St. Gallen/Accra/Online, 6 July 2020 The WRF Secretariat conducted three successful conference calls with WRF2020 partners from June 23-25. At these dates originally WRF 2020 Ghana would have taken place, hosted by the Ghanaian Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference had to be rescheduled. The conference will be held in 2021 on Primary Resources, Secundary Resources, Circular Economy, with a focus on Africa, and will include post-COVID 19 resources strategies. WRF 2021 will be hosted by MESTI and supported by a wide range of international and local partners.

The online stakeholder and preparational meetings were organized to discuss update on the logistics and planning of WRF 2021, to discuss the newest developments in the field, stay connected, keep the partners engaged and enhance cooperation and build common visions for the key topics.

The conference will be organised at the Accra International Conference Centre, depending on COVID-19 developments parts of the conference might be organised online. The plenary agenda of WRF 2021 was discussed as well as the distribution of the workshops. For the scientific sessions many abstracts were already received and approved for WRF 2020. Approved abstracts do not need to be resubmitted for WRF 2021. A second call for papers will open later this year once the new date of the conference will be known.

The partner calls were scheduled around the three main topics of the conference: primary resources, secondary resources and Circular Economy, and moderated by WRF staff members, Bas de Leeuw, Fabian Ottiger and Mathias Schluep. Partners presented their activities, goals and objectives for the conference and next steps. The two-hour calls revealed strong commitment of the (candidate) partners and major synergies to be achieved.

The following partners and candidate partners participated in the calls: Ghanaian Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Swiss Federal Office of the Environment (FOEN), UNEP, UNEP’s International Resources Panel, UNICEF,UNIDO, European Commission, Delegation of European Union to Ghana, GiZ, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, African Circular Economy Network (ACEN), Ghana Chamber of Mines, Ghana National Cleaner Production Centre, Mountain Research Institute Ghana, Caritas Ghana University of Queensland, Adansi North District Community Mining Programme, SEED, City Waste Recycling, Öko Institut, EMPA, Closing the loop, SAEWA, StEP, Ghana National Plastic Action Partnership, USAID, Futerra, Chatham House, and Systemiq.

More information about the Resources and Circular Economy WRF 2021 Conference in Africa can be obtained from the Secretariat through writing to info@wrforum.org and following the WRF website and social media.