Ouagadougou- USAID WA-WASH Program and U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) will organize a symposium on environmental security in West Africa. The Symposium aims to increase awareness of and facilitate the sharing of experiences concerning various environmental security challenges in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Niger.
Symposium speakers will cover a range of topics related to national and regional environmental security challenges such as: implications of water resources scarcity and management on international security, roles of international militaries and non-military stakeholders in conflict prevention and peace-building efforts, environmental considerations in peace-support operations, cooperation between military and other stakeholders on environmental security issues, as well as technical discussions dealing with military environmental and engineering programs, waste management, water resources management, and contaminated land assessment and cleanup.
The mission of the environmental security program is to promote interagency and multinational cooperation between military and non-military stakeholders in environmental security. This is done by introducing international military concepts, values and culture in the area of environmental security to partner nations. The environmental security program also aims to encourage dialogue between regional partners in order to raise awareness of environmental and engineering issues and to assist nations in their efforts to enhance their capabilities.
