Dakar, Nov 11 (APS) - The Panos West Africa Institute (IPAO) announces to organize from  Thursday the third edition of the Local Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Environmental  Governance in Dakar, as part of the implementation of the project "Citizen media for participatory environmental governance in Senegal",  funded by the European Union (EU).

Scheduled for two days, this meeting will be held in Petit Mbao, at the headquarters of the Senegalese Association of Friends of Nature (ASAN) called Alioune Diagne Mbor, where the opening ceremony will also take place, from  9 a.m., said a statement sent to the APS. "The overall objective of this forum is  to strengthen the dynamic of multi-stakeholder consultation around environmental issues in the departments of Pikine and Guédiawaye", in particular to evaluate "the taking into account of the recommendations from the 2019 forum  ,   in the actions of local authorities and other actors (media, civil society organisations  , associations, local authorities). It also aims to "evaluate the Ten-Year  Flood Control Plan in force since 2012", "share and reflect on solutions to the disappearance of classified areas, groundwater pollution  and its harmful effects on agricultural production and the health of populations", Points which are among the specific objectives of the Forum,  and the organisers intend to "make recommendations for scaling up good practices, the means of implementing them and their integration into the local development plans of local and regional authorities". In the departments of Pikine and Guédiawaye, "there is a strong pressure on wooded resources with the gradual destruction of the strip of filaos and the fragmentation of the classified forest of Mbao (2700 ha). This, on the coastal strip, has led to a notorious advance of the sea, threatening riverside dwellings, as well as public infrastructure," the statement said.

He also adds that the occupation of non-aedificandi areas (dry beds of former natural water reservoirs) "has led to a thorny sanitation problem, resulting in recurrent flooding and difficulties in the evacuation of wastewater". In addition, "poor management of sanitation works (deposit of household waste in sewage and runoff drainage  channels, obstruction of manholes in neighborhoods)". Will take part in this forum, "about fifty  people representing youth associations  , local authorities, state technical services, the media, NGOs, women's groups , etc.", announce the organizers.