Absalom Shigwedha 

WINDHOEK – The Abidjan Convention to which Namibia is a party will hold its second conference of its bureau, partners and focal points in the Ivorian city of Abidjan next week.

The conference to which Namibia has also been invited to attended will, amongst others, discuss issues of climate change and marine spatial planning and the conservation of marine biodiversity.
The conference will take place from the 1st – 3rd of July 2019. Other issues to be discussed is the exploration of oil and gas in the ocean. 

The Abidjan Convention is the Convention for Cooperation in the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Areas of the Atlantic Coast of the West, Central and Southern Africa.
The Secretariat of the Convention (based in Abidjan) said the high-level ministerial segment of the conference which will be held on the 2nd of July will see Ministers from the Abidjan Convention Parties signing four additional Protocols and the Policy on Integrated Management of Oceans in the Abidjan Convention Zone.

The additional Protocols are the additional protocol on pollution from land-based activities, additional protocol on environmental standards and guidelines for offshore oil and gas activities, the additional protocol on integrated coastal management and the additional protocol on sustainable mangrove management.
The Abidjan Convention is one the Regional Sea Programme of the Naiobi-based UN Environment (formerly known as the United Nation Environment Programme).

The Abidjan Convention was adopted in Abidjan in1981 and came into force in 1984. Namibia acceded to this Convention in July 2014.