logo
Oman engages with Africa, EU, G77 on environment

Oman engages with Africa, EU, G77 on environment

Muscat Daily19-07-2025
Muscat – Oman took part in the 20th African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) held in Nairobi from July 14 to 18. The delegation was led by Dr Abdullah bin Ali al Amri, Chairman of Environment Authority and President of the seventh session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7).
Oman's participation was part of the preparatory plan as UNEA-7 president focusing on partnership with all stakeholders to ensure a successful session. This edition of AMCEN also marked the 40th anniversary of the conference, which was founded in 1985 and has contributed to progress in sustainable development, biodiversity protection, climate action and pollution control.
In his address, Amri commended AMCEN and the African Union for their long-standing contributions to joint environmental action across the continent. He traced the conference's journey since its inception in Cairo and acknowledged its role in shaping a unified African environmental agenda and strengthening the continent's voice in global negotiations.
He underlined the collaboration between AMCEN and UNEA as a model for regional-global partnerships, noting its significance in advancing the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and Africa's Agenda 2063.
Amri also outlined a vision to strengthen AMCEN's role through science-based policymaking, climate-sensitive financing, the use of digital and AI tools for environmental monitoring, and integrated approaches linking energy, minerals and the environment. He emphasised the need for inclusive and just green transitions in future development.
On the sidelines of the conference, Amri held a series of meetings with key stakeholders. He met representatives of the Group of 77 and China to exchange views on the draft Ministerial Declaration and agenda topics. Discussions on similar themes were also held with EU representatives, including the European Commissioner for Environment and Circular Economy.
Amri also met the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation in Nairobi, with talks focusing on UNEA-7 preparations. He held a separate meeting with Dr Yasmine Fouad, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, to explore areas of collaboration with the Convention Secretariat.
Additionally, Amri held consultations with several African environment ministers, reviewing the state of preparations for UNEA-7 and gathering inputs on the draft Ministerial Declaration.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Brazil's brave stand against Trump
Brazil's brave stand against Trump

Observer

time3 days ago

  • Observer

Brazil's brave stand against Trump

For decades, the United States was the champion of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights. Of course, there were glaring discrepancies between rhetoric and reality: during the Cold War, the US overturned democratically elected governments in Greece, Iran, Chile, and elsewhere in the name of defeating Communism. At home, the US was in a battle to uphold African-Americans' civil rights a century after slavery's end. More recently, the US Supreme Court has acted aggressively to restrict efforts to rectify the legacies of the long history of racial discrimination. But while the US has often failed to practice what it preached, now it does neither. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have seen to that. In his first term, Trump's contempt for the rule of law culminated in his attempt to overturn democracy's most important principle: the peaceful transition of power. He claimed – and still insists – that he won the 2020 election, even though Joe Biden received some seven million more votes, and even though dozens of courts ruled that there had been no significant electoral irregularities. Anyone familiar with Trump may not have been surprised; the big surprise was that some 70 per cent of Republicans believe that the election was rigged. Many Americans – including a majority of one of the two major parties – have gone down the rabbit hole of outlandish conspiracy theories and disinformation. For many Trump supporters, democracy and the rule of law are less important than preserving the American way of life, which in practice means ensuring domination by white males at the expense of everyone else. For better and for worse, America has long provided a model for others to follow. And unfortunately, there are demagogues around the world more than willing to adapt Trump's formula of trampling on democratic institutions and repudiating the values that underpin them. A prominent example is Brazil's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, who went so far as to try to emulate the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol to prevent Biden's election. That attempted coup on January 8, 2023, in Brasília was larger than the attack on the US Capitol, but Brazil's institutions held firm – and now they are demanding that Bolsonaro be held accountable. Meanwhile, the US has been moving in the opposite direction since Trump's return to the White House in January. Once again, Trump has made it clear that he loves tariffs and abhors the rule of law – even violating the trade agreement he made with Mexico and Canada in his first term. And now, ignoring the US Constitution, which gives Congress the sole authority to impose taxes – and tariffs are just a particular tax on imports of goods and services – he has threatened to impose a 50 per cent tariff on Brazil unless it stops the prosecution of Bolsonaro. Here was Trump violating the rule of law to insist that Brazil, which has adhered to all the strictures of due process in prosecuting Bolsonaro, do the same. Congress has never enacted tariffs as an instrument for inducing countries to obey a president's political dictates, and Trump could cite no law that gave him even a fig leaf for his unconstitutional actions. What Brazil is doing stands in marked contrast to what has happened in the US. While the legal process had moved slowly but judiciously to hold to account those who had participated in the January 6 insurrection, immediately after his second inauguration, Trump used the president's pardon power to forgive all who had been duly convicted – even the most violent. Complicity in an attack that left five people dead and more than 100 police officers injured was no crime. Like China, Brazil has refused to submit to America's bullying. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silvacalled Trump's threat 'unacceptable blackmail,' adding, 'No foreigner is going to give orders to this president.' Lula has defended his country's sovereignty not only in the domain of trade, but also in regulating US-controlled tech platforms. America's tech oligarchs use their money and influence worldwide to try to force countries to give them free reign to pursue their profit-maximising strategies, which inevitably cause enormous harms, including by serving as a channel of misinformation and disinformation. As in recent elections in Canada and Australia, Lula got a 'Trump bump' in national support as Brazilians recoiled from the US administration and rallied around him. But that wasn't what motivated Lula to take his stance. It was a genuine belief in Brazil's right to pursue its own policies without foreign meddling. Under Lula's leadership, Brazil has chosen to reaffirm its commitment to the rule of law and democracy, even as America seems to be renouncing its own Constitution. It must be hoped that other leaders of countries large and small will demonstrate similar bravery in the face of bullying by the world's most powerful country. Trump has undermined democracy and the rule of law in the US – perhaps irreparably. He must not be allowed to do so elsewhere. @Project Syndicate, 2025

Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?
Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?

Muscat Daily

time3 days ago

  • Muscat Daily

Cameroon: What keeps 92-year-old President Biya in power?

Yaoundé, Cameroon – 'The best is yet to come'. That is the promise Cameroon's President Paul Biya makes as he runs for an eighth term as head of state. The 92-year-old has had more than 40 years to shape his country's destiny: he has been in power since 1982. If he is re-elected in the next elections on October 12, 2025 the world's oldest head of state could remain in office until shortly before his 100th birthday. Many inhabitants of the central African country no longer believe in a better Cameroon under Biya. Young people in particular – more than 36% of the population is under the age of 18 – lack prospects: unemployment, education, and health care are among their concerns. Why is Biya's regime so durable? One in four Cameroonians lives below the poverty line despite Cameroon's rich natural resources. It has oil, natural gas, aluminium, gold, precious woods, coffee, cocoa and cotton. But the country is still heavily dependent on China's economy, but development aid. Corruption and human rights violations are part of everyday life. Many Cameroonians shrug their shoulders at Biya's renewed candidacy. 'It's no surprise,' student Olivier Njoya tells DW. 'It's just a shame that there are people who don't think about the common good, but only about their own interests.' So how does a politician manage to keep his tight web of power intact for 43 years? Especially since Biya has often spent extended periods abroad in clinics and for recreation in Paris and Switzerland. It is 'striking how good (Biya) is at holding on to power', Christian Klatt, the representative of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Cameroon, tells DW. Voices from within Biya's own camp and from the opposition repeatedly claim that Biya knows how to play his competitors off against each other. 'In recent years, no one has been able to pose a threat to Biya,' says Klatt, adding that no one has ever really succeeded in establishing themselves as Biya's successor, either from within his own ranks or in the largest opposition parties. 'Biya is very good at praising people away, transferring them to other posts,' Klatt says. Could Cameroon see a coup? Particularly in West Africa, disgruntled generals have seized power in coups in the past. Klatt considers such a scenario impossible in Cameroon. 'The military, which is always a risk factor in many other countries, has a strong separation of powers within its own structures. No single group would therefore be strong enough to launch a coup,' he says. Biya's party, the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC), has been in power since Cameroon's independence in 1960 and has been led by President Biya since 1982. It' isn't unlikely that Biya will win the election again in the fall, Klatt says. 'His ruling party has many supporters and is best represented throughout the country.' In a short election process, the RDPC could outdo other opposition parties. In the Cameroonian electoral system, a candidate only needs a simple majority to win the election, which greatly benefits Biya. Can opposition unite to unseat Biya? One of those running to succeed Biya is 37-year-old Hiram Samuel Iyodi. One of the youngest presidential candidates, he was nominated by the MP3 (Patriotic Movement for the Peoples' Prosperity) party, which was founded in 2018. 'Young people in particular have the impression that the Cameroonian electoral system is tailored to the ruling party,' Iyodi tells DW. 'We are saying to young Cameroonians: if we all stick together, we can put an end to this regime that is no longer able to respond to the current concerns of the population,' he adds. The opposition parties' efforts over the years to create a counterweight to Biya's candidacy has failed due to differing ideologies and their internal divisions: a political coalition, the Douala Group, collapsed shortly before the deadline for presidential nominations on July 22. Is Biya really in control? Some experts, however, don't see Biya as a strong man but rather as a puppet of a perfidious political system. According to Philippe Nanga, political analyst and human rights activist, real power no longer lies in the hands of the president, but in a small circle of actors led by the president's secretary-general, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh. 'The secretary-general now signs almost all documents that are supposed to come from the president. He is omnipresent on the ground, leads political missions, and resolves internal conflicts within the party. These are tasks that normally fall under the responsibility of the head of state,' Nanga says. According to Nanga, despite his Biya's frail health, he remains the only one who can preserve the unity of the party. 'As soon as someone else officially comes to power, the party will break apart. There are already deep internal divisions,' says Nanga. Some officials are opposed to the president's re-election but don't dare to express this openly for fear of reprisals. How does Biya's regime silence dissent? Many individual journalists, politicians, and activists have been arbitrarily detained and physically assaulted in Cameroon. In its latest annual report, the US-based non-governmental organisation Freedom House refers to attacks on 'independent media, opposition parties, and civil society organisations, which have faced bans and harassment'. Political scientist Ernesto Yene says fear is what maintains the facade of stability in Biya's system. 'Anyone who dares to slam the door is quickly marginalised,' Yene tells DW. 'In reality, everyone is hiding behind Paul Biya's candidacy because it guarantees everyone the preservation of their privileges within the power apparatus. If another candidate were to emerge, the party would run the risk of imploding.' DW

Ghana: Can a 24-hour economy change a nation?
Ghana: Can a 24-hour economy change a nation?

Muscat Daily

time5 days ago

  • Muscat Daily

Ghana: Can a 24-hour economy change a nation?

Accra, Ghana – Since taking office six months ago, Ghanaian President John Mahama has placed a firm focus on reviving the country's economy – a key promise of his campaign. The new leader is seeking to shift the West African nation away from relying solely on its traditional sectors to establishing a more diversified economy. To this end, Mahama has launched a so-called 24-hour economy designed not only to create job opportunities around the clock but also to transform Ghana from an imports-based economy to self-sufficiency. 'This policy is made for Ghana and the future,' said Mahama. 'The 24-Hour Plus Programme will be the catalyst for Ghana's economic growth, and we are sure it will make Ghana prosper.' Under the plan, various industries will operate in three eight-hour shifts daily, with public and private sectors working together to keep the economy running day and night. The initiative chiefly targets existing key sectors in the country such as agriculture, manufacturing and essential services, but could be expanded to other areas in the long term. But as promising as it may seem, questions remain about the feasibility of Mahama's pet project. A country that never sleeps? Ghana's capital, Accra, can't compare to New York, Dubai or Tokyo when it comes to 24-hour amenities. In the African context, few cities run nonstop services, although Accra and cities in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and Kenya boast vibrant informal nighttime economies. Mahama's plan is about far more than creating cities where shops, restaurants and bars can operate day and night: His vision is to boost Ghana's economic output by tripling the hours that vital industries and sectors operate – from an average of eight hours per day to 24 hours. By the end of the decade, this ambitious policy could create 1.7mn new jobs across the nation, which would mean a 5% drop in unemployment. Economist Daniel Amateye Anim believes that bridging the gap from the theoretical idea behind the new policy to its actual application is where things could potentially go awry. 'About US$4bn to drive this 24-hour policy is needed,' he told DW. The expense has to be seen in the context of Ghana already owing US$3bn to the International Monetary Fund after defaulting repeatedly on some of its existing debt in recent years. Implementing an ambitious vision Ghana's approach as a government-backed policy is unique on the African continent, but faces multiple hurdles in its implementation. 'On paper, the programme sounds or appears innovative and progressive, with a propensity of transforming Ghana's economy. So it makes theoretical sense … (because) it's a programme that seeks to create jobs, bring about productivity, lift up from poverty,' said Amateye. 'As it stands now, we have so many graduates who are unemployed. And so, a programme that would ensure that people are employed and jobs are created, will also increase our GDP.' But in practical terms, he said, funding will be a limiting factor. 'Who exactly is the private sector, who you are expecting (to fund the program)? The internal private sectors do not have the financial muscle … to drive such an innovative programme.' According to Amateye, even if Ghana's private sector were able to fund a major transformation of the economy, it would still take time for private enterprises to fully buy into Mahama's ambitious idea. '(Each enterprise) would have to do a cost-benefit analysis first, and that takes time.' Amateye suggested that the onus should be on the government to cough up the funds first and thus 'dictate the pace' before private enterprises across Ghana can actually join Mahama's 24-hour economy revolution. DW

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store