The first All-Africa Seminar on Human Environment opened in Addis Ababa on Monday (23 August) attended by representatives from 33 countries.

The object of the six-day seminar, which is being held in Africa Hall, is to discuss all aspects of pollution in Africa in preparation for the World Conference on Human Environment to be held in Stockholm next June.

The present meeting is being sponsored by the United Nations and the Economic Commission for Africa.

Three Japanese engineering experts were at Africa Hall while the conference was in session. They were meeting With officials of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to discuss the proposed Transafrican Highway before leaving on a four-week reconnaissance mission to Central Africa.

SYNOPSIS: The first All-African seminar on Human Environment opened in Addis Ababa on Monday attended by representatives from more than 33 African states. The six-day meeting is being sponsored by the United Nations and the Economic Commission for Africa. The delegates will discuss all aspects of pollution in Africa in preparation for the World Conference on Human Environment to be held in Stockholm next June.

The delegates were told on the opening day that the disposal of human was to, the spread of water-borne diseases, and the beginning of industrial contamination was rapidly destroying Africa's water supplies and that the damage could go beyond repair unless checked. They were also told that developing countries could learn and be guided from the actions of industrialised countries in trying to eliminate their industrial pollution. Developing lands, they wee told, were still in the early stages of industrialisation, and by sensible planning of the layout of Africa's growing industries, pollution to any great extent could still be avoided.

The Secretary-General of the newly-created United Nations Secretariat for Human Environment, Mr. Maurice Strong, added that the prevention of pollution and not merely the cure was the key to the problem in Africa. Mr. Strong, who arrived in Ethiopia from Bangkok, had earlier been received by Emperor Haile Selassie, who, he said, expressed a keen interest in the problems of pollution. The seminar is to concentrate on three principal items--human settlements in urban and rural areas, the utilisation of natural resources for development, and pollution itself.

On the same day, near Africa Hall, an African delegation was discussing the problems of the proposed Transafrican Highway with three Japanese engineering experts. They are to leave for central Africa where they will spend four weeks on a reconnaissance mission, studying the environmental problems associated with the proposed highway. The Japanese engineers had been briefed earlier by officials from the Economic Commission.