The Ministry of Environment Climate Change and Natural Resources through the Climate Change Secretariat organized a two-day sectoral workshop which will determine the level of greenhouse gas emissions from key government sectors including the Department of Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Energy these sectors will present the outcome of greenhouse gas emissions from their respective sectors.
The two days sectoral workshop on the elaboration of the Gambia Long Term Climate Strategy was held from 22 to 23 April at Halahin Lodge Kartong which was attended by various Government Stakeholders, the Private Sector and CSOs.
The purpose of the sectoral meeting will indicate the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement into practice, countries are invited to formulate and communicate “long-term, low greenhouse gas emission development strategies” (LT-LEDS), also referred to as Long Term Strategies (LTS). These are visionary plans for achieving low-carbon, climate-resilient societies out to 2050.
As part of the process of the ministry engaged various key stakeholders to support and share key data to strengthen the long-term capacity building in the country, transfer knowledge on the foundations of the LTS, modelling outputs, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the LTS, among others.
Momodou Mbye Jabang, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR) said, academia, policymakers, and think-tank institutions must join forces on the path toward tackling the emerging effects of climate change.
He highlighted that, climate change presents global challenges and risks to the environment and economies, impacting human health, increasing extreme weather events, threatening natural resources and triggering forced migration of the population.
PS Jabang speaking to the delegates, said international efforts are necessary to ensure the protection of humankind on our planet and to limit the increasing global temperatures, adding that to achieve the 2050 target measurable progress must be made in the near term to establish a projection of the reduction needed mid-term targets including commitments to 2030.
Also speaking at the event, the Director of Forestry Mr Muhammed Jaiteh said that the government of the Gambia has allowed the commercialization of charcoal but prohibited the production. The Director explained that the government has reserved forest parks in the Gambia which are not community forests.
"The community forest is directly managed by the forest communities which are properly guided by the dept of forestry for technical support. We also have a private forest park and government forest reserves which are state forest that is managed by the communities" he concluded
