Cairo, 3rd March 2015 – As a flagship of South-South Cooperation, the UNEP-China-Africa Cooperation Programme completed its second phase with the report launched during the 15th session of African Ministerial Conference on the Environment.

Many nations on the African continent are facing severe challenges from the escalating impacts of climate change. The way to sustainable development are being threatened from climate change, as well as the efforts for eradicating poverty and improving human well-being to achieve the post-2015 development agenda and the proposed Sustainable Development Agenda.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is working with nations like China, who are committed to work with the global South for an inclusive Green Economy. UNEP, in partnership with the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MOST) initiated the UNEP-China-Africa Cooperation Programme in 2008,to enhance capacity of African countries in addressing environmental challenges in the context of climate change, through technology transfer, demonstration projects, and numerous capacity building programmes.

The Programme was jointly implemented through two phases: Phase I (2008-2011) involving four environmental demand driven projects, and Phase II (2011-2014) under the theme of “One Lake, One River and One Desert”, entailing six subprojects, with 17 Chinese institutes and 16 participating African countries and organizations.

The report highlights key outcomes from the programme in the aspects of watershed management, rainwater harvesting, affordable drinking water, wastewater treatment, sustainable management of dryland agriculture, sustainable land management and desertification combating, with a focus on capacity development and lessons learned. Mr. Wan Gang, the Minister of Science and Technology of China proposed in his foreword to his report that “China will continue to collaborate with UNEP and African countries, make science and technology play a bigger role in spurring economic and social development…make both China and Africa better and greener.”

As indicated in the report, around 1,000 technicians, officers and farmers in African countries have benefited from workshops, training programmes, study tours, on-site training and scholarship sponsored postgraduate programmes. As described by Nairobi City County Governor Dr. Evans Kidero, “this is a good example of China-Africa cooperation in improving local people’s welfare in a practical and timely manner”.

“It is our intention that thousands more do so as we embark on the next phase of this partnership. It is our hope that the technologies and capacity-building approaches outlined in this report will be promoted by governments and local communities across Africa in an effort to deal with climate change in ways that support sustainable economic growth”, said Mr. Achim Steiner, the UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director in his preface to this report.

In May 2014, UNEP and China signed a new high-level agreement to harness their strengths, capacities and resources to further work with countries in the global South through broader South-South and Triangular Cooperation.