“Our ambition is to make all our policies climate-compatible to ensure that climate is truly mainstreamed in the region”
In this interview, Mrs. Massandje Touré-Litse, Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, ECOWAS Commission, tells us more about the issues involved in the fight against climate change for ECOWAS States and the input of the GCCA+ West Africa project.
What are the issues for ECOWAS in the fight against climate change?
Climate change is an issue of vital concern for West African economies, societies, communities and ecosystems. The effects of global warming are transforming the regional environment and increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in a violent manner in West Africa. These changes affecting our planet’s climate are reshaping the world and increasing risks of instability and insecurity in all its forms. This trend of climate change is clearly reaffirmed by the IPCC in its 6th assessment report.
Climate change is a priority issue for West Africa. Africa is the continent which contributes the least to greenhouse gas emissions, but is one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Indeed, 9 of the 37 most vulnerable countries in the world are in the West Africa region and 4 are among the 10 most vulnerable countries.
The emissions of ECOWAS countries account for 1.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. All ECOWAS countries emit an average of less than one tonne of CO2 per capita per year.
Given the gravity of the future impacts, “Acting Together” in the context of regional solidarity is an absolute necessity to allow the West African region to reduce its vulnerability and collectively address the risks arising from the impacts of climate change which, by definition, have no borders.
Indeed, the impacts of climate change are cross-border and it is together that ECOWAS Member States can address this challenge.
It is essential to take action on climate change in the ECOWAS area, as the coordination of operations and solidarity between the Member States are one of the keys to effective and sustainable climate action.
A regional coordination of the response to climate change is essential, in particular for the adaptation component, given the common impacts, the scale of the common resources and ecosystems and the risks inherent to the sharp contrasts observed in the ECOWAS area. In addition, the contribution of institutions dedicated to economic integration and the emergence of a strong regional market offers opportunities to promote a low-carbon economy. It would also lift countries out of development paths incompatible with their own climate priorities.
What has been the input from the GCCA+ West Africa project implemented by Expertise France for the implementation of the ECOWAS Regional Climate Strategy?
The ECOWAS Regional Climate Strategy and its action plan for 2030 were adopted by the 88th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers held from 30 June to 1 July 2022 in Accra (Ghana).
Expertise France, via the GCCA+ WA project, was mandated by the ECOWAS Commission to assist it with the preparation process for its first Regional Climate Strategy.
In response to this request, the GCCA+ WA project has set up a team of multidisciplinary experts to support the ECOWAS Commission’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources (DAEWR), which was responsible for the coordination of the preparation and consultation process for the draft regional climate strategy for a year and a half.
The technical expertise mobilised by the GCCA+ WA project firstly made it possible to conduct identification, opportunity and feasibility studies to prepare the development of the strategy document. The initial diagnostic covered a broad scope: analysis of the vulnerabilities of the region and GHG emission projections, level of integration of the climate in ECOWAS regional policies (energy, agriculture, transport, health, trade, water, natural resources, etc.), as well as an analysis of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of the 15 ECOWAS Member States.
Expertise France also conducted a detailed analysis of the mandate of ECOWAS and its interactions with the Member States, in order to gain a detailed understanding and subsequently make customised proposals. This is what we particularly appreciated in this collaboration: this adaptation to our mandate and our specific institutional issues and realities as a regional integration institution.
On this basis, the GCCA+ WA project team jointly built proposals with our technical teams in the Commission for governance mechanisms, tools and activities to unleash the multisectoral potential of the climate action of ECOWAS, respecting its founding principles, such as subsidiarity, solidarity and cooperation, and capitalising on what already exists and the extensive track record of ECOWAS for climate action.How do you see the future climate action of ECOWAS and especially for the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement?
Today, the regional action of ECOWAS is traditionally sectoral: we have regional policies on agriculture, energy, transport, water resources, etc, for which we have an extensive track record of operations.
In terms of the climate in the strict sense, our operations traditionally used to focus more on assisting Member States with respect to international governance in the context of the UNFCCC: to support negotiations.
This RCS will allow us to move to the next level and deploy concrete but especially crosscutting operational climate action, based on our traditional intervention framework: our sectoral policies.
Our ambition is to make all our policies climate compatible to ensure that climate is truly mainstreamed in the region, in our Member States which will need to comply with this framework.
But we’re going to continue and further accelerate our crosscutting activities for our Member States in relation to the Paris Agreement. Last year, we set up a regional group for this purpose, to support international climate negotiations (the RAG-CLIN). It is working to build the capacities of the negotiators of our Member States and also consolidate our common positions, which will strengthen the region’s leadership in the negotiations.
Furthermore, our Member States are now all signatories and party countries to the Paris Agreement, but some find it difficult to actually comply with the requirements of the Agreement in practice, because they lack the capacity and resources, but also clear and supportive methodologies.
This is also the ambition of this Regional Climate Strategy, to be able to work on harmonised regional methodologies and meet the needs of these countries. This will eventually enable us to more effectively monitor the region’s commitments.
The action coordinated at regional level is more effective than the sum of all the national or sectoral policies. The stakes are so high and urgent that our only option is to act in a coordinated rather than piecemeal manner.
