The ECOWAS Commissioner for Politics, Peace and Security, General Francis Behanzin said time has come to take concrete action to address the devastating effects of climate change.
Go beyond commitments and act. This is what the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is calling for to combat the disastrous consequences of climate change on populations and their environment.
“In view of the objectives of this conference, I hope that decisions will be taken that will reassure us. In any case, it is high time to move to strong initiatives and synergy of the entire international community to fight together against climate change, the spread of terrorism and insecurity in all its forms,” General Behanzin said.
He was speaking on Wednesday in Dakar at the opening of the Regional Conference on Climate Change, Peace and Security in West Africa and the Sahel (April 6 and 7). According to the ECOWAS Commissioner, these three sectors constitute “the nerve centre of the suffering of our populations who, as if by fate, are living in total despair.”
Despite the resilience shown by the region’s inhabitants, “these phenomena, which are difficult to resolve, have disastrous consequences on the productivity and lives of our fellow citizens,” he said.
Based on this observation, the senior officer of the Benin Police invited “the major world powers, producers of climate nuisances […] to put their hands in their pockets to alleviate the pain of living beings on the one hand, and on the other hand, to study and implement in a sustainable manner all the solutions humanly possible to give back to nature what has been unduly snatched from it.”
For his part, the head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mahamat Saleh Annadif, stressed the need for a coherent, multidisciplinary and integrated approach at all levels to meet the growing challenge of climate security in the region.
“While governments in the region are expected to lead the way, it is equally true that no one will be too many in this fight for the security and development of our countries. We count on the commitment of all and on your support to turn these challenges into opportunities,” he said.
The Regional Conference on Climate Change, Peace and Security in West Africa and the Sahel is part of the activities that UNOWAS is undertaking in coordination with its national, regional and international partners in response to the UN Security Council’s request of 20 January 2020.
This request urges to “take into consideration the adverse consequences of climate change, energy insecurity, environmental changes and natural disasters on peace and security by assisting governments in the subregion and the United Nations system in conducting assessments of risk management strategies related to these changes.”
ARD/te/lb/abj/APA