Year

Developments

• After 27 years of political detention by apartheid in South Africa, Nelson Mandela is finally released from prison, and preparations for a new political dispensation begin
• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that deplete the Ozone Layer is amended in London, United Kingdom
• The International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation is signed

• Leaders of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) sign a Treaty establishing the African Economic Community (AEC)
• The Protocol to the Atlantic Treaty on the environment, reaffirming the status of the Atlantic Ocean as a special conservation area, is adopted in Madrid, Spain
• The Bamako Convention on the Ban of the Import into Africa and the Control of the Transboundary Movement and Management of Hazardous Waste within Africa is adopted

• The Conference on the Environment is held in Dublin, Ireland; many African countries are present,
  and demand that water should be recognized both as a social and an economic good
  
• The United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the
  Earth Summit, is held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  
• Agenda 21 is adopted by the international community
  
• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layeras amended in London,
  enters into force
  
• The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is adopted in New York, USA
  The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer further amended in
  Copenhagen, Denmark
  
• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal enters into force
  
• The Convention on Biological Diversity is adopted

• The Convention on Biological Diversity enters into force, in December
• The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa
  
• The Convention on Nuclear Safety South Africa abolishes its apartheid laws, general elections are held and Nelson Mandela becomes the first black president of a multiracial society
  
• The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer as amended in Copenhagen, enters into force
  
• The Lusaka Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora

• The SADC Protocol on Shared Watercourse Systems is adopted and signed by member states
• The Protocol Concerning Protected Areas and Wild Fauna and Flora in the Eastern African Region enters into force

• The Convention for the Protection, Management and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of the Eastern African Region enters into force, 11 years after its adoption

• The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses
• Parties to CITES gather in Harare, Zimbabwe, where they agree to relax the ban in international trade in ivory and other elephant products
• The Rio +5 Summit is held in New York to review progress made since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992

• The Bamako Convention comes into effect
  
• The Protocol on Energy in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region enters into
  force in April