AMCOW

African Ministerial Conference on Water

AMCOW launched by President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria in Abuja, Nigeria on 30 April, 2002.

The inaugural meeting of the African Ministerial Conference on Water was held in Abuja on 30 April, 2002 and was attended by Ministers and their representatives from 41 African countries. AMCOW is part of the NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) initiative.

The AMCOW meeting was preceded by a Multi-Stakeholder held in Accra on 17th April 2002

Key Documents from the AMCOW Inaugural Meeting

Statement of African Ministerial Conference on Water (AMCOW) at the World Summit on Sustainable Development Johannesburg South Africa, August 2002

The Abuja Ministerial Declaration on Water

Water Resources and Poverty in Africa: Breaking the Vicious Circle (PDF)

Accra Declaration on Water and Sustainable Development Accra, 17th April 2002 (PDF)

NEPAD Water Objectives

Objectives

  • To ensure sustainable access to safe and adequate clean water supply and sanitation, especially for the poor

  • To plan and manage water resources to become a basis for national and regional co-operation and development- To systematically address and sustain ecosystems, bio-diversity and wildlife;

  • To cooperate on shared rivers among member states;

  • To effectively address the threat of climate change;

  • To ensure enhanced irrigation and rain-fed agriculture to improve agricultural production and food security;


Actions

  • Accelerate work on multipurpose water resource projects; for example the SADC Water Secretariat's investigation of the utilization of the Congo River, and the Nile Basin Initiative;

  • Establish a task team to make plans for mitigating the negative impact of climate change in Africa;

  • Collaborate with the Global Environmental Sanitation Initiative (GESI) in promoting sanitary waste disposal methods and projects;

  • Support the UN Habitat programme on Water Conservation in African Cities