New roots : institutionalizing environmental management in Africa

According to the report, there is a prevalence of weak and inadequate institutions and institutional arrangements in Africa. This stems from many factors, including a serious shortage of skilled manpower, inadequate training facilities, insufficient staff incentives and salaries, and, perhaps most importantly, counterproductive government policies and legislation. Compounding these obstacles are donor policies which hinder or discourage local institutional development and capacity development in general. Many different types of institutional and administrative structures have evolved over the years due to the unique cultural, political, and economic dynamics of each country and the diversity of environmental conditions and concerns they face. Institutional responses have included separate ministries of the environment, departments of environment within a line ministry, and semi-autonomous environmental management and coordination authorities. Key findings detailing the best prospects for environmental management include the following. (1) Install a lead institution with a semi-autonomous status that is positioned above the line ministries and ruled by an interministerial advisory board. (2) Gather cross-sectoral political support from the government, the private sector, and civil society. (3) Effectively include NGOs, indigenous institutions, and concerned individuals in the planning process. (4) Donors must ensure that their role strengthens the country"s sense of ownership of the strategic planning process and elevates the importance of environmental management in general. (5) Provide training and other activities to develop institutional capacity. (6) Design an implementation agenda as part of the planning process.