2nd meeting of the council of ministers in charge of managing the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) complex, Cotonou, June 22, 2023

An OSS delegation participated in the 2nd meeting of the Council of Ministers of the States Parties of the W-Arly-Pendjari (WAP) Complex Protected Areas, which was held in Cotonou, on June 23, 2023 at the headquarters of the Fondation des Savanes Ouest Africaine (FSOA), under the chairmanship of H.E. Ms. GARAMA Saratou Rabiou Inoussa, Minister of the Environment and the Fight against Desertification of the Republic of Niger and current Chairperson of said Council.

In addition to monitoring the implementation of the 1st session recommendations, which took place in Niamey on April 13, 2022, organized with the OSS support, this Council considered the operationalization of the WAP Complex Executive Secretariat, speeding up the AdaptWAP project activities, in particular the establishment of a Multi-Risk Early Warning system as well as the alignment of approaches in terms of protection, security and enhancement of the biodiversity of the Complex.

On this occasion, Ms. Fatou Mar, representative of the OSS Executive Secretary, recalled the WAP Complex fundamental assets for the economic development of the region. She reiterated the OSS commitment to overcome the difficulties and support the countries in pursuing their efforts to preserve the ecosystems and improve the livelihood of the populations living therein. She ended requesting the support of the Council to facilitate the formalization of the national units for the establishment of the MR-EWS.

At the end of the sessions, a final statement was jointly signed by the Ministers of the Environment of Benin and Niger, as well as the representative of the Minister of the Environment, Energy, Water and sanitation in Burkina Faso. This event brought together representatives of financial and technical partners such as the European Union, AFD, UNESCO, KFW, GIZ, FSOA and OSS, as well as the Directors General and Administrations in charge of the WAP complex protected areas.

One of the recommendations made during the Council of Ministers was to extend the AdaptWAP project from 18 to 24 months in order to fully achieve the objectives. Besides, the Board stressed the importance of speeding up the project activities implementation with a view to improving the resilience of the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex ecosystems and populations and making sure the Multi-Risk Early Warning System (MR-EWS) is properly settled in the meteorological agencies of the three countries.