News Editor
By Olu Balogun
Stakeholders on climate change have urged African leaders to domesticate the draft model climate change law in their various countries.
They spoke on Tuesday at the Validation Retreat on the Draft Model Climate Change Law for Africa organised by the African Group of Negotiators Expert Support, AGNES in collaboration with the National Institute For Legislative and Democratic Studies, NILDS and other partners in Abuja.
The retreat is titled, “Strengthening National Parliaments For Oversight In Climate Action.”
The stakeholders on the occasion, who are mostly legal experts, lamented that the non domestication of the draft law by many African countries have made the continent lost huge funds to combat environmental challenges.
The Director General of NILDS, Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman, while welcoming told the participants that the year 2025 presents new challenges for global climate change governance and action in Africa.
He said advanced countries may attempt to politicize commitments to climate agreements, but that the evidence from climate science remains indisputable.
He said: “The world today is warmer than it was just a few years ago.
“Consequently, it is essential for all countries to coordinate efforts that contribute to climate mitigation and adaptation policies, while minimizing the losses and damages associated with climate change.
“Despite progress made by other regions in global climate change negotiations at the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COPs), Africa continues to lag behind.
“This is largely because Africa countries participated at COPs as individual nations rather than as a united bloc.
“This fragmentation approach weakens Africa’s negotiating power and diminishes its ability to influence critical decisions and resolutions arising from these global gatherings.
“While it is true that African countries face diverse development challenges resulting from adverse impacts of climate change, the continent has yet to prioritize the coordinated climate actions in desperate needs.
“A significant barrier to achieving this coordination is the lack of comprehensive legal framework for climate action in many African countries.
“Even in countries like Nigeria that have enacted climate legislation, gaps remain that must be addressed through targeted legislative interventions.”
The team lead of AGNES, Dr. George Wamukoya, said the retreat has brought together, legal experts and people from governments who are responsible for climate change matters.
Wamukoya said the participants would look at the possible legal framework that could take into account all the challenges that they are having in drafting their laws.
“We do have a draft modern climate change law which will be able, once the legal experts here have gone through it and agreed upon, then we’ll be able to see how to roll out in different countries across Africa.
“Now in many, some of the countries that have climate change legislation, there is conflict between the organs that have been established.
“In South Africa, for example, there is Department of Environmental Affairs and then there’s the presidential commission on climate change.
“Now there was no clarity as to the overlapping roles, so you end up having conflicts in decision making,” he stressed.
