With the facilitation of African Union SAFGRAD, NEPAD in partnership with UNEP and other African and international institutions organized a “Regional Technical Meeting on the preparation of a report on the status of land degradation and restoration in Africa” in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso from 12 to 13 April 2017. Participants to the workshop were comprised of RECs project focal points, other international key partners and resource persons. The meeting was designed to develop a common report to synthetize the available data on land degradation and restoration in Africa, which will not only help guide action for the RECs and its member states, but also serve as a strategic document to better mobilize resources to address disaster risk challenges such as desertification, drought, climate change and provide restoration opportunities across the continent.
AU SAFGRAD has facilitated the organization of such event. Dr Ahmed ELMEKASS, AU SAFGRAD Coordinator, has delivered statement at the opening and the closing ceremonies while Mr. Mamadou KOUTOU, Senior Programme Officer, made presentation and fully contributed to all the technical sessions. In his part, Mr. Youssoupha MBENGUE, Senior Communications Officer, notably facilitated media issues and field visit to Guie site. In the margins of the gathering, Au SAFGRAD Coordinator and NEPAD representative took the opportunity to discuss serious ways of close collaboration between the two institutions, notably through joint project proposals at relevant initiatives.
