By
Kofi Adu Domfeh
Climate
justice and sustainable management of the planet’s resources must be at the
centre of the Post-2015 sustainable development framework, according to a declaration
by the West African civil society organizations on climate change.
Developed
countries are also being held to continue to commit and deliver on providing
financial and technological resources to address mitigation and adaptation
challenges in line with the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities.
CSO
representatives from Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Togo,
Mali, Cote D’Ivoire, Benin, Niger, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mauritania convened
at the West Africa regional civil society capacity building workshop on Climate
Change and Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda in Lome, Togo.
The
Post-2015 Development Agenda is the future global development framework to
succeed the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals which ends in 2015.
The
impacts of climate change continue to exert great economic, social, political
and cultural pressures on households, working families, the poor, rural and
urban dwellers. These pressures have a combined effect of reducing opportunities
and potentials for attaining progress and prosperity in communities.
The
civil society groups emphasized the need for Africa to begin to focus on
generating its own funds in order to finance climate change programs and
activities, whilst CSOs increased efforts to monitor and track climate change
budget provisions and performance.
“West
African CSOs should continue to engage their governments to find alternatives
to financing climate change such as the adoption of the Financial Transaction Tax
(FTT) and taxes on luxury imported goods and services”, said a Statement issued
at the end of the meeting.
They
also called for the promotion of women’s rights, gender equality and the
empowerment of youth and vulnerable groups must be given top priority.
“We
take advantage of the strengths and opportunities in new and emerging social
media, to mobilize our people in both rural and urban areas, including the
youth, women, artisans, in order to address climate change challenges affecting
our people”.
It
was also declared that African CSOs in collaboration with other members of the
global climate justice movement work to intensify campaigns and research in
order to strengthen international coordinated action on climate change.
The
Lome meeting was organized by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA),
in collaboration with the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in West
Africa (FECCIWA).
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