© 2016 AU-IBAR. Continental Workshop on Harmonization of Pesticide Regulations in Africa 19th April, 2016, Cairo – Arab Republic of Egypt.19^th April, 2016 – Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt

Background and Workshop Context

Promoted by the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) pesticide use will grow in Africa over the next few years as one of the most efficient means to eliminate pests and improve crop production and productivity. Auxiliary uses of pesticides and other agro-chemicals will also grow such as use in apiculture.

There is a legitimate need for pesticides and government equity in their promotion since Africa is reliant on raw material production which forms much of the tradeable products that are key export revenue earners. However, the use of pesticides will remain highly contested with the debate centered on the possible benefits versus the potential impact on human health, non-target insects and the environment.

Although Africa still has low levels of use, many of the problems are related to poor regulation and enforcement with rampant use of illegal and banned substances, low research and development, poor utilization and management by users and poor monitoring of residue levels and other impacts. While governance of pesticide regulation has improved over the last decades, there is yet varied capability among African countries and a pervading ignorance among both users and the general populace of the potential negative effects of poor handling and use.

AU-IAPSC under its African Union mandate as the continental plant protection organization initiated a process to harmonize pesticide regulation in Africa. The process commenced in 2009 with a survey on the legal and institutional frameworks for plant protection and the use of chemicals in selected pilot countries of the continent. This was followed by a number of consultative processes which cumulated in the writing of the first draft in June 2012 in Alexandria, Egypt which was thereafter reviewed by at an Expert Meeting in July 2012, and finalized in October 2013 in Tunis, Tunisia in preparation for the final phase of continental validation.

© 2016 AU-IBAR. Madam Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Opened the Eighth Panafrican Meeting of OIE Delegates/CVOs on Coordinated Position on OIE Animal Health Standards. The 8^th Panafrican meeting of OIE Delegates, Directors of Veterinary Services and Chief Veterinary Officers is organized by the African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources, technical office of the Department for Rural Economy and Agriculture with the aim to prepare coordinated positions on draft OIE standards proposed for adoption during the 84^th Session of the World Assembly of OIE Delegates.

Opening the forum, H.E Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, reiterated: that the PAN-SPSO Project that ended on 31^st December aimed to facilitate the effective participation of African countries in the activities of the World Animal Health Organization (OIE), the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) and the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), during the formulation of international standards for terrestrial and aquatic animal health, plant health, and food safety”, is the symbol of the intention of the department for Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union Commission, to improve the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) capacity of the AU Member States. The Secretariat for Standards and Trade has taken up PANSPSO’s core activities. The funding of the Secretariat is assured by the AU Member States budget which concretizes my statement above on the responsibility of my Department in activities related to sanitary and phytosanitary matters;

H.E. Tumusiime stressed the OIE Delegates to:

• collaborate with the national coordinating SPS committees or in short the national SPS Committees, and seek for a sustainable mechanism of funding the national consultations for building common positions and the participation of all national delegates in the international SPS meetings. She also referred to the common positions taken by African governments towards COP21; which helped them to negotiate as an entity.
• update the veterinary legislation to reflect the changes that happen in the sanitary domain in order to allow safe trade of livestock and livestock commodities.
• engage in and to support the Continental and Regional free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations in order, among others, to promote the intra and interregional trade of the livestock and fisheries sectors in Africa for which the demand is constantly growing;

© 2016 AU-IBAR. Press Release of the 2nd Steering Committee Meeting of the Fisheries Governance Project and the Fish Trade Project. 31st March, 2016 Dakar, Senegal.The Second joint Project Steering Committee meeting of fish Gov and Fish Trade was held in Dakar, Republic of Senegal on March 31^st, 2016.

The Projects are funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the African Union Commission (AUC), through the African Union - Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and the New Partneship for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) in the case of the Fisheries Governance. The Fish Trade Project is jointly implemented by AU-IBAR, NEPAD and WorldFish as the lead partners. The FishGov aims at enhancing the contribution of fisheries resources to food security and economic growth in Africa by improving institutional and policy environment for sustainable management and utilization of fisheries resources in Africa. The focus is to strengthen the capacity ofAfrican Union Member States (AU MS), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the Private Sector and relevant stakeholders to sustainably manage and untilize African Fisheries and Aquaculture resources through improving institutional and policy environment.

The Fish Trade Project on the other hand is implemented with the objective to improve food and nutrition security and reduce poverty through intra-regional Fish Trade in Sub-Saharan Africa. The core thrust of the Fish Trade targeted at enhancing the capacities of regional and pan-African organizations to support their member states to better integrate intra-regional fish trade into their development and food security policy agendas. The project actions are focused on four main trade corridors in the Western, Southern, Eastern and Central Africa.

The meeting was attended by 43 participants across the continent which included representatives of the key stakeholders of the projects: from the technical and implementing partners, the European Commission, Member states, RECs, RFBs, CSOs, the Private Sector, Farmers Organisations.

© 2016 AU-IBAR. AU-IBAR Workshop on Capacity Building for Negotiation Fisheries Access Agreements. Dakar, Senegal, 28-30 March 2016.The AU-IBAR in collaboration with the NEPAD Agency and support from the European Union organized a three day capacity building workshop on strengthening negotiating capacity in a regional approach to fair and sustainable fisheries access agreement in the West and Central Africa.

The workshop held in Dakar Senegal, brought together about seventy participants from the coastal states of the AU MS as well as other persons from many jurisdictions concerned with the agreements negotiations (fisheries, trade, and justice), the private sector, NGOs and for the first time, the media.

The main objective of the workshop was to provide adequate resources for fisheries experts to negotiate favorable agreements with their countries.

It was the third in series of such capacity building workshop organized by the African Union Commission, through the African Union Inter-African Bureau of Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) shortly following one recently organized for the East and Southern Africa in February, 2016.

A brief formal opening ceremony on Monday 28 March was chaired by the Senegalese Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, Mr. Oumar Gueye who underscored the need to reverse the trend of over exploitation of fishery resources which he said was threatening food security and economic sustainability.