Gaborone, Botswana (21st April 2010) A Memorandum of Understanding between the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Department of Meteorological Services of the Government of Botswana (BDMS) has been signed and came into force in April 21, 2010 in the framework of the “African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD)” pan African program implementation.

The purpose of the MOU is to implement the AMESD Regional Thematic Action in the SADC region, which is identified in the SADC region as “Agricultural and environmental resource management”.
BDMS, which is the AMESD Regional Implementation Centre (RIC) for the SADC Region, will be responsible for the design and implementation of the Regional THEMA, including the creation and consolidation of the regional networks contributing to the regional THEMA development.

BDMS will receive a grant of EUR 1,846,000 for this purpose and will act in partnership with eight different institutions involved in the sustainable management of agricultural and environmental resources in the region i.e. Agricultural Research Council (ARC) in Pretoria/South-Africa; Botswana College of Agriculture (BCA) in Gaborone/Botswana; MERAKA Institute of the Centre of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria/South-Africa; SADC Drought Monitoring Centre (DMC) in Gaborone/Botswana; Satellite Application Centre (SAC) in Hartebeeshoek/South-Africa; South African Weather Service (SAWS) in Pretoria/South-Africa; University of Botswana (UB) in Gaborone/Botswana; and University of Zimbabwe (UZ) in Harare/Zimbabwe.

SADC, similarly, will be responsible to achieve sustainable utilization of natural resources and effective protection of the environment, whereby, promoting and maximizing productive employment and utilization of resources of the region. In addition, SADC will support BDMS during the implementation of the Regional THEMA and ensure good cooperation with the identified partners in the region.

It is to be recalled that the financing agreement for the AMESD program entered into force on 20 November 2006. The program is hosted by the African Union Commission (Addis Ababa) at the request of the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States and the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Organizations in Africa, namely: CEMAC, ECOWAS, IGAD, SADC and IOC. It is funded through the 9th European Development Fund up to 21 million Euros.

© African Monitoring of Environment for Sustainable Development (AMESD), 2010