The Executive Secretary of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region, SEM. Issifi Boureima spoke this Wednesday, July 10, 2024, at the opening segment of the virtual meeting organized by the UNDP Crises Bureau on the Climate, Peace and Security Nexus in Sahel stabilization contexts.
This meeting, which follows on from the one held last April in New York, enabled the Executive Secretary of the CCRS to take stock with the various stakeholders of the actions planned and carried out by the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region as part of the Sahel climate security agenda.
It was also an opportunity for him to renew his appeal, following that made in Rome, Italy, at the event on the Partnership for Scaling Up Climate Action in Situations of Fragility and Conflict, organized by the WFP in conjunction with the Emirati government as part of the Ten-Year International Compact for Financing Resilience, Adaptation and Peacebuilding in the Sahel Region.
Indeed, given the scale of the challenges and the serious implications of their future projection in the face of inaction, the effective operationalization of such a Pact is more than timely for the Sahel.
The Executive Secretary of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region also welcomed the willingness of all stakeholders to set up a dynamic and operational framework for collaboration, which should lead to a roadmap of priority actions linked to capacity building, the formulation and implementation of structuring projects, as well as advocacy and resource mobilization, all major priority actions for the success of the Sahel region’s resilience and pacification agenda.
ADDRESS BY HIS EXCELLENCY ISSIFI BOUREIMA, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE CCRS
Ladies and Gentlemen, distinguished guests,
I would like to begin by thanking the UNDP for inviting us to speak at this event. I would also like to point out that this meeting, initiated by the UNDP Crises Bureau, follows on from the one held in April in New York, as part of the climate security agenda.
I would also like to congratulate the UNDP Office once again for its commitment, and reiterate our deep gratitude for the sustained collaboration with the CCRS in monitoring this agenda, particularly in the Sahel.
Indeed, it should be recalled that the issue of climate security has become the main challenge facing the Sahel region, in view of the interrelated effects it brings.
It has thus become clear that, in the context of the climate change resilience and adaptation agenda, no response can be considered appropriate and coherent if it does not take into account the implications of the security issue and its corollaries.
With this in mind, the CCRS welcomed the initiative of the UNDP and its partners to hold a conference on the climate-peace-security nexus in November 2023 in Bamako, which enabled the various parties to agree, through the so-called Bamako Declaration, on strategic and operational actions to better address this issue in the Sahel.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In this respect, I would like to emphasize that the CCRS, as a stakeholder among the regional organizations involved in this agenda, is actively working to ensure the successful implementation of this Declaration, the implementation of which is consistent with its strategic and operational vision.
In this respect, as part of the operationalization of the CCRS, I am already delighted that a series of actions consistent with the climate security agenda have been carried out and are planned:
At a strategic level, it should be emphasized that the issue of climate security is at the heart of the advocacy and climate diplomacy agenda for all stakeholders, i.e. member countries and technical and financial partners, to ensure that this issue is taken into account in the definition and implementation of national, sub-regional and regional policies and strategies in the Sahel.
In the same vein, guidelines have been defined for taking the issue into account as part of the process of revising the Climate Investment Plan for the Sahel region currently underway. Consultations are also planned with member countries, with a view to revising their third-generation NDCs.
At the continental level, the CCRS is delighted to have affirmed its full support for the process of defining a common African position on the Climate-Peace-Security nexus, and looks forward to ongoing discussions on this agenda with the relevant department of the African Union Commission.
At the operational level, in line with its strategic vision, the CCRS has initiated, in conjunction with some of its partners, a series of multi-country climate safety projects as part of the promotion of coherent and appropriate actions to better address this issue in the Sahel.
The CCRS is also preparing to launch a study, with the support of the African Development Bank, for the development of a regional climate security program, which will also address the resilience of food systems and access to sustainable energy, two major priorities of resilience policies in the Sahel. This program, whose development is being financed as part of P2-P2RS, the first regional project consistent with ICP-RS, will involve six CCRS member countries: Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In addition to the above actions, which have already been initiated, strategic studies are also planned to enhance knowledge and management of this issue in the Sahel.
As part of the financing agenda, the CCRS has initiated the creation of a Facility to mobilize resources to support resilience, adaptation and pacification in the Sahel. In this respect, the CCRS is delighted with the excellent collaboration with some of its partners, notably the UNDP, in the context of this agenda, the process of which will soon be completed.
This Facility, planned as a prelude to the effective operationalization of the Sahel Climate Resilience Fund, seems appropriate in view of the financing issue which, along with the weak technical and institutional capacity of stakeholders, constitutes the main bottlenecks to the successful implementation of climate agenda initiatives across the board.
In this respect, I would like to reiterate my call, on behalf of all our member countries, for financing and capacity-building to be top priorities on the Sahel’s climate security agenda. This appeal follows on from the last one we sent out on the sidelines of the event on the Partnership for Scaling Up Climate Action in Situations of Fragility and Conflict, organized in Rome, Italy, by the WFP in conjunction with the UAE. This appeal is also addressed to all partners in the Sahel region, in favor of a ten-year international pact to finance resilience, adaptation and pacification in the Sahel region. Indeed, given the scale of the challenges and the serious implications of their future projection in the face of inaction, the effective operationalization of such a Pact is more than timely.
The CCRS considers it timely to strengthen the framework for dialogue with technical and financial partners on the resilience and pacification agenda for the Sahel region. It also proposes to organize advocacy events for the region on the sidelines of major international meetings on the climate diplomacy and sustainable development agenda.
With this in mind, I am pleased to announce the initiative of organizing a high-level consultative event on the Sahel on the sidelines of the forthcoming COP 29. This event, for which we are seeking the support and effective involvement of the UNDP and other partners, should serve as a framework for exchanges on the actions carried out by the various players, in order to agree on a pooling of efforts to better address the issue of climate security and its corollaries in the Sahel. I’m already delighted that the WFP is ready to help organize this important event.
I can’t end without once again stressing the need to formalize the partnership framework between the UNDP, the CCRS and our other sub-regional organizations, such as the Liptako Gourma Authority and the Lake Chad Basin Commission, which are all stakeholders in the Sahel’s climate agenda.
This collaborative framework, in which we take a keen interest, should provide a roadmap of priority actions linked to capacity building, the formulation and implementation of structuring projects, as well as advocacy and resource mobilization.
With this in mind, and in keeping with its strategic vision, I would like to reiterate the CCRS’s complete willingness to work towards the success of such a partnership framework.
Thank you for your attention.