The FAO Committee on Constitutional and Legal Matters approved the draft text of the Agreement establishing the CLCPRO (Rome, October 2000), which was then approved by the FAO Council at its 119th session (November 2000).

The CLCPRO was established under the provisions of Article XIV of the FAO Constitution and succeeded the CLCPANO. The Agreement establishing it entered into force on February 25, 2002. When it was established, CLCPRO comprised nine countries in West and North-West Africa: Algeria, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, and Tunisia. It currently comprises 11 countries, following applications for membership submitted by Burkina Faso in 2004 and The Gambia in 2024 to become members of the CLCPRO (applications accepted). 

The CLCPRO held its first constituent session in Rome in September 2002 and decided that its headquarters would be in Algiers, Algeria.

 

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Purpose of CLCPRO 

In accordance with its founding agreement, “the purpose of the CLCPRO is to promote, at the national, regional, and international levels, all actions, research, and training aimed at ensuring preventive control and responding to resurgences/invasions of the desert locust in the western part of its habitat, covering West Africa and North-West Africa.”

By strengthening cooperation between its eleven member countries, the CLCPRO contributes to regional integration in West and Northwest Africa and to the development of South-South cooperation. Its overall objective is to prevent the serious damage that locust infestations can cause to the entire agro-sylvo-pastoral production of the countries concerned; the Commission therefore contributes significantly to the fight against hunger and poverty in Africa.

 

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Présidence de la CLCPRO

Morocco currently holds the presidency of the CLCPRO for the period 2025–2027 (the period between two sessions).

The CLCPRO held its first session in Rome in September 2002, its second in Algiers in June 2003, its third in Tripoli in June 2004, its fourth in Bamako in October 2007, its fifth session in Agadir (Morocco) in June 2009, its sixth session in Tunis in March 2012, its seventh in Nouakchott in June 2014, its eighth session in Dakar in July 2016, its ninth session in N'Djamena in June 2018, its 10th session in Oran (Algeria) in November 2022, and its 11th in Marrakech (Morocco) in February 2025.

 

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Executive Secretariat of the CLCPRO

The Director-General appoints the Executive Secretary of the Commission and the FAO finances, from its regular programme, the operation and equipment of the Secretariat, which is responsible for implementing the Commission's policies, undertaking the actions it has requested and carrying out all other decisions it has taken.

Since the commission was set up, the post of executive secretary had been held by Dr Thami Ben Halima, who handed it over to Dr Mohamed Lemine Hamouny on 14 September 2013. Dr Hamouny was also coordinator of the Desert Locust component for the western region under the EMPRES (Emergency Prevention System) programme until its end in 2011.

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Budget of the CLCPRO

The CLCPRO has a trust fund at FAO headquarters, funded by annual contributions from its member states. This fund is used to finance part of the activities programmed by the Commission's sessions and the meetings of its Executive Committee.