Congress seeks involvement of LGAs in Climate Change negotiations
By Kingsley Adegboye
Participants at the just-concluded two-day mayoral climate change congress in Lagos have called on national and sub-national governments to involve local governments in international climate change negotiations and the design of climate change adaptation strategies.
The two-day event which was hosted by Lagos State Government in partnership with I. C. L. E. I. otherwise referred to as Local Governments for Sustainability, was to set an agenda for negotiations at the upcoming COP 17 Conference in Durban, South Africa in December.
The theme of the forum was “Building Climate Change Resilient African Cities, Climate Proofing Africa on the Road to COP 17′’.
The participants numbering about 600 included mayors from West African countries, members of the Diplomatic Cops, traditional rulers, senior civil servants from federal, state and local governments, political office holders, members of the academia, people from the private sector, national and international experts in climate change issues, NGOs and environmentalists.
A communique issued at the end of the forum, the participants recommended that the West African governments should support adequate decentralisation of climate change governance process to support local mitigation and adaptation to enhance the resilience of African cities.
The six-page document further recommended that all African mayors and local government chairmen should be strongly encouraged to endorse the African Mayors climate change declaration drafted on the occasion of the local climate solutions for Africa 2011 congress in Cape Town, South Africa. According to them African mayors who have not yet signed the declaration should be encouraged to do so.
The forum called on all African cities and local governments to continue to seek for new and additional knowledge including the best available scientific, economic and technical information on climate change and its impacts.
They stated that the role of women, youth and other vulnerable groups in the implementation of Action Plan on climate change should be emphasized.
The Congress recommended that West African countries should ensure the inclusion of mayors and local council chairmen in national negotiation teams with their capacity appropriately developed for negotiations.
They stressed the need to build resilience to climate change in virtually every aspect of human life, insisting that local governments should partner with civil society organisations in their climate change adaptation activities.
Other recommendations include: the need for attitudinal change and leaders to have political will and formulate as well as implement policies around sustainable development in all facets of human endeavours as this is key in the development of any nation and the need to promote networking and integration of gender in climate change issues across the continent of Africa.
Signing the Lagos Declaration on Climate Change along side West African mayors ahead COP !7 in South Africa, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola noted that the reality of climate change as a global phenomenon, has a local impact wherever it occurs.
He therefore urged mayors and provincial heads to start to impact change and adaptation strategies, as they are in a better position to do that than national leaders such as prime ministers and presidents because the former live with the problem whereas the latter relate to it peripherally.
