COMIFAC
The Commission for Forests of Central Africa (COMIFAC) is an intergovernmental organisation in Central Africa that focuses on sustainable management of forests in the Congo Basin. In 2016, COMIFAC, together with the Secretariat for Environmental Assessment in Central Africa (SEEAC), developed a Directive with guidelines for environmental assessment for the forested zones in ten countries. COMIFAC assists member states in the transposition of this Directive and signed MoUs with SEEAC and the NCEA for support and technical assistance.
DGIS
In 2023, the Directorate-General for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands (DGIS) renewed its cooperation with the NCEA for ten years, until the end of 2032. The NCEA works closely together with policy directorates such as Inclusive Green Growth and Sustainable Economic Development and with embassies across the world. Our joint ambition is to work towards better governance, sustainable development driven policies, and green and future-proof investments. The NCEA contributes to this goal through supporting the improvement of ESIA and SEA systems in low-and-middle-income countries (see our Theory of Change) and through our Sustainability Analysis programme.
EANECE
The NCEA works closely together with the East African Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (EANECE) on strengthening ESIA follow up systems in East/Horn region. Based on a needs assessment, the two institutions will in the coming years organise training, knowledge building and exchange around amongst others improving Environmental and Social Management Plans and monitoring systems.
ECOWAS
Since August 2020, the Environmental Directorate of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the NCEA are working together on improving various aspects of Environmental Assessment systems in the region. The most notable area of cooperation concerns the harmonisation of environmental impact legislation through the development of a regional directive.
IGF
The Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) and the NCEA are working together to improve the application of ESIA and promote SEA for the mining sector in the different countries where we are both active.
UNESCO / IUCN
Even though World Heritage sites benefit from the highest form of protection, many sites are under threat as the number of development proposals is rapidly growing. In this light, in 2024, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the NCEA signed an agreement to reinforce capacity building and quality assurance for Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) and Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) for World Heritage sites.
VBA
The Volta Basin Authority (VBA) is committed to strengthen water management infrastructures in its six member states Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Mali, and Togo. The VBA plans to undertake environmental impact assessment for future investments at project and strategic level and welcomes the technical assistance of the NCEA. For this purpose, VBA and the NCEA signed an MoU for 2023-2032.
WAEMU
The West-African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) has adopted a joint environmental policy in 2008, which includes harmonization of ESIA and SEA practice. In 2019, the NCEA and WAEMU kicked off their cooperation with a meeting in Cotonou, hosted by the Dutch embassy. Since then, the NCEA supports this harmonization process through regional workshop, guidelines and training.
WWF
In 2021, the NCEA signed a cooperation agreement with WWF Netherlands, which runs until 2026. As a neutral facilitator and advisor, the NCEA supports WWF NL and its local partners to build dialogues between government, civil society and private sector parties in the context of decision making on sustainability challenges.
