UNEP has prepared a framework proposal for the establishment of an Africa Environmental Information Network (AEIN), a capacity building programme that aims to harness and enhance access to information and knowledge to support the management of Africa’s environmental resources as assets for sustainable development. The overarching goal is to strengthen the capacity of African countries to use good quality information on environmental assets to make informed investment choices at national and sub-national levels, and manage these assets on a sustainable basis. A key objective of the initiative is to build capacity for establishing the essential data foundation needed to support country-level sustainable development initiatives, focusing on the environmental aspects.

The initiative is a direct outcome of the Africa Environment Outlook (AEO) preparation process, and it has been endorsed by the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) as a means for harmonising and promoting access to data in the Africa region, and acting as “a basis for tracking environmental changes using quantitative indicators focusing on national needs.” In this respect AEIN is designed, first and foremost, to build capacity for integrated environmental assessments and reporting at the national level. AEIN will also enhance capacities at the national level for using modern information management tools to better characterise environmental resources and understand complex processes, as well as linkages among environment and development issues. As an outcome of this capacity building activity, AEIN will provide data and information support to the AEO process.

AMCEN serves as the platform for the implementation and monitoring of the Environmental Component of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). Therefore, the AEO, endorsed during the 9^th Session of AMCEN as “a monitoring and reporting tool for sustainable environmental management, as well as [providing] a framework for national and sub-regional integrated environmental assessment and reporting”, will therefore constitute one of the reporting mechanisms for NEPAD. To this end the AEIN initiative will also provide inputs in the implementation of NEPAD.