Participants of QUEST4Africa event at AU’s HQs, Addis Ababa

HoA-REC&N partnered with UNESCO to organize the 3rd QUEST4Africa event that took place from 13-14 December 2016 at the African Union Commission Headquarters, Addis Ababa.  The meeting focused on discussing pledges made and working groups created on biodiversity, climate and water during the first and second sessions of QUEST4Africa in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

QUEST4Africa was developed as an event-series in 2014 in partnership between UNESCO and the African Union Commission, initially, in support of the Agenda 2063 and UN SDGs in the areas of biodiversity, climate change, and water issues. The 3rd QUEST4Africa meeting additionally sought to establish working groups on refugees, sport, culture and education, amongst others.  Moreover, innovative methods of mobilizing financial resources for the implementation of suggested projects were discussed.

Among the pledges made last year was the establishment of a Cross-border Biosphere Reserve Ethiopia/South-Sudan for forest conservation, wetland management and sustainable human living.  Another pledge focused on establishing a waste management project in the Horn of Africa with the view to youth empowerment. HoA-REC&N is working, amongst others, on conserving Boma-Gambella landscape   and helping the Addis Ababa city Administration in the city’s waste management effort. HoA-REC&N Executive Director and programme representatives also attended the meeting to share their experiences on some of the Centre’s  projects and programmes.