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9 Capacity building and assessment
SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME: AEO-3
While it is early to assess the impact of the AEO-3 pro-
cess, it is notable that the theme and analytical frame-
work have been well received by countries in the region,
which are keen to assess environment and health link-
ages. For example, Zimbabwe’s third state of the envi-
ronment report will incorporate the environment and
health thread, and the team that will put together the
report underwent training on Integrated Environmental
Assessment and Reporting using the AEO-3 analytical
framework. The training was requested by Zimbabwe,
and facilitated by GRID-Arendal and UNEP.
 Promotion of Zambia and Zambezi
Atlases’ findings and tracking their
immediate impact (only 2012)
TheZambeziRiverBasin:AtlasoftheChangingEnvironment,78
a component of the 2010-2011 MFA Programme Coopera-
tion Agreement, was completed in 2012. The atlas was
requested by the Zambezi Watercourse Commission as
baseline information to support their work and was com-
piled by the Southern Africa Research and Documenta-
tion Centre, with GRID-Arendal undertaking research on
remote-sensing data, and providing editorial and produc-
tion support. Outreach activities included a launch of the
atlas on 29 May 2013 by Angola’s Minister of Water, who
is the current chairperson of the Southern African Devel-
opment Community (SADC) Ministers of Water. A second
showcase of the Zambezi Basin Atlas took place during
the World Tourism Organization General Assembly in Au-
gust 2013. In addition, a promotional video was produced
with guidance from GRID-Arendal.
The content of the Zambia Atlas was developed by both
GRID-Arendal and the Zambia Environmental Manage-
ment Agency. The production followed training offered by
GRID-Sioux Falls in the collection, processing and visu-
alization of satellite data. The Zambia Atlas responds to
growing concerns in Zambia about the impact of the fast
recovering copper mining industry on the environment
and urbanization. Print and USB flash drive versions of
the atlas were published in late 2013, and the launch took
place on 18 December 2013.
78. http:/
9.1 AFRICA
 Support to UNEP’s flagship
products – GEO-5, AEO-3 and
national environment summaries
(only 2012)
GRID-Arendal’s Africa Programme coordinated processes
contributing to two of UNEP’s flagship reports – the fifth
Global Environment Outlook (GEO-5) and the third Africa
Environment Outlook (AEO-3). GRID-Arendal provided
one of the two Coordinating Lead Authors for GEO-5’s
regional chapter on Africa75 and subsequently assisted
UNEP with the Africa launch of GEO-5 in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, one of the 25 launches worldwide coinciding
with the Rio+20 Earth Summit in June 2012. The report
and its associated capacity building received significant
mention in the Rio+20 Outcome Document.76
For AEO-3,77 GRID-Arendal compiled the guidelines for
authors, provided the Coordinating Lead Authorship of
the main report and Summary for Policy Makers (SPM),
and supported outreach activities. The AEO-3 SPM was
launched in September 2012 during the 14th session of
the Africa Ministerial Conference on the Environment
(AMCEN) in Arusha, Tanzania, as well as in 2013 during
the First Universal Session of the Governing Council of
UNEP. The full AEO-3 report, whose theme is environ-
ment and health, was launched in October 2013 during
the 5th special session of AMCEN, held in Gaborone, Bot-
swana.
To widen the dissemination of key findings in both GEO-5
and AEO-3 reports a process was initiated to visually re-
package some messages for online publishing. Much of
this process was subsumed under the new UNEP-Live ini-
tiative which contains country-relevant case studies and
country environment profiles reported under the Africa
Environment Information Network (see below). In addi-
tion, GRID-Arendal and UNEP hosted a team of experts
from Africa to discuss the GEO-5 messages and use of the
report findings in policy setting.
75.
76. GA Document A/66/L.56
77.