William J. Hartnett & Mawuli Tse*
he environment is increasingly seen as a global issue. An important dual objective for Africa on this and other global issues is to effectively participate in global negotiations and effectively implement resulting agreements. Africa's success in achieving this dual objective is also in the interest of the rest of the world, both developing and developed.
The complexity of environmental issues presents a major challenge to individual African countries, which may not have resources to either field negotiating teams with sufficient expertise or to effectively implement resulting agreements. One possible strategy is to create a regional coalition, such as for sub-Saharan Africa. The pools of human capital and financial resources would be greater; specific issues could be allocated in a division of labor; economies of scale could be realized; and the political clout of the regional coalition would be correspondingly enhanced.
The Framework Convention on Climate Change, completed in 1992 for the RIO Convention, is a great case study in negotiation dynamics. The major negotiating groups were the United States, other OECD countries, and the "Group of 77" developing countries, although at times intra-country policy differences between finance or energy ministers and the environment minister dominated. The United States blocked specific timetables or financial commitments sought by other OECD countries and the Group of 77. The interests of the Group of 77 were further differentiated into the Alliance of Small Island States, the Kuala Lumpur Group (with large forest resources), and the oil-exporting developing countries.
Sub-Saharan African countries in particular aggressively pursued adaptation and abatement issues; Senegal played a major role in greenhouse gas emission inventories; and Ghana was able to craft a cohesive Group of 77 negotiating posture during its turn at the chairmanship. While Africa performed a creditable role in the development of the Convention on Climate Change, the regional integration of its concerns and resources for such global issues could significantly increase its negotiating and implementation effectiveness.
The idea for Africa to deal with issues which transcend its individual countries by means of a cooperative coalition is not new. It is also easier to state than accomplish. With thousands of ethnic groups and traditional states and the more recent colonial divisions, Africa's regional coalitions have had a checkered history. The Organization of African Unity (OAU), which was envisioned as a vehicle for promoting the common interests of Africa, has been unable to effectively undertake major development issues facing the continent. As a result it has been regarded by many as just a source of communiqués and declarations. It will require strong leadership for the OAU to assume responsibility for measures to protect the environment, particularly since environmental issues are closely associated with national boundaries.
Nowhere is the colonial effect more strongly divisive than in West Africa, where cooperation between Francophone and Anglophone countries has been limited by the interests of the former colonial powers. Virtually every river in the sub-region crosses between a French-speaking and English-speaking country, yet the competition between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Francophone West African Economic Community (CEAO) may prevent the regional organizations from taking action on a truly regional basis.
Cooperation at the sub-regional level has been more effective in southern Africa, where the Southern African Development Conference, or SADC1 was formed in response to the common threat of apartheid South Africa. Regional ties between member countries have been maintained even after the democratization of South Africa, allowing SADC to play a significant role in the political, economic, and industrial development of the sub-region.
There are already over 200 regional organizations on the continent established to pursue cooperative activities. However they have all been hampered by low funding from defaulting member states, which understandably are more interested in spending their scarce resources on domestic projects. Examples range from training programs such as the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI), to locust control and river blindness prevention programs. While new regional initiatives to deal with the environment will face the same obstacles, the trans-boundary nature of environmental issues makes regional cooperation a necessary goal. Existing organizations can strengthen this effort by educating the governments and the public on the importance of the environment and the benefits of preserving resources for future generations. In addition these organizations can directly integrate environmental considerations into their own domains of responsibility.
Africa, as custodian of much of the world's natural heritage, should fulfill its responsibility as a world partner on the environment. But this role is undermined when no common voice defends African interests. If 570 million-strong sub-Saharan Africa is to effectively participate in negotiations about issues which transcend its individual countries and to effectively implement resulting agreements, it should seriously consider a framework for regional cooperation. Only such a regional approach can make full use of the human and financial resources of the continent in order to stabilize and strengthen African communities and improve the standard of living and opportunities of individual Africans.
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*William J. Hartnett is a policy advisor in privatization and sustainable development. Mawuli Tse is Editor-in-Chief of ATF.
References
1 An excellent description of the negotiation process from the perspective of key participants is provided in "Negotiating Climate Change: The Inside Story of the Rio Convention," I. Mintzer, J. Leonard (eds.) 1994.
2 The 11 SADC members now include Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.