Participants and experts from the workshop on climate security in Central Africa posing for posterity on October 2 at the Florentines hotel (30 km from Libreville) © Gabonactu.com
The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Central Africa, Head of the UNOCA office, Abdou Abarry, opened a three-day workshop on Climate Security on Wednesday October 2, 2024 in Ntoum (30 km from Libreville). in Central Africa, whose participants include, among others, United Nations staff members deployed in Central Africa in institutions such as UNOCA, MINUSCA, MONUSCO, the Office of the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region and the offices of Resident Coordinators and ECCAS experts.
The workshop entitled: “capacity building on climate, peace and security in Central Africa”, aims to be a laboratory to develop and propose relevant and sustainable solutions capable of preventing the harmful effects of climate change in the area. Central Africa.
“Each of us has a role to play in protecting our environment while promoting lasting peace for future generations; I strongly encourage you to actively participate in all discussions, to share your ideas and experiences, because it is together that we will be able to design solutions that meet the challenges. Together, let’s mobilize our creativity and commitment to face the challenges of climate change,” declared Mr. Abarry, opening the proceedings.
For the UN institution, the Central African sub-region, although having contributed very little to greenhouse gas emissions, disproportionately suffers the devastating consequences of climate change. These impacts are manifested, it is indicated, by rising temperatures, increasingly torrential rains leading to flooding, and the alarming rise in sea levels in the Gulf of Guinea.
“These phenomena are not only environmental challenges, they have repercussions on our societies. Indeed, they accentuate socio-economic vulnerabilities, weaken political structures, and aggravate pre-existing security threats. Hence the imperative need to take measures to prevent them or respond to them efficiently in order to guarantee the stability and resilience of our sub-region in the face of future challenges. he argued.
Organized in collaboration with ECCAS, the workshop on climate security in Central Africa should contribute to enriching the regional strategy: “climate-development-resilience” that the two sub-regional institutions are currently developing.
“On the eve of the opening of COP 29 scheduled in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan, this workshop is therefore of great importance for Central Africa. Our region, due to the presence of diverse and abundant natural capital (Congo Basin forest, peat bogs, strategic minerals, Bodelè dust, first hydrographic network, Sahelo-Sahelian zone), today plays an important role in the regulation of the global climate and should make a significant contribution in proposing nature-based solutions”, said in his circumstantial speech, Dr Honoré Tabuna, Commissioner for the Environment, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development of the Commission of ECCAS.
The solutions as recommendations formulated by the participants are expected on October 4.
Sydney IVEMBI
2024-10-02 14:51:23
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