About the ACP MEAs 3 Programme

The ACP MEAs Programme is a joint partnership between the European Union, the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The programme aims to build capacity in 79 countries in Africa, Caribbean, and the Pacific (ACP) to support them in fulfilling their obligations as parties to Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), to address the environmental challenges they face and to reap the benefits of improved environmental governance at national and regional levels.

Since its inception in 2009, the programme is continuing support to ACP countries and is now in its third phase. Phase 1 aimed to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, loss of biodiversity, drought, land degradation, chemicals, hazardous waste and other threats to the environment. Phase 2 built on the experiences, lessons learned, and achievements gained from the initial phase, to further enhance the capacity of the ACP countries on two clusters of MEAs (Biodiversity and chemicals and waste management).

The current and third phase (ACP MEAs 3 Programme), focuses on 3 objectives, namely:

1. Improved enforcement of and compliance with Multilateral Environmental Agreements related to biodiversity (CBD, CITES, CMS) and chemicals and waste (Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata),
2. Improved ACP countries capacities for the management of coasts and oceans in line with the related regional seas conventions, and;
3. Enhanced mainstreaming of biodiversity and of the sound management of chemicals and waste in agriculture in ACP countries in line with related MEAs. FAO focuses on implementation of actions related to the third objective.

The global relevance of the ACP MEAs Programme is reflected in its alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), covering a wide range of targets under:

The programme partners currently includes the African Union Commission (AUC), the Caribbean community Secretariat (CARICOM), the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Abidjan Convention Secretariat, Nairobi Convention Secretariat, Cartagena Convention Secretariat, Noumea Convention Secretariat, Bamako Convention, BRS Convention Secretariat, Minamata Convention Secretariat, CBD Secretariat, CITES Secretariat and the Secretariat to CMS.

The Nairobi Convention Secretariat is implementing activities under Objective 2 of the programme in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region focusing on improving capacities on Ocean governance.

Under the project, it is expected that:

1. 1. The existing governance frameworks of the Nairobi convention and its protocols will be reinforced
   2. A regionally representative network of MPAs with proper management capacities for effectiveness will be established
   3. Capacity development in waste management approaches such as the 3Rs: Reducing, Reusing, Recycling and, development and implementation of national marine litter action plans will be supported to contribute to the reduction of waste influx into the marine environment
   4. Promotion will be done for information and knowledge materials related to MEAs produced such as best practices and lessons learnt on local level marine litter management to enhance awareness and access.

The benefiting countries under Nairobi Convention include Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Zanzibar, and Tanzania. The total funding for the 5-year project (2019-2024) is USD 2,140,638.