SCIENCES

 

GOAL:

The sciences in the service of development and the improvement
of the overall quality of life of all people

Science and technology in Africa

Commitments:

Science and technology education

• Research and training

• UNESCO, in cooperation with the National Science Centre in Lusaka, organized a National Training Workshop on Developing Low-Cost Equipment for Science, Technology and Environmental Education in Lusaka (Zambia) from 26 to 30 May 1998. Forty school teachers participated in this workshop, the main objective of which was to develop low-cost teaching/learning materials in science and mathematics for basic education in Zambia. The materials were edited and distributed to the participating schools, and the try-out concluded in 1998. At subregional level, in cooperation with the Ghana Institute for Science Education and UNESCO-Lagos, a UNESCO Project 2000+ Training/Writing Workshop for West Africa was organized in Winneba (Ghana) from 16 to 24 June 1998. Attended by 28 science educators from six West African countries, the workshop aimed at training participants in the new orientations and approaches of the Science and Technology Education (STE) Project 2000+ and at developing relevant teaching/learning materials, based on local and regional environmental problems. The materials produced were gathered into a teacher guidebook entitled “Tech is my name” which is being completed by UNESCO-Lagos. The guidebook will be tried out in pilot schools before publication and dissemination. It was also agreed that each Ministry of Education would adopt the guidebook, distribute it to schools and organize training workshops for teachers. Meanwhile, UNESCO organized a Workshop on Education and Communication during the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Coastal Development (PACSICOM) held in Maputo (Mozambique) from 18 to 20 July 1998.

• The Learning Without Frontiers (LWF) Unit contributed to the Computer Literacy and Distance Education Conference held in Accra (Ghana) in 1998 by organizing a workshop aiming to facilitate thinking, collaboration and experience-sharing among participants, producing new perspectives on the potential of ICTs. The Ghana Conference focused on the use of information technology to enhance the economic, social, cultural and educational development of African countries. The LWF, in collaboration with CII/INF, is also implementing a project in Zimbabwe on Creating Learning Networks for African Teachers, whose aim is to enhance the capacity of teachers and their institutions to become more responsive to new challenges in teaching and learning, by connecting teacher-training colleges and their partners to the Internet. At the same time, the project will contribute to reducing fear and resistance to change and technology applications among teachers, and provide them with the basic skills to use such new technologies. The project is being implemented in several phases. Pilot activities are currently under way in Zimbabwe. A workshop was organized there in July 1998, in close collaboration with the Foundation for Education and Development in Africa, on the theme “Enhancing science and maths classroom teaching”. LWF and CII/INF are exploring expansion of the project in Zimbabwe with activities emerging in Senegal and likely in Namibia.

Scientific, technical and vocational education of girls in Africa: an imperative for the future

There is no doubt that improving the quality of general education, and science education in particular, is essential for building science and technology capacity in Africa. For a variety of reasons, most countries on the African continent still have little or no access to the full benefits of scientific and technological progress, and girls and women are particular underrepresented in, or excluded from, science and related areas of study and employment. The importance of science and technology makes it imperative that the entire human resources potential of the continent should be tapped for economic and social development.

Despite efforts directed towards improving education in Africa, only a very small minority of girls pursue courses in scientific, technical and vocational education, which are often gender-biased, with textbooks that do not relate to women’s and girls’ daily life and where teachers’ attitudes seldom motivate girls to pursue these studies. Socio-cultural norms, as well as unconscious influences from parental or family opinions, often impede women’s access to scientific, technical and vocational education and training. Furthermore, little recognition is given to the contribution of women scientists to development, perpetuating a negative role model for those girls who might choose to follow a scientific career. In order to attempt to enhance gender equality in enrolment, quality and achievement in scientific, technical and vocational education, UNESCO was requested by its Member States to plan and undertake a six-year Special Project on Scientific, Technical and Vocational Education of Girls in Africa.

• Special Project on Scientific, Technical and Vocational Education of Girls in Africa

Launched in 1996, this Special Project aims at encouraging local initiatives as well as triggering political action. The main thrust of the project is to promote a gender-equitable basic scientific, technical and vocational curriculum which can provide for the needs both of those pupils who will enter into working life and those who will continue to study scientific and technological subjects in secondary and higher education. It makes use of the experience and activities of local and regional NGOs such as the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Gender and Science and technology (GASAT), Third World Organization of Women in Science (TWOWS) and the Tanzanian Association of Women Professionals in Science and technology (TAWOSTE).

The first phase of the project was devoted to national surveys in 21 countries in Africa. These reports clearly show that, despite progress made in the numbers of African children receiving formal education, girls’ access to education is concentrated at the lowest level and, furthermore, indicate that girls’ participation and performance rates in science education at secondary level and in technical and vocational education are lower than those of boys.

However, the issues of gender disparities in scientific, technical and vocational education must be placed within the context of Africa’s problems of poverty, disease, malnutrition, famine, drought, civil strife and war, combined with poor access to shelter, electricity and basic health services. More than 30 of the 47 countries designated as the world’s poorest are located in Africa, which represents one of the most important factors adversely affecting education in general, and education of girls in particular. Illiteracy rates in those countries testify to this. In the 21 countries covered by the survey, there are more illiterate women than men, with the exception of South Africa and Swaziland, where illiteracy rates do not differ substantially between the sexes. In sub-Saharan Africa, 87.1 million women aged 15 and over were estimated to be illiterate, compared to 53.4 million men. By the year 2005, it is estimated that the number of illiterate women will have risen to 91 million, 62.5 per cent of the illiterate population in the region.

• As part of the second phase of the project, the surveys were presented in Volume VII of Innovations in Science and Technology Education, focusing on gender issues in science and technology in Africa, and a draft resource kit on hands-on, low-cost science experiments for girls was developed. On the other hand, UNESCO has joined the Donors’ Consortium of the FEMSA Project on Female Education in Science and Mathematics in Africa. This is a project of the Working Group for Female Participation of the ADEA and FAWE, supported by a Donors’ Consortium headed by NORAD. Initiated in 1996, the FEMSA project aims at promoting participation of girls in mathematics and science education at primary and secondary levels, and enhancing their performance in these subjects and their access to careers in mathematics and science. The pilot phase dealt with in-depth analysis of the situation in four African countries. For the second phase, in which UNESCO participates, eight more countries have been added to the project and operational activities have been initiated at school level. UNESCO also participated in the FEMSA Regional Seminar on Donors’ Consortium Meeting held in Nairobi (Kenya) from 9 to 12 June 1998, and provided support and collaboration for the organization of GASAT 9, the ninth Conference of the NGO Gender and Science and Technology, which took place in Accra (Ghana) in June 1999.

• An African Regional Consultation in preparation for the Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education (Seoul, Republic of Korea, April 1999) was held in Nairobi (Kenya) from 23 to 27 November 1998. Attended by some 50 participants from 28 African countries (representatives of governments, NGOs, educational institutions and the private sector), the Regional Consultation adopted an Action Plan for technical and vocational education to be implemented during the first years of the twenty-first century. Among the activity clusters representing strategic choices which African countries should make to ensure that technical and vocational education is made to help in building the desired bridge for the future, the following were underlined: (i) comprehensive education reforms; (ii) enlarged partnerships for the development of technical and vocational education; (iii) personnel development for the promotion of quality technical and vocational education; (iv) very special attention to the needs of women and girls; (v) promotion of national, subregional, regional and international solidarity through the instrumentality of technical and vocational education. The Consultation stressed that in order to ensure that more girls and women gain entry to, are retained in and succeed in technical and vocational education programmes, action will be necessary to:

The final report states that “African countries should stress the improvement of poverty alleviation strategies. Such policies will make the option of providing Technical and Vocational Education for All even more pertinent”. The Second International Congress on Technical and Vocational Education (Seoul, Republic of Korea) adopted a series of recommendations intended to revitalize technical and vocational education. It particularly called for more effective educational and vocational guidance to be given to women, with gender-sensitive counselling material, and for new partnerships to enable developing countries to benefit from the new technologies.

At the end of the Congress, UNESCO held a meeting of African Ministers and Heads of Delegation in the presence of World Bank, USAID, ISESCO and Agence de la Francophonie representatives. It primarily focused on issues relating to funding and relations with donor agencies, the endogenous nature of policies and programmes, and regional and subregional cooperation.

• Special Project on Women, Science and Technology

• In close cooperation with the Government of Burkina Faso, and with assistance from ISESCO and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Natural Sciences and Education Sectors and the Priority Africa Department worked together to organize the African Forum on Women, Science and Technology in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) from 25 to 28 January 1999, in preparation for the World Conference on Science in the Twenty-first Century(Budapest, Hungary, 26 June to 1 July 1999). It brought together some 60 African experts, most of them women in positions of responsibility in science and technology, from 43 sub-Saharan countries. Representatives from women’s’ associations and NGOs also attended. The work of the Forum consisted of four panels, namely: (i) women, science and technology; (ii) scientific education; (iii) research and technology; and (iv) vocational training. Among other things, the Forum underlined that:

- women are rare in scientific and technological careers (under 30%), usually choose biology over other fields, and are still absent from positions of decision-making and responsibility;

- the problems women encounter in higher education and research are accentuated in the engineering professions;

- African governments should give the greatest priority to helping women evolve and grow in their countries, more particularly through education, training and all necessary measures to help them participate fully, as the equals of men, in the international community’s efforts to make science an instrument of choice for sustainable development;

- the presence of women in scientific professions should be increased with a view to sustainable human development.

The Forum adopted the Ouagadougou Declaration, underlining the fact that drastic changes in teaching and training methods are vital to the development of Africa, with particular emphasis on the promotion of women’s access to sustainable development. It also adopted a Regional Action Plan aimed at: (i) encouraging the implementation of national policies designed to facilitate the access of girls and women to education, training and professional activity in the field of science and technology; (ii) promoting the pooling of resources and the creation of synergy at regional and interregional level; (iii) encouraging the participation of women in science and technology centres and focal points.

At its third meeting, in July 1999, the International Committee for the Follow-up to Audience Africa recommended that “the Director-General encourage African Member States to earmark at least 3 per cent of the sum allocated by UNDP to science and technology, in accordance with the recommendations of Audience Africa”.

Science, technology and sustainable development in Africa:

advancement, transfer and sharing of knowledge

• In response to a request from Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the Policy Analysis and Operations Division has supplied those countries with counselling in the field of science and technology policy and management. The Division also provides support for projects geared to setting up science and technology parks in Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal.

World Solar Programme

In the field of engineering sciences, and within the framework of efforts to implement the World Solar Programme (1996-2005), the following figure among a whole range of workshops and training courses that have taken place on the continent of Africa: the Forum solaire africain sur les stratégies et le financement des projects nationaux de haute priorité in Bamako (Mali) from 25 to 28 March 1998; a regional seminar on renewable energies, held in Kenya for Kenyan, Rwandan, South African, Tanzanian and Ugandan nationals; a regional seminar on renewable energies held in Ghana for Ghanaian, Nigerian and Sierra Leonean nationals; a Subregional Workshop on Renewable Energies and Development Projects, held in Niamey (Niger) from 15 to 19 March 1999; the Business Forum for the Development of Renewable Energies in Africa, held in Harare (Zimbabwe) from 29 to 31 March 1999. A Réunion Constitutive du Conseil Solaire Africain is scheduled to take place in September 1999 in Dakar (Senegal). With regard to training, the first summer course on solar electricity for English-speaking African countries was held in Harare (Zimbabwe) from 29 to 31 March 1998, and the tenth and eleventh summer courses on Solar Electricity for Rural and Remote Areas took place in Paris (France) from 6 to 24 July 1998 and from 19 July to 6 August 1999 respectively, with participants from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Niger and Senegal in the case of the former, and from Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Niger and Senegal in the case of the latter. A solar energy handbook for technicians has been produced in collaboration with the University of Kumasi (Ghana), and another manual entitled Petits systèmes d’électricité solaire pour l’Afrique has been distributed to Member States.

In the sphere of project implementation: financial assistance amounting to US $106,800 has been supplied to Angola for the development of solar villages in Mafula and Viriambudu; US $160,000 has been provided to conduct feasibility studies for a project to install a photovoltaic system to bring electricity to the lakeside villages of Ganvié and Aguegue (Benin); Ghana has received a US $5,000 contribution towards a project to build a drinking-water-supply system for the village of Dromankese; a contribution has been made to introduce the nomad pastoral communities of Kenya to the use of solar energy; a pilot project has been launched in Malawi to promote the use of biogas and solar electricity; in Niger, a contribution of US $6,000 has been made towards the solar-power-based electrification of six adult-literacy centres, in addition to US $85,000 to expand the “W” national park electrification programme (installation of solar pumps to be followed up by the electrification of Tapoa village at a cost of US $60,000, plus a feasibility study on 350 integrated solar villages); in Mozambique, a US $126,000 solar-village pilot project also involving South Africa and Swaziland is under way; in Senegal, US $50,000 of financial aid has been supplied for solar-powered lighting in 20 schools and adult-literacy centres.

Life Sciences

In the field of Life Sciences, activities carried out in Africa in 1998-1999 have included research, training and scientific meetings on Molecular and Cell Biology and Biotechnologies.

• Molecular and Cell Biology

The following courses were organized in cooperation with the International Cell Research Organization (ICRO): (i) a UNESCO/ICRO advanced training course on Imaging and Micro-injection of Aquatic Oocytes, held in Mombasa (Kenya) from 9 to 20 February 1999; (ii) a UNESCO/ICRO advanced training course on Molecular Biology Techniques in Malaria, staged in Kampala (Uganda) from 1 to 10 September 1999; (iii) the fifth UNESCO South-North Human Genome Conference, which took place in Windhoek (Namibia) from 15 to 17 February 1999, within the framework of the UNESCO Genome Programme.

As part of the UNESCO-Molecular and Cell Biology Network (MCBN), support was provided for four collaborative projects involving several African countries, and for seven African scientists from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe. In addition, a gift of subscriptions to the journal Biochemical Education, totalling US $7,000, was provided to African countries during 1998, and the following three regional scientific meetings were supported: (i) a meeting of the Society for Free Radical Research, held in July 1998 in South Africa; (ii) the Second Congress of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, held in September-October 1998, also in South Africa; (iii) the Third International Meeting on Veterinary Arboviral Research, held in Zimbabwe.

• Biotechnologies

Under the project on Biotechnologies for Development in Africa, and in cooperation with the UNESCO/BAC and UNESCO/MIRCEN programmes, and with the American Society for Microbiology, the Society for General Microbiology in the United Kingdom and the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS), a total of 17 short-term fellowships have been made available to researchers from Botswana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Togo for training in Canada, France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, United Kingdom, United States, Singapore and Senegal.

A UNESCO/MIRCEN short training course in Yeast Biotechnology was organized in Bloemfontein (South Africa) from 26 January to 8 February 1998 for 12 researchers from East and Southern Africa, and two short training courses in Plant Biotechnology and Biostatistics were organized in Pretoria at UNESCO/BETCEN with places for 20 young African researchers per course. Within the framework of the Participation Programme for 1998-1999, study grants in the field of General Biotechnology and Biostatistics were made available to researchers from Burundi and Uganda to undertake research in the United Kingdom.

Support was provided in 1999 for the reinforcement of activities in BNF technology conducted by UNESCO/MIRCEN in Kenya and Senegal for East and West Africa respectively. An international Scientific Symposium was organized from 24 to 26 March 1999 by UNESCO/BETCEN in South Africa and UNESCO/MIRCEN in Kenya and Senegal on the theme Modern Areas of Plant/Microbial Biotechnology for researchers primarily from the African continent. Support was also provided to the Eighth Congress of the African Association of Nitrogen-Fixation, which was organized in Cape Town (South Africa) from 23 to 27 November 1998. In addition, gifts of the World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology continue to be made available to institutes in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe; and gifts of technical books totalling US $5,000 have been made available to each of the UNESCO/MIRCEN libraries in Kenya and Senegal during the 1998-1999 biennium.

An in-depth study concerning the establishment of UNESCO Chairs in Post-Harvest Food Technology at the University of Namibia and the University of Gambia (Banjul) was carried out through site visits in January and February 1999. The proposal involves the establishment of a network linking these two newly established Chairs with those existing in Senegal and Uganda, and is awaiting approval by the Director-General.

Ecological Sciences and the MAB Programme

The 1998-1999 biennium has seen the launch or continuation of a large number of projects designed to assist Africa within the framework of environmental sciences and the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) programme.

 

Project: Regional School for Integrated Tropical Forest Management (ERAIFT)

The ERAIFT Project, launched on 10 April 1999 with an overall budget of US $1,234,867 (US $200,000 from regular budget funds, US $1,034,867 from UNDP) and a two-year mandate (1999-2000), covers every French- and Portuguese-speaking country in sub-Saharan Africa as well as the French-speaking countries in the dry and humid tropical zones of the Indian Ocean Region. Besides offering training in integrated tropical forest management on-site in Africa to some 30 African specialists a year, the project also aims at: combating poverty; improving living conditions for local populations and promoting sustainable human development and biodiversity conservation; encouraging local populations to participate in natural-resource management that takes account of biophysical and cultural factors; and promoting the creation of an inter-university exchange network among the academic institutions in the countries associated with the project.

The Director-General of UNESCO has set up an International Supervision Committee (ISC) for the purpose of monitoring teaching quality and turning ERAIFT into a centre of excellence in Africa. An educational textbook entitled Notions d’aménagement et de développement intégrés des forêts tropicales has been prepared by UNESCO-MAB, and the infrastructure serving as the project’s operational base, made available to the School by the University of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), has been restored and equipped. The ISC has drawn up the University syllabuses, and part-time lecturers and students are ready for the first academic year (1999-2000), including 22 on postgraduate and six on Ph.D. courses.

• Project: Biosphere Reserves for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development in Anglophone Africa (BRAAF) Phase II

This project, lasting from June 1995 to December 1998, was financed by the German cooperation agency BMZ within the Funds-in-Trust framework (US $753,000). This exchange- and cooperation-oriented project involved a number of activities, some of them featuring income-generating potential, being carried out in five biosphere reserves in the five participating countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. Four regional seminars were organized, attended by team leaders, biosphere reserve managers, scientists and representatives of UNESCO. They were followed by field visits to the reserves in question, giving people a chance to gain first-hand experience of the realities on the ground and raising the profile of the biosphere reserves and MAB Programme in the region. Nearly 200 participants benefited from training activities conducted within the framework of BRAAF and focusing on matters of regional interest: ethnobotany, medicinal plants and wild-growing food, use of humid-zone resources, conservation of biodiversity: modern concepts and traditional knowledge, and land-use and planning for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. This last was the theme of the fourth seminar, held in Arusha (United Republic of Tanzania) in March-April 1998. BRAAF teams have produced many publications and reports in collaboration with universities and the national institutes responsible for human-resource management. Given the high degree of interest shown by the countries during the course of the BRAAF Project, it is hoped that nothing will prevent Phase II from going ahead as planned.

• Project: Centre Pilote Régional de la Biodiversité Africaine (CENPREBAF)

This regional centre has been set up at the Abomey-Calavi campus (University of Benin) with financial support from the Benin Government, ACCT and UNESCO-MAB (regular budget: US $70,000). The project, which began in 1995 and is set to last through to 2000, prioritizes the protection of rare and endangered species, including medicinal plants of economic and pharmaceutical value to local populations.
As a result of its work: the enclosures surrounding the old botanical and zoological gardens have been restored and set in place; land has been divided up and more than 500 species of plant have been replanted on separate plots; a reception centre has been built using sustainablebuilding materials; the second issue of a regional newsletter has been released.

• Project: Grassroots ecodevelopment operations for the conservation of the Mananara-North Biosphere Reserve (Phase II)

Phase II of this Madagascar-based project (1995-2000) has been co-financed by the Malagasy Government, the Netherlands Government and the Fonds National pour le Développement Economique (FNDE). Its aim is to sustain biodiversity by helping to improve the management of a national network spanning 14 high-priority areas, including the Mananara-North Biosphere Reserve, notably by encouraging ecotourism, integrated rural development and the active participation of women. Phase I of the project enabled important work to be carried out in a wide range of different areas: conservation, farming, fishing, crafts, health, education, finalized research, training, and the advancement of women, and of fieldworkers who are now highly proficient. The bulk of those actions earned the project concept and team something of a “front-door entry” to acceptance on the part of the local population. The health-related work has been taken up by the specialized international NGO Médecins du Monde.

• UNDP-SPPD projects supporting policy-making and planning

Three SPPD projects financed by UNDP have been implemented in Mali and Cameroon by UNESCO-MAB in 1998 and 1999, calling on capable national consultants trained and supervised by international consultants, some of them African. The projects in question covered: the drawing up of development plans for the Boucle du Baoulé Biosphere Reserve in Mali in 1998 (US $45,450), the drawing up of development plans for the Bafing Fauna Reserve, also in Mali, in 1999 (US $47,500) and the programming of environmental activities in Cameroon, again in 1999 (US $110,000).

• Project: Scientific capacity-building in agro-sylvo-pastoral research in the Sahel (Phase II)

Phase II of this project, financed by the German cooperation agency BMZ (US $422,100) was launched in 1974 and came to an end in 1997. As in the previous phase, research activities took place in the following five countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal. The national institutes working on its implementation, in collaboration with the Division of Ecological Sciences, were coordinated at regional level by the Sahel Institute/CILSS. Capitalizing on investments agreed and experience gained during Phase I, Phase II proceeded to conduct research, train young researchers and gather information. Training activities followed a variety of forms and procedures: group training, training via research, individual courses, field trips and taking part in conferences and seminars, and support for Ph.D. students preparing theses (four beneficiaries).

Research findings stemming from both phases have been published by the Sahel Institute, and other interesting work likely to encourage scientific exchange has been released, e.g. a book summarizing the experience gained during the project and an illustrated bilingual CD-ROM (French-English) on Arid Zones and Desertification, capable of appealing to a wider audience (school-children, training staff, researchers, managers and decision-makers).

• Special Project: Arid and semi-arid land management in Africa

This four-year project was launched in 1996 and covers the entire African continent. Its aim is to help combat desertification and improve agricultural productivity in arid and semi-arid regions through the application of appropriate land-management techniques and the transfer of multi-purpose plant species suited to arid and semi-arid areas. It has received an allocation of US $400,000 from UNESCO. The Division of Ecological Sciences has been working on the project in collaboration with the Life Sciences Section and the Regional Offices in Dakar (Senegal) and Nairobi (Kenya) in order to implement it in a spirit of decentralization.

Activities here have been geared to training African scientists, decision-makers and technicians in the management and conservation of arid and semi-arid lands (via fieldwork, advanced courses, seminars and study tours). Several seminars have taken place on the ground - in Kenya, Niger and Senegal, for example - attended by researchers, managers and a number of women scientists from a variety of African countries (Burkina Faso, Botswana, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe). They have broached such diverse subjects as: use of plants to combat desertification, introduction and acclimatization of plants to arid lands, agroforestry and land and water conservation in the Sahel, desert plants and biotechnology.

• Project: Promotion of ethnobotany and the sustainable use of plant resources in Africa

A major objective of this project is to strengthen the role of women in decision-making positions and to support activities of particular relevance to women. This is reflected in a preference for female candidates for training activities as well as in provision of support for activities which have a clear gender component. Seven of the total 12 study and travel grants issued under this programme since April 1998 have been awarded to women. All five field-based studies have a clear gender component, in that they focus particularly on the role of women as resource users and conservators, and record and, whenever possible, address the priority needs of women.

• “AfriMAB”: the MAB network in Africa

AfriMAB was created in 1996 in pursuance of the recommendation adopted by the International Coordinating Council of the Man and Biosphere Programme at its 13th session. The first AfriMAB meeting is scheduled to be held in its “birthplace”, Dakar (Senegal), in late September 1999 on the theme of the periodic review of biosphere reserves and zoning issues.

As part of the implementation of the Seville Strategy and the Statutory Framework for Biosphere Reserves, three new reserves have been created in Africa since 1995: Bolamba-Bijagos in Guinea-Bissau in 1996, and the “W” Region and Aïr-Ténéré in Niger in 1996 and 1997 respectively.

Earth Sciences

• In the field of Earth Sciences, some 100 geoscientists from 30 African countries participate in the International Geological Correlation Programme (IGCP), and two IGCP projects are directed by African project leaders. Moreover, two specialists from Botswana and Senegal are members of the IGCP Scientific Advisory Board.

• The Pan-African Network Geological Information System (PANGIS), designed for the modernization and handling of geodata databases in Africa, has been strengthened in more than 30 African countries. A standardized bibliographical data handling system has been made widely available and geodata has been reorganized. The success of this programme in Africa has led to the adoption of an equivalent geodata-handling project in South-East Asia (SANGIS)

• A subregional training course on geological parameters for environmental protection was held in Bamako (Mali) from 9 to 19 December 1998. It was organized by UNESCO and the Mali-based UNDP project Promotion de l’Artisanat Minier et Protection de l'Environnement (PAMPE), financed by UNESCO, ISESCO, the Centre International pour la Formation et les Echanges Géologiques (CIFEG) and UNDP, and benefited from the cooperation of the European Centre for Research and Education in the Environmental Geosciences (CEREGE), the Centre National de Recherche sur les Sites et Sols Pollués (CNRSSP) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). The aim of the course was primarily to inform and make development and environmental protection workers and managers and make them aware of the processes leading to environmental disasters. It was attended by 26 participants from the following sub-Saharan African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo (Brazzaville), Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. Another course on the same topic was organized under the aegis of UNESCO in Windhoek (Namibia) from 25 to 29 January 1999. It was attended by 32 participants from Namibia and two from South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Water Sciences

As regards Water Sciences, Africa joined UNESCO’s new programme on Eco-Hydrology as soon as it was launched, at an international symposium held in May 1998 to assess the extent to which Eco-Hydrology figured in water-resource management, and to outline the approaches that needed implementing. Africa was represented at the symposium by Dr J. Wellens-Mensah of Ghana, who described the eco-hydrological difficulties his country was experiencing as typical of the problems arising in tropical Africa. A major event did, however, take place in Africa in April 1999, when an International Conference was held in Kenya under the aegis of the Kenya Wildlife Service on the theme “Science and Sustainable Management of Tropical Waters. During the course of the event, attended by more than 120 participants, a Regional Africa Group was formed by 13 scientists from eight countries in Africa, and they were joined by 76 Kenyans able to voice their support on account of the fact that the Conference had been held in their country.

• Under the Master Plan for environmentally rational natural-resource development and management in the conventional Lake Chad Basin, UNESCO (executing agency) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (establishing agency), launched a subregional extrabudgetary project entitled Gestion des ressources en eau souterraine pour un développement durable: Bassin du Lac Tchad, financed by the German cooperation agency BMZ. The primary objective of this project, which concentrates on the Chari-Logone region stretching from Chad to Cameroon, is to establish mathematical models whereby the state of water resources can be evaluated during dry, intermediary and wet seasons, with a view to optimizing water utilization and management.

• Within the framework of the International Hydrological Programme (IHP), the following activities have been held in Africa in 1998-1999.

The Flow Regimes from International and Experimental Data Sets (FRIEND) Project, covering Western and Central African, Southern African and Nile Basin countries, aims at developing knowledge river-flow regimes in order to provide basic data for rational management of surface resources. A technical seminar to mark the closing of the FRIEND Southern Africa First Phase was held in Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania) on 30 and 31 July 1998. Research activities are being carried out by African scientists within the Humid Tropics Programme being implemented by countries in West and East Africa. A short training course on “rainfall-runoff modelling” was held in Dar es Salaam (United Republic of Tanzania) from 3 to 14 August 1998, bringing together participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

UNESCO sponsored an International Conference on Water Resources Variability in Africa during the Twentieth Century, held in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) from 16 to 19 November 1998. Jointly organized by UNESCO, ORSTOM, IASH and the African Association of Hydrology (AAH), the conference was attended by more than 135 participants, 82 of whom were African scientists from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Within the framework of the IHP project on Groundwater Contamination Inventory, a Regional Workshop on Mapping Groundwater Vulnerability was jointly organized by UNESCO/IHP and ISESCO in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) from 6 to 8 October 1998. It was attended by 50 participants from the following countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger and Senegal. And within the framework of the IHP project on “Water resources assessment in arid and semi-arid zones”, a Regional Workshop on Water Resources of the Kalahari Desert was held in Gaborone (Botswana) from 3 to 5 November 1998. The meeting was attended by 20 participants from Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and its aim was to take stock of hydrological knowledge gathered so far in the region and to consider the possibility of pooling efforts to improve the assessment of available water resources in the Kalahari Desert. A Regional Workshop on the Lullemeden Aquifer System was held in Niamey (Niger) from 5 to 7 July 1999, and was designed to provide a forum for exchanging knowledge gathered on the Lullemeden Aquifer System and to identify new study areas. It was attended by some 20 participants from Mali, Niger and Nigeria.

The International Conference on Integrated Drought Management is scheduled to be held in Pretoria (South Africa) from 20 to 22 September 1999. Its main objective is to understand more fully the factors predisposing people and landscapes to heightened drought vulnerability, and to work towards strategies and actions which can reduce drought vulnerability and move towards sustainable development.

• Special Project: Women and water-resource supply and use in sub-Saharan Africa

This four-year project, launched in 1996, is aimed at improving the quality of life of women in rural and urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa by facilitating their access to water resources, and by improving water-resource management (US $100,000 earmarked in 29C/5, but only US $70,000 allocated for 1998-1999).

Statistics show that few women in sub-Saharan Africa have access to higher education, and that women’s participation in agriculture, forestry, hydrology and other water sciences-related educational programmes is very poor. One of the aims of the Special Project is to facilitate women’s access to water-sciences education. Within the framework of the Project’s second phase, fellowships have continued to be granted to African women scientists who would not otherwise have been able to continue their university studies on water resources. UNESCO, UNDP/World Bank Water Sanitation Programme and UNICEF signed an agreement in November 1997 to carry out pilot activities at national and regional levels in the SADC countries to: design and develop manuals and tool kits, organize trainers’ training and help countries to prepare and implement their national action plans. A report on Gender and Water Supply and Sanitation, published in 1998, outlines regional follow-up focused on gender assessment. In addition, five countries were selected to undertake gender-assessment activities at country level, and country meetings were organized in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia (May-December 1998) to develop guidelines and to support governments in the implementation of national programmes. In Côte d’Ivoire, UNESCO has also launched an integrated project in the province of Oumé in cooperation with the Ministry of Family and Women’s Affairs, with Kouméfla as pilot village. Two training courses for community leaders were organized within this framework on hygiene and water-resource management (Oumé, June 1998 and July 1999). A regional gender workshop will be organized in November 1999 to review the existing gender participatory tools, and to prepare a gender manual and participatory-approach tool kit.

This Special Project will reach its end in December 1999. One of its objectives now is to disseminate and share the information and contributions collected so far, and subsequently to make a special effort to develop modern technology-based material. By way of an example, UNESCO set up a web page on the Internet on Women and Water (http://www.pangea.org/orgs/unesco/) in June 1999, providing information on existing women-and-water-related projects in Africa, along with links to several important reference documents. A book has been prepared on Women and Water Education, and a cooperative effort was established between UNESCO and Radio France International in May 1999 for the preparation of a multimedia package which will include a video documentary and radio programme on Women and Water Use.

 

Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)

The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has a comprehensive programme of activities in Africa, and allocates substantial financial resources to the continent amounting to approximately US $500,000 per year. There is, therefore, a growing need for closer links between the Priority Africa department and IOC Africa programme activities. IOC activities in Africa during 1998-1999 include the following major events.

• The PACSICOM Process

• Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management (PACSICOM)

UNESCO, in collaboration with UNEP, FAO and the Governments of Mozambique and Finland, organized the Pan-African Conference on Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management (PACSICOM) in Maputo (Mozambique) from 18 to 24 July 1998. The Conference was convened as part of the region-wide efforts to give greater impetus to the management of seas and coasts in Africa. It brought together Ministers and senior officials from all over Africa, as well as from international agencies, NGOs and bilateral financial institutions. The Conference offered a unique opportunity to discuss the state of the coastal and marine environment in Africa, with special emphasis on the need for concerted intergovernmental dialogue. PACSICOM was sponsored by the Government of Mozambique, in partnership with the Government of Finland, UNESCO, UNEP and FAO. The African Governments and institutions provided support and substantial assistance to the Conference.

The main objectives of PACSICOM were to: (i) represent a major contribution by Africa to the observance of the United Nations International Year of the Ocean and EXPO’98; (ii) assess and review the efforts and experiences in sustainable integrated coastal management (SICOM) in Africa over the last two decades; (iii) help strengthen sustainable development in coastal zones and areas otherwise affected by marine processes in Africa, raise awareness of the urgent need for well-coordinated global action, and help establish a strategic and integrated plan of action for the coastal management of Africa; (iv) initiate the PACSICOM Process, comprising:

These efforts will lay the foundations for the African Process for the development and the protection of the coastal and marine environment.

IOC organized and co-sponsored two major workshops during the Conference. First, GOOS-AFRICA: Data for Sustainable Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), Global Ocean Observing System for SICOM in Africa; second, Infrastructures and Capacity-building for SICOM in Africa: National and Regional Capacities.

• Pan-African Conference on Cooperation for the Development and Protection of the Coastal and Marine Environment in sub-Saharan Africa

The main objective of the Conference was to promote intra-African cooperation in the implementation of regional conventions, programmes and action plans to protect, manage and develop Africa’s marine and coastal environment. Held in Cape Town (South Africa) from 30 November to 4 December 1998, the Conference was attended by 236 participants from 39 countries, 30 of them in Africa. It was also attended by representatives from 39 international IGOs and NGOs, as well as technical and scientific institutions.

On the eve of the Conference, IOC, in partnership with UNIDO, IUCN and USA-NOAA, co-organized an important Pan-African Workshop on the theme “Coupling science and management: the LME (Large Marine Ecosystem) approach to environmentally sustainable utilization of coastal and marine resources in Africa”.

The Major outputs of the Conference are:

• ODINAFRICA (Ocean Data and Information Network for Africa)

The overall objective of the project is to develop human and infrastructural capacity to manage scientific marine data and information in eastern, southern and western Africa. This will enable the countries involved to collect, quality-control, archive, analyse, repackage and disseminate the data and information at local, national, regional and international level, as an essential step towards sound management of the oceans. In support of this programme, an agreement between UNESCO and the Government of Flanders (Kingdom of Belgium) was signed at UNESCO Headquarters on 6 March 1998. The support of the Government of Flanders to ODINAFRICA amounts to US $309,620 in the 1998-1999 biennium, in addition to the IOC contribution to the project amounting to US $394,000 (total: US $703,620).

Regarding the development of Data Centres in the Eastern Africa Region and South Africa (IOCINCWIO), five of the seven cooperating countries (Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa and Tanzania) now have a Designated National Agency (DNA) or National Oceanographic Data Centre (NODC). Within the framework of the planned establishment of a DNA or NODC in Madagascar and Mauritius, there will be a fully operational network of officially recognized data centres. Furthermore, in view of the success of the regional information exchange network in the IOCINCWIO region, the IOCINCWIO Regional Committee requested IOC to expand the scope of the network to include marine data management, leading to the development of the ODINEA project (Ocean Data and Information Network for Eastern Africa), implemented since 1998. The project includes two major components: first, the regional data management programme support project will, inter alia, establish an operational data management structure composed of a regional data centre (RNODC) as well as national data centres (NODC, DNA); second, the regional information management programme support has already provided partial or full access to the Internet to all cooperating institutions in the region, and is expected to ensure inclusion of scientific information produced in Eastern Africa and Southern Africa in the bibliographic database, ASFA (Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts).

Meanwhile, the Regional Dispatch Centre for the Regional Cooperation in Scientific Exchange in the Central Eastern Atlantic region (RECOSCIX-CEA) was established at the Centre de Recherches Océanographiques (CRO) in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire) in 1998. The project will take into consideration support for 18 countries (one lead institution per country).

Cooperation between IOC and the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries - SAREC (SIDA) - includes the following activities.

• Survey of Potentially Harmful Marine Microalgae in East African Waters

The long-term objective of this project, adopted in 1997, is to provide the scientific basis for implementation of harmful-algae-monitoring programmes along the coasts of the countries involved in order to control the safety of cultured and natural seafood resources for human consumption. The objective will be pursued through scientific and technical capacity-building at the five participating institutions, four of which are located in Africa: Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius and Tanzania. A first workshop took place at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Zanzibar (Tanzania) from 8 to 12 February 1999.

• GLOSS Data Analysis Project (GLOSS-WIS)

The aim of this project is to bring together and analyse all sea-level data which have been collected in the Western Indian Ocean by national Institutions, with a view to identifying gaps in observation that need to be filled, and assessing variability of sea level and long-term trends in the region. All IOCINCWIO Member States are participating in this study, and an expert from the region has been commissioned to put together the national reports and analysis data for regional/large-scale variability and trends.

• Other activities include: