A regional workshop to consolidate common positions and strengthen unity within the region

In the run-up to the 27^th Conference of the Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), West African regional institutions met with their Member States’ negotiators in Lomé from September 27 to 29 2022 to preparing international climate negotiations.

Facilitated by the ECOWAS Regional Support Group for International Climate Negotiations (RAG-CLIN), the workshop discussions were able to reinforce several common positions of the negotiators of the region Member States, in line with the ECOWAS regional Climate strategy. Negotiators also agreed on an organization to be put in place to best represent the region’s interests within the various priority thematic negotiation groups.

West Africa’s Priority Expectations

West Africa will assess the performance (success or failure) of the annual climate negotiations to be held in Sharm el Sheikh in November at COP27 based on the progress of its priority concerns.

• Increase the ambition of GHG emission reduction: it is necessary that the International Community – and more specifically the most emitting countries – revise its ambitions upwards in terms of GHG reduction. The objectives of the current NDCs and long-term strategies must be increased to maintain the 1.5°C objective to avoid generating more irreversible impacts for the most vulnerable countries,

• Article 6 of the Paris Agreement: to generate new financing opportunities in the region, the new carbon market mechanisms must be immediately operationalized, in conjunction with the implementation of the capacity building program by the Secretariat,

• Adaptation: Moving from planning to operationalizing adaptation to climate change, mainly through demonstrating the progress of the Adaptation Committee actions,

• Loss and damage: Significant progress must be made towards the operationalization of the Santiago Network on Loss and Damage (SNLD). it is necessary that COP27 finally agrees on the steps to be taken to officially launch the SNLD and provide concrete responses to the existing loss and damage that West Africa must inevitably face despite the adaptation efforts undertaken,

• Climate finance: the 100-billion-dollar target of the Green Climate Fund must still be met in parallel with the definition of the new 2025 target. In addition, a financial facility specifically dedicated to African countries must be established to focus on their needs and priorities in terms of adaptation, following up on the pledges made at the past COP in Glasgow, to strengthen and accelerate access to financing specifically dedicated to adaptation on the one hand, and loss and damage on the other, and REDD+.

A West African Pavilion: from November 6 to 18 in Sharm el Sheikh

To symbolize this regional collaboration, a West African pavilion will be set up this year at COP27, the African COP. Co-piloted by the ECOWAS Commission and BOAD, in partnership with UEMOA and CILSS, this pavilion will be equipped with a conference hall facility and will serve as a platform for promoting the climate action of regional institutions, as well as that of their Member States, thus strengthening the voice of West Africa on the international climate scene.

More than a symbol, the pavilion expresses the willingness of regional institutions to strengthen their cooperation around the common challenge of climate change. The approach aims to improve the coordination and effectiveness of the collective response for the benefit of the region’s populations.

The key word of this cooperation is complementarity between the respective regional mandates and the national action of the Member States. It is the coordinated intervention of the various layers of the regional institutions that are specific to them (financing, capacity building, policy and regulatory framework, scientific resources) that will allow efficient and effective support to Member States in the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) as part of the Paris Climate Agreement. This cooperation responds to a principle of regional solidarity and embodies the saying that “Alone we go faster, together we go further”.