Judith van Leeuwen and Harry Barnes-Dabban in Ivory Coast for UNEP

Judith van Leeuwen and Harry Barnes-Dabban of ENP will be in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, between 5 -7 May 2015 participating as part of experts drawn from Europe and Africa in the First Meeting of the Abidjan Convention Panel of Experts on Strategic Assessment of Port Environmental Issues, Policies and Programmes in West, Central and Southern Africa.

The meeting is organised by UNEP (Abidjan Convention Secretariat) in collaboration with Ports Environmental Network-Africa (PENAf) and is hosted by the Port Authority of Abidjan. PENAf (http://www.penaf.org/) is a non-profit organisation with interest in the environmental health of African ports and was founded by Harry Barnes-Dabban. In November 2012, during the tenth meeting of the contracting parties to the Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Areas of the Atlantic Coast of West, Central and Southern Africa (also known as the Abidjan Convention), it was decided that action should be taken to reduce environmental impacts from ports and shipping in the convention area. The objective of this Panel of Experts meeting is to establish an environmental cooperation network for ports in the Abidjan Convention area, and to develop an action to increase the environmental health of West, Central and Southern Africa ports. Topics to be discussed include among others, the current state of the environment in ports in the convention area, the need for greening ports, the need for environmental research and data gathering capacity, use of eco-port tools, and governance and finance mechanisms for the environmental cooperation network. 

More information can be found here.