The assignment was executed in line with one of the objectives of the MAVA Foundation’s 2016-2022 West Africa Strategy Four. The overall goal of the Strategy is to enhance the management of pollution risk in the four selected countries. Thus it states specifically that “pollution risk management for offshore activities will be improved in the future in at least [the] four countries”. To accomplish this objective, the Strategy
seeks to promote environmental management of offshore mining activities in the four target countries through 4 components of the project:
- Development of scientific research and environmental monitoring to be led by Birdlife International;
- Capacity building for management and awareness raising to be led PRCM;
- Development of response plans in the event of pollution due to offshore activities to be led by Abidjan Convention;
- Monitoring and strengthening of the Regulation to be led by IDDRI.
CEMLAWS Africa’s role under the project was the provision of support to the implementation of the objectives of the Abidjan Convention’s Offshore Protocol in the four target countries, which addresses environmental norms and standards concerning offshore oil and gas exploration and exploitation activities. The project required the Centre’s consultants to identify the key national authorities, collaborate with these
agencies to hold national consultations in the four target countries on the implementation processes, produce reports and recommendations on these consultations and engagements. The consultations needed to take into account the various legal procedures, national plans and political processes to be adopted by the project countries for the successful implementation of the Protocol while also identifying the distinctive methodology of each country. The project was executed from 1 November 2018 and ran until September 2020.
