By Stephen N. Tokpah
Eleven West African countries have concluded a three-day climate action training symposium in Monrovia intended to strengthen the capacity of national parliaments on oversights in climate action accountability and reporting.
The symposium which is the Second West African Parliamentarian Regional assembly brought together a convergence parliaments’ members to foster the ways forward to fight the growing threats of climate change on the African Continent and beyond.
Members of parliaments were drawn from Sierra Leone, Ghana, Benin, Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Gambia, Togo, C’O D’Ivoire, Nigeria and Liberia were in attendance.
The chairman of the Liberian Senate Committee on Lands, Mines, Energy, Natural Resources and Environment, Simeon Taylor underscored the need for an increased financial support in the fight against climate change.
He urged his fellow parliamentarians to begin to concentrate on devising new methods and strategies that will be tailored towards the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
He noted that the gathering will afford parliamentarians the opportunity to build upon gains made so far and improve on the challenges that were encountered during the first meeting.
Senator Taylor however wants his fellow parliamentarians to focus their deliberations on developing methods engaging major players in the fight to build a climate resilient society that will see the need to direct a significant portion of the climate funds to the African Continent because African countries need most financial resources to respond to climate crisis.
Speaking on behalf of the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia, EPA’s Deputy Executive Director Dweh Boley, welcomed the members of the West African parliamentarians, while classifying climate change or global warning as one of the pressing issues that is confronting development in the World.
He told the gathering that Liberia is experiencing severe flooding conditions and other environmental issues to include erosions, beach mining, scarcity of safe drinking water, decline in biodiversity and deforestation.
Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency Deputy Executive Director wants people in the region to work toward sustainable development as he cautions the participants of the occasion.
Others are wetlands degradation, poor waste management, rising sea level, destruction of coastal communities and high youth unemployment something; Boley attributed to the lifestyle and consumption habit of the citizens which is like other countries in the region.
Professor Dr. Abubarkar Sulaimani of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Services of Nigeria disclosed that the issue of climate change has been the priority of the destined agenda of both houses of the Nigeria Legislative Assembly something he said has been targeted in the government national plan of 2024 to 2028.
Dr. Sulaimani expressed their willingness to working with the African Group of Negotiators Experts Supports, (AGNES) for the past three years and envisioned working further to tackle climate change.
He averred that our world today is rampant than it was in three years ago, adding rainfall in passed time has remained unstable, as consequences of food security has also escalated and floods are associated with various collapses yet, man continue to dispose of waste in an unsustainable manner something he said needs amicable solution.
He however, urged African parliamentarians to advance recommendations in enacting legislations to regulate climate related issues in the region.
Kwame Adabail, the African Union Development Agency Representative noted that the gathering is a testament to Africans collectiveness to this challenge of climate change.
He availed that the region, West Africa particularly is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change therefore the regional response must be robust, inclusive and cultivating.
Kwame wants the critical role of parliaments in shifting, overseeing and implementing effective climate policies can therefore not be over emphasized. Parliament has a unique and powerful mandate to ensure that all levels of government as well as the general society are not only committed to climate action but also held accountable for their commitments.
“Parliaments are mandated to draft debate and enact legislation that drives climate actions. Through well-crafted laws, parliaments can set ambitious targets for climate adaptation and build the resilient and can also create legal robust framework that support sustainable development and climate resilient,” he added.
He made the statement at the Second West Africa Parliamentarian Regional Meeting which was aimed at strengthening the capacity of national parliaments on oversights in climate action accountability and reporting at the Royal Grand Hotel in Monrovia held between July 17-19, 2024.
The AGNES was created in 2015 to provide scientific expertise and evidence to inform a common African position in climate change negotiations. The AGNES seeks to facilitate the exchange of ideas between experts and negotiators at the international level especially within the framework of the UNFCCC.
The AGNES utilizes scientific evidence as a major tool that can be employed to inform the unified common Africa position on matters climate change. Since, its inception AGNES has informed the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) regarding the development and defending of positions on agriculture and gender based on scientific evidence.
The AGNES has played a critical role in the achievements that have been in climate change negotiations especially on issues related to agriculture and gender, that resulted in the adoption of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA) and the Gender Action Plan at the 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23) held in November 2017 in Bonn, Germany, respectively.
The KJWA is the first substantive outcome and UNFCCC COP decision in the history of the agenda item on agriculture which has been under negotiation since 2011. The decision requires the UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies on Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) and Implementation (SBI) to jointly address issues related to agriculture through workshops and expert meetings, working with constituted bodies under the Convention and taking into consideration the vulnerabilities of agriculture to climate change and approaches to addressing food security. Parties and Stakeholders were invited to submit their views guided by the KJWA Roadmap (2018-2020).
The West African Parliamentarians Meeting held in Liberia is the second to the first being held in Lagos, Nigeria from May 23-26, 2023.
This 2nd meeting was hosted by the Liberian Legislature in collaboration with the Environmental Protection Agency of Liberia in an effort to foster partnership for promoting climate action and national ownership at the highest level. The event showcased what Liberia is doing relative to climate change governance and solicited commitment toward establishing a legal framework for climate change. The engagement generated commitment from the Legislature toward a bill on climate change. The event also created opportunity for networking, experience sharing, challenges and gains made across West Africa.
The Second West African Regional Forum on Oversights in Climate Actions Accountability and Reporting advanced the following as recommendations:
Raising awareness among Parliamentarians on the national and international commitments on climate change, experience sharing from national parliaments on the tools used to provide oversight and track the progress of implementation of climate policies and climate action.
Sharing best practices in the formulation and enactment of climate laws, ensuring effective allocation and utilization of resources for climate change action, mechanisms for ensuring accountability and transparency in the implementation of climate policies and training and capacity building program for parliamentarians and parliamentary staff on climate change issues among several others.
These recommendations when adhered to, will enable the region to adequately address climate related issues in providing amicably solutions to the existing threats the region, Africa and the world is faced with
