Congo to update the national program of action for the environment

11 Juin 2020

Brazzaville, Congo, June 11 (Infosplusgabon) - The Congolese Minister of Tourism and the Environment, Arlette Soudan Nonault, said on Wednesday in Brazzaville that updating the National Program of Action for the Environment (PNAE) would allow Congo to acquire a second generation document which will take into account international commitments linked to current challenges and emerging themes on environmental management.

''The environmental issue has become a major variable in sustainable development, of which it represents one of the three pillars. We cannot, in fact, ensure sustainable development without an environmentally sound management of the environment," said Nonault, at the opening of the validation workshop of the National Environment Action Program.

She said the requirement remains limited by the PNAE in force since 1996 and which no longer adapts to international standards in terms of environmental management.

"When reviewed, the national plan will be modernized to make government policies in the tourism and environment sector more effective," she said.

''Almost three decades after its adoption, it is more than necessary to update the PNAE in order to bring it in line with the socio-economic developments of the country and by integrating into it the environmental issues that have emerged in recent decades,'' continued Nonault.

Also speaking, the resident representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Maleye Diop, stressed that his organization will continue to support Congo in improving its ecosystem management, conserving biodiversity and, consequently, improving living conditions of the populations.

''The overall objective of this work to update the PNAE initiated by the Ministry of Tourism and the Environment is to guarantee a healthy environment and the implementation of sustainable development mechanisms by the country for the benefit of the populations, and this by taking environmental sustainability into account in development policies, strategies, plans, programs and projects,'' he said.

Congo, which is part of the promotion of biodiversity and the fight against the effects of environmental degradation, assigns to itself the mission to improve environmental governance, starting from the legal framework: the National Action Plan for the Environment, currently being updated.

The Congolese President, Dénis Sassou N'Guesso, is the initiator of the Blue Fund for the Congo basin.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/BOL/GABON2020

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