changing Environment",

This site contains downloadable versions of the atlas in both English and French. Also included are powerpoints, posters, satellite images, graphics, and interactive maps.

Picture of forest in West of Ghana:a comparison between 1973 and 2002: 30 years later...

References

ReliefWeb 10/06 Environmental change re-draws Atlas of Africa: Glacial retreat to rapid urbanization chronicled in landmark satellite report to Africa's environment Ministers

BBC News, 10/06 Atlas shows vanishing landscape

IOL 10/06 Africans are greener, but continent struggles

Buanews online 04/06 Africa to debate global environmental issues

Independen News 10/06 New African atlas to be introduced

AllAfrica 10/06 Africa: Satellite Images Tell Striking Story of Change

Expert Group Meeting of the Twelfth Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment

South Africa hosted the 12th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), 7-12 June 2008 and will also be taking the helm of AMCEN for the next two years. The official opening ceremony for AMCEN took place on 10 June 2008 to which FARA participating.

View of the Sandton Convention Centre,

venue of AMCEN-12

The first Extraordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the West and Central African Region will also run parallel to AMCEN from 9-10 June 2008.

Another Associated meeting is the Special Conference of Parties of the Abidjan Convention COP 9, on 9 -10 June 2008.

The Expert Group met in plenary to hear presentations and discuss a number of items, including: a report by the AMCEN Secretariat; implementation of the Action Plan for the Environment Initiative of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); reports from the African Union Commission (AUC) and NEPAD; AMCEN’s draft indicative work programme for the biennium 2009-2010; and the forthcoming launch of Africa: Atlas of Our Changing Environment.

Participants during Working Group I (WGI): Climate Change

The Expert Group then convened in three working groups to prepare draft decisions for the ministerial segment on climate change, AMCEN’s Work Programme for the 2009-2010 Biennium, and policy-related matters. It forwarded to the ministerial segment the draft Johannesburg Declaration on the Environment for Development (the Johannesburg declaration), the draft indicative work programme for the biennium 2009-2010, and draft decisions on the following matters:

• implementation of the Action Plan of the Environment Initiative of NEPAD; status and use of the general trust fund; chemicals management;
• environmental education;
• Africa Environment Day;
• the Africa Environment Outlook process and the Africa Environment Information Network;
• Africa’s preparations for developing a common negotiating position on a comprehensive international climate change regime beyond 2012;
• and the comprehensive framework of African climate change programmes, containing an indicative list of Africa’s climate change decisions and an indicative conceptual outline of a comprehensive framework for African climate change programmes.

UNEP Resources

• Ministerial Agenda
• Experts Agenda
• Report of the Bureau of the AMCEN on the work of its 22nd meeting
• Status report on the implementation of the Action Plan for the NEPAD environment initiative - June 2006–May 2008
• Status of the general trust fund of AMCEN
• Status of implementation of the decisions taken by the 11th session of AMCEN
• History of AMCEN
• Abidjan Special COP Session

IISD RS Resources

• African Regional Coverage
• Linkages Update - Bi-weekly international environment and sustainable development news