In this issue: Editorial: SEEAC commemorates the end of PAANEEAC - SEEAC in 2013 : Overview of actions carried out to promote Environmental Assessment - SEEAC : Strategic Planning - A tool for management and implementation at SEEAC : Administrative and financial procedure manual - 5th International Seminar of SEEAC : an event with a wealth of lessons and recommendations - the launch of RACEEAC : an ongoing regional study - environmental assessment profiles of Central and West African countries updated with the collaboration of SEEAC - UNESCO- SEEAC : a promising future - SEEAC signs a contract with IFDD to conduct a mission to strengthen the regulatory framework for environmental assessment of The Comoros - Greetings from SEEAC to all its partners---

 
 
Please download Bulletin d’informations n°002/Décembre-2013

 
 
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 An excerpt:

Editorial: SEEAC commemorates the end of PAANEEAC

 
This is the culmination of six years of partnership between the Central Africa Secretariat for Environmental Assessment (SEEAC) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS) through its secular arm which was present for the occasion: the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) which acted within the framework of the Support Programme to National Associations for Environmental Assessment in Central Africa (PAANEEAC) celebrated the programme’s closure during the SEEAC Annual Meeting held from October 1 to 4, 2013, at the Douala Sawa Hotel. Launched in November 2007 in Douala, Cameroon, the Support Programme to National Associations for Environmental Assessment in Central Africa (PAANEEAC) consisted on the one hand of core funding which provided the basic resources required to run SEEAC and the National Associations for Environmental Assessment of its network members and, on the other hand, a complementary programme to build capacities to conduct environmental impact studies, strategic environmental assessments, monitoring. The complementary programme was designed and run by the NCEA.

 
Overall, PAANEEAC has helped strengthen and build a mature sub-regional network by: (i) effectively contributing to the emergence of environmental assessment as a tool to promote sustainable development, good governance, the fight against poverty and improve the living conditions of local populations, (ii) providing a forum for professionals at both national and sub-regional level to coordinate efforts towards capacity building and cooperation, promotion of professional ethics and (iii) helping to enhance the legal, regulatory, institutional and organizational framework for environmental assessment. Particularly noteworthy was its contribution to the launch of the Network of Administrations in charge of Environmental Assessment in Central Africa (RACEEAC) with ECCAS serving as the institutional anchor for the network.

Despite all these achievements, huge challenges continue to daunt SEEAC and its network of national associations in a context where countries clearly demonstrate their ambition to achieve emergence more or less in the short term, resulting in a relatively aggressive policy of environmental resource management and exploitation aimed at boosting the economy. In this connection, environmental assessment must stand out as a key factor for integration in the development process, in emerging issues such as climate change, REDD+, the green economy and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

 
We owe sincere gratitude to the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) for the exciting adventure of establishing the Support Programme to National Associations for Environmental Assessment in Central Africa (PAANEEAC). It should be noted that the annual meeting strongly recommended that SEEAC and the NCEA should consider pursuing their working relationship beyond the lifespan of the Support Programme to National Associations for Environmental Assessment in Central Africa (PAANEEAC).

 
 
Moreover, the Secretariat for Environmental Assessment in Central Africa remains confident in the continued support of its partners: the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the national authorities in charge of the environment, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC), the Conference on Ecosystems of Dense and Humid Forests in Central Africa (CEFDHAC), the Parliamentary Network for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (REPAR) and all stakeholders in meeting the challenges associated with ensuring its sustainability.

 
Best wishes to all in 2014.

Dieudonné Bitondo, Ir, PhD. Executive Secretary