The implementation of the Action Plan is expected to improve regional environmental governance and increase the effectiveness of Member States in international negotiations.

The general objective of the ECOWAS environmental Policy (ECOWEP) adopted in December 2008 is to reverse environmental degradation and the depletion of natural resources, improve the quality of the living environment, conserve biological diversity with a view to ensuring a healthy and productive environment, thus improve the living standards of the region communities.

One of the operational policy instruments, through which ECOWAS can channel the efforts of stakeholders for the enforcement of the Policy, is the Action Plan and its Monitoring and Evaluation Plan. Both plans have been revised with the support of the USAID-funded West Africa Biodiversity and Climate Change Project (WA BICC) with the objective of implementing the ECOWEP for the next seven years (2020 to 2026). They were then validated by the sector environment ministers of all Member States in February 2020 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. These documents were later adopted in Niamey, Niger, by the Council of Ministers on 4 and 5 September and by the Authority of the Heads of State on 7 September 2020, with an implementing regulation.