Marking its 40th anniversary, the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) adopted decisions that will bolster African countries’ positions on the global environmental stage – and safeguard the future of generations to come. Delegates also took a decision on Africa’s priorities for 2025-2027 and adopted a declaration on environmental action in Africa.

While Africa is home to an estimated 30% of the world’s mineral resources, further efforts are needed to harness the continent’s potential as a global leader in the green energy transition. According to the Earth Negotiations Bulletin (ENB) summary report of the meeting, delegates to the 20th session of AMCEN (AMCEN-20) sought to further strengthen and harmonize Africa’s voice on the global stage.

Convened under the theme, ‘Four Decades of Environmental Action in Africa: Reflecting on the Past and Imagining the Future,’ AMCEN-20 took place from 14-18 July 2025 in Nairobi, Kenya. Libya hosted the Conference.

A ministerial segment adopted decisions on ocean governance, chemicals and waste governance, climate change, biodiversity, a draft drought protocol, and Africa’s participation at international environmental conferences related to wetlands, climate change, endangered species, and mercury.

Delegates also adopted the ‘Tripoli Declaration on Environmental Action in Africa: Reflecting on the Past and Imagining the Future,’ in which African ministers of environment declare their resolve to, inter alia:

• urge member States to prioritize, harmonize, and implement national and regional action plans and policies to combat desertification, land degradation, and drought, and call for a legally binding protocol on drought under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD);
• encourage all member States to ratify or accede to the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) and to integrate its provisions into national ocean governance frameworks;
• endeavor to harness Africa’s critical mineral wealth in a manner that safeguards the environment, respects local community rights, and maximizes local benefits for a just and sustainable future, and to agree to develop continent-wide guidelines for environmentally and socially responsible critical mineral extraction and processing;
• work collaboratively with ministers of finance to unlock new green investments and finance and facilitate targeted work on key environment and development priorities for Africa; and
• pursue the reform of the international financial architecture to enhance access to climate finance, reduce costs of financing for climate change and development in Africa, and enhance the participation of African States in global financial arrangements.

Four high-level policy dialogues addressed:

• sustainable and climate-resilient financing and budgeting as a pathway to addressing climate change, natural disasters, and environmental degradation in Africa;
• leveraging the Group of 20 (G20), currently presided over by South Africa, to address Africa’s environmental challenges;
• the role of sustainable digital technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), early warning systems, and assessments for environmental sustainability in Africa; and
• critical minerals and the energy transition in Africa.

On the margins of AMCEN-20, the African Union (AU) launched its ‘Continental Circular Economy Action Plan’ and an event marked ten years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement on climate change. [ENB Coverage of AMCEN-20]