Posted by by Alieu Jallow
The Ministry of Environment Climate Change and Natural Resources Tuesday 1st December 2020 commence a two-days workshop with stakeholders to develop a strategic document on climate change resilience and adaptation as requirement by the Paris climate change agreement. The seminar which is taking place at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara international conference centre.
The Paris agreement central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Additionally, the agreement aims to strengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impacts of climate change. To reach these ambitious goals, appropriate financial flows, a new technology framework and an enhanced capacity building framework will be put in place, thus supporting action by developing countries in line with their own national objectives.
Alagie Fadera Director of planning at the ministry of finance indicated that climate change is one major development challenges impacting on various development endeavours to a large extend determining whether we achieve our set objectives or not.
“For us to develop a robust strategy, we have to adopt all inclusive process that will address the different element for a long term strategy,” he said.
Speaking on behalf of the International Institute for Environment and Development, (IIED) Gabrielle Swady a researcher on climate change commended the Gambia for been on the forefront in addressing climate change issue in line with the Paris climate change agreement. She affirmed her institutions’ support for the countries’ commitment to realizing their set national objective. Madam Swady said the IIED’s mission is to build a fairer, more sustainable world, using evidence, action and influence in partnership with others. “We link local priorities to global challenges,” she said.
Madam Swady pointed out that her institution has been supporting the Gambia in developing their long term strategies on climate change developments. She The Gambia is widely acknowledged as one of the most vulnerable countries in Africa on the impacts of climate change.