The Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resource (MECCNAR) in partnership with Novasphere recently wrapped up a 2-day Technical Strategy Forum held at a local Hotel. This forum is a part of the MRV for Climate Action Programme supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC).
The two-day regional forum was organized to discuss and nurture the Transformative Pilot process and methods to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in achieving national climate action priorities.
The forum brought together official National Focal Points, Pilot Lead Coordinators, and the MRV for Climate Action Community of Practice Coordinators from each of the four countries; Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, and Togo.
In her opening statement, the Hon. Minister of the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, Mrs. Rohey John-Manjang highlighted that consistent with the development of the National Climate Change Policy, the ‘Strategic Programme on Climate Resilience (SPCR) and other strategic climate change documents and tools in The Gambia, it is necessary to establish a National and Sub-national framework for monitoring, reporting and verifying climate actions both for greenhouse gas emission mitigation as well as adaptation.
‘’ The frameworks will help The Gambia track its progress towards achieving its ambition set out in her updated National Determined Contributions (NDC) and also track cooperative actions and supports from developed countries and south-south cooperation partners.’’
Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Secretary of MECCCNAR, Mrs. Roheyatou Kah, Mrs. Jainaba stated that it is with the strongest conviction that MRV for climate action will create a substantial difference in our national and regional actions against the impacts of Climate Change.
The Vice President of NovaSphere, Lisa Marroquin, revealed that The multi-million dollar programme supported by Environment and Climate Change Canada is active through March 2026 (3 years) and it supports partner countries’ national development priorities and capacities to plan, finance, and achieve GHG emission reductions and the implementation of low-carbon solutions to local development challenges.
‘’Towards these goals, each country has prepared a National Evergreen Roadmap that outlines approaches to accelerate climate actions; strengthen and enhance multi-level climate governance, develop a more effective and efficient MRV system, and mobilize climate finance and investment.’’ She stated.
One of the initial activities of the programme was the successful realization of participatory National Evergreen Roadmap Roundtables hosted by the respective Environmental Ministry in each country. In line with the Roadmaps that were defined and validated during the meetings, was the launch of the “Transformative Pilots” mechanism, whereby each country identifies a scaling portfolio of priority technical initiatives to be implemented over the life of the programme and beyond.
Research has shown all countries, not just the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), need an MRV system across all sectors and levels of government that help us to improve decision-making, optimize our policies, and guide our investments and expenditures on infrastructure and services
