Press Release

13th COP of the Abidjan Convention under the theme of Ocean Governance

Abidjan - December 10th, 2021 – «Ocean Governance: challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of Africa », is the theme of the Thirteenth Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP13) to the Abidjan Convention, to be held virtually from 13 to 15 December 2021.

During this meeting, twenty (20) draft decisions will be reviewed by experts. These draft decisions will be later submitted to the ministers of environment of the twenty-two (22) Abidjan Convention member countries for approval.

The Conference of Parties, supreme body of the Abidjan Convention takes place every two or three years. Its 13th edition will gather, aside representatives of member countries, participants from the five continents. Among them, scientists, representatives of intergovernmental institutions, United Nations bodies, environmental NGOs and partners.

This gathering will also be the opportunity to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Abidjan Convention which, since 1981 has been playing a tremendous role in the debates on oceans and coastal environment in Western, Central and Southern Africa.

Since its creation, the Abidjan Convention has succeeded in positioning itself as a key actor relating to marine and coastal biodiversity in the sub-region. During the last five years, it:

  1. Provided its member countries with four additional protocols on i) pollution from land-based sources and activities (Grand-Bassam protocol); (ii) sustainable management of mangroves (Calabar protocol); (iii) integrated coastal zone management (Pointe Noire protocol); (iv) exploration and exploitation of offshore oil and gas activities (Malabo protocol).
  2. Strengthened the capacities of member states in mastering the integrated management tools of coasts and oceans (Marine Spatial Planning, characterization of Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas, preparation of reports on the state of marine environment, strengthening the network of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) of which the first Ivorian MPA was created on December 21st 2020, fighting coastal erosion, protection of mangroves ecosystems, fighting plastique pollution…).

The Abidjan Convention Secretariat invites all participants to register on the COP13 website https://cop13.abidjanconvention.org/part_registration, where all the meeting documents are available

Vanessa Ahouadjiro/Abdoulaye Diagana