The development efforts undertaken by the Government allowed Togo to record good economic performances during the 1970s. Since the 1980s, as a result of the economic crisis that has affected the entire world, economic progress achieved without taking the environment into account in policies, programmes and projects has been annihilated. The financial and economic situation has seriously deteriorated and environmental damage has increased with the combined effects of debt, structural adjustment programmes and the devaluation of the CFA Franc in 1994. The pressure on natural resources has increased with a deforestation rate estimated at 15,000 ha per year, accelerated land degradation, the siltation of waterways, the rarefaction of several species of wildlife, the increase in pollution and nuisances of all kinds. This situation has accentuated the decline in productivity and therefore in income and generated precarious living conditions resulting from poverty that currently affects more than 72% of the population.

The need to better manage environmental problems, which may compromise the positive effects of economic growth and the opportunities of future generations in the medium and long term, was felt by the Government, which established a Ministry of the Environment in 1987, passed a law establishing an environmental code in 1988, and started drawing up a National Environmental Action Plan in 1990. The disturbances due to the socio-political crisis have interrupted all the actions taken and aggravated the damage to the environment.

Faced with the persistence of environmental problems, in 1995, the Government reactivated the National Environmental Action Plan (PNAE) process, which aims to define and promote a comprehensive strategic framework designed to integrate environmental and development issues with the effective participation of all actors and the effective participation of all actors as well as the preparation and implementation of environmental programmes and projects in order to better manage environmental problems. In doing so, Togo will contribute to the global dynamic in favor of the environment in the framework of the implementation of Agenda 21 and the conventions to which it is a Party in the field of the environment.

The document provides an overview of the state of the environment, identifies the constraints and advantages of environmental management, and proposes strategic directions as well as the modalities for implementing the policy.