Regional Preparatory Workshop for ECOWAS Member States’ Climate Negotiators in view of the COP28 on Climate Change
17 Oct, 2023In view of the upcoming 28th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the ECOWAS Commission in collaboration with the UEMOA Commission, CILSS and the Project West African Biodiversity and Low Emission Development (WABiLED) funded by USAID is organizing from October 3 to 5, 2023 in Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, a regional preparatory workshop for climate change focal points and negotiators from the ECOWAS region for better participation of our region in the said Climate conference.
Indeed, as part of global actions to combat climate change, the international community adopted the Paris Agreement in December 2015. Since then, several negotiation sessions, including the Conferences of the Parties, have already been organized to discuss the framework and modalities to be put in place to ensure the proper and effective implementation of decisions relating to this Agreement.
While the latest scientific data published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that climate change is evolving more rapidly and emphasizes the vulnerability of ecosystems and communities, several questions are still of crucial importance for West African delegates, in particular measures to mitigate climate change variability , the global assessment of the responses provided, article 6 relating to carbon credits, climate financing, adaptation measures and loss and damage as well as transparency and transfer of technology.
These issues were addressed during the negotiations of the 58th Session of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB58) of the UNFCCC held in June 2023 in Bonn to reconcile the preliminary positions of the Parties to the Convention. These negotiations will continue during the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the UNFCCC which will take place from November 30 to December 12, 2023 in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
It is therefore with the aim of ownership of the results of the June session and defining the region’s priorities for this COP28 that the ECOWAS Commission is organizing, in collaboration with UEMOA, CILSS and the WABiLED Project funded by USAID, this preparatory workshop for the benefit of climate negotiators from ECOWAS Member States, from October 3 to 5, 2023, in Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire).
This regional preparatory meeting was opened on October 3, 2023 by Mr. Gnahoré KODEHI, Deputy Chief of Staff representing the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The opening ceremony also registered the interventions of Mr. Jérôme WANYOU representing the Resident Representative of ECOWAS in Côte d’Ivoire and Mr. Gustave DIASSO, Resident Representative of UEMOA.
The said workshop is led by the main thematic negotiators from our region involved in the international climate negotiations and will allow to define the region’s priorities to be brought to the level of the African Group with a view to maximize contributions to the discussions which will take place at the COP28.
