ECOWAS Parliament Climate Seminar Calls for Stronger Regional Action as Climate Risks Threaten West Africa
ACCRA, GHANA — Experts at the ECOWAS Parliament’s Second Extraordinary Session and Second Seminar in Accra have called for stronger and more coordinated regional action on climate change, warning that worsening climate pressures are increasingly threatening livelihoods, food security, infrastructure, population stability and development across West Africa. The call came during the seminar themed “Climate Change as a Driver of Environmental Degradation, Population Displacement and Rising Insecurity in the ECOWAS Region.” Participants said the region was already experiencing the effects of rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, drought, flooding, rising sea levels and land degradation, with farmers, low-income communities, coastal populations and displaced persons among those facing some of the greatest risks. Climate hazards already affecting communities Opening the proceedings, the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hadja Memounatou Ibrahima , welcomed parliamentarians, experts an...