Ahead of the Africa-EU Summit, the European Commission has published a Communication on consolidating Africa-EU relations, including on environmental sustainability, energy and climate change.
10 November 2010: Ahead of the Africa-EU Summit scheduled to take place from 29-30 November 2011 in Libya, the European Commission has published a Communication on consolidating Africa-EU relations, including on environmental sustainability, energy and climate change.
According to the Communication, in the post-Copenhagen context, the EU-Africa dialogue will be instrumental in building a common vision for UNFCCC negotiations while bridging positions in Cancun and beyond, with a view to achieving a legally-binding agreement. The Partnership on Climate Change is expected to remain the platform for pursuing implementation of joint flagship initiatives such as the Global Climate Change Alliance, CLIMDEV Africa, the Great Green Wall for the Sahara, and the Sahel initiative in synergy with other partnerships. A dialogue on the sustainable management of natural resources, agreements on forest legislation and projects, as well as joint policy on disaster risk reduction (DRR) will also be pursued.
In addition, the objective of sustainable growth is expected to underpin EU-African initiatives for the development of efficient, green and competitive economies, including on: raw materials; sustainable consumption and production; resource efficiency for greener production; intensification approaches for small-scale farmers that are sustainable, ecologically efficient and respect geographical indications and organic farming; environmental sustainability of foreign investments; harmonization of fragmented sanitary and phytosanitary frameworks; responsible fishing practices and fisheries management; and the introduction of measures to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and to ensure full traceability of fishery products. On sustainable energy and its efficient use, the EU and developing countries and/or regional groupings are expected to act in the context of existing partnerships, to put into place concrete joint programmes to progressively provide sustainable energy to all citizens. [EU Press Release][EU Memo] [The Communication]