Following years of successful collaboration with the country’s government, a new UNEP report has been launched analysing and providing recommendations to remedy environmental issues affected by conflict in Côte d’Ivoire.

UNEP’s Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment of Côte d’Ivoire spanned a wide range of environmental issues affected by the crisis in the West African country, including national parks, unplanned urban expansion, the mining sector, environmental degradation of the Ébrié Lagoon and the risk of oil spill along the country’s coastline.

The report proposes a number of strategic recommendations in addition to more specific technical ones. The assessment’s findings make it clear that measures such as reforestation will have to be unprecedented, visionary and carried out on a large scale.

In a ceremony held in Abidjan on 16 September, UNEP’s Deputy Executive Director Ibrahim Thiaw presented the report to the country’s Minister of Environment Dr. Rémi Allah-Kouadio, who acknowledged UNEP’s excellent work.

In a further ceremony in the same city on 25 September, the assessment was also presented to Côte d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara by United Nations Special Representative Aichatou Mindaoudou.

Photos from UNEP’s assessment missions in the country have meanwhile been used to produce an online photo essay titled ‘The Environment in Côte d’Ivoire: Challenges and Opportunities,’ available in French and English. The photos show threats posed to Côte d’Ivoire’s forests by illegal and uncontrolled timber exploitation and agricultural expansion. They also show the current situation in parts of the Ébrié lagoon, where pollution is acute, as well as some of the numerous environmental problems Abidjan is facing.

For more information regarding UNEP’s work in Côte d’Ivoire and to download a copy of the Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment, please see our website: unep.org/cotedivoire, available in both French and English, or contact Sophie Brown at sophie.brown@unep.org.