Summit for Sustainability in Africa
2012/06/26
A Landmark two-day Summit for Sustainability in Africa, co-hosted by the Government of Botswana and Conservation International, creates a new roadmap for green economies.
Ten African nations voice support for value of natural capital in national accounting (Gaborone, Botswana) announced on 26 May the endorsement of the Gaborone Declaration by ten African countries and numerous public and private sector partners from within and outside Africa.
The Declaration, a set of concrete principles and development goals that soundly move the value of natural capital from the periphery to the center of development planning, is the culmination of discussions held over the two-day Summit for Sustainability in Africa, a first of its kind on the continent.
Among nations’ agreements were two key conclusions: first, leaders reached unanimous consensus that the historical pattern of natural resources exploitation has failed to promote sustained growth, environmental integrity and improved social capital and has even worse, been counter productive.
Second, they agreed that the value of natural capital, or the wealth of benefits and services provided to people by biodiversity and ecosystems such as watersheds, forests, coral reefs, and grasslands, must be fully accounted and integrated into national and corporate planning and reporting practices, policies and programs.
The Gaborone Declaration also reaffirmed African nations’ commitments to implement all existing conventions and declarations that promote sustainable development and additionally assured that the ten countries present will commit to annual reporting on their natural capital accounting efforts.
His Excellency Ian Khama, the President of the Republic of Botswana and co-host of the summit, was a driving force behind the commitment to annual reporting and announced countries’ endorsement of the Gabarone Declaration at the close of the event’s second day.
“I am particularly delighted that we leave this Summit with a strong and robust commitment to give life to the good ideas that came from the debates, and to scale up the commitments contained in the Gaborone Declaration across the whole African continent and indeed the wider world,” he said.
An addendum Communiqué to the Gaborone Declaration called attention to what leaders described as “the limitations of GDP as a measure of well-being and sustainable growth that values environmental and social aspects of progress”.
It also invited governments and their accounting bodies to, among other goals, “Develop science-based methodologies on an experimental basis for ecosystem accounting as a complement to GDP and corporate performance.”
The plenary addresses and select Summit speeches can be viewed online at: http://bit.ly/KKdKDH
