ECOWAS, NEA Validation Confab ends Today

Following the completion of the draft of a sub-regional environmental policy document, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in collaboration with the National Environmental Agency (NEA) is on the process of finalising the validation of a national environmental draft policy document. Stakeholders are today expected to wrap up a two-day national workshop at the Corinthia Atlantic Hotel in Banjul.

The validation exercise, which follows a request by the ECOWAS Secretariat for its member states to conduct their own validation, will be followed by the final regional draft which would be validated by representatives from all member states at a sub-regional validation workshop to be held in Ouagadougou after the completion of all national workshops.

Delivering the opening remarks, Hon. Modou A. Cham, Secretary of State for Forestry and the Environment, challenged stakeholders to critically review the document and ensure that it is translated into an effective environment management tool for the future generations.

“A good environment policy should be able to spell out the best and worst natural resources and environment practices of the past that have landed us into the current situation, the associated constraints and barriers in the management of the natural resources and environment of the region and required efforts and tools to lift these constraints and barriers so that we can maximize the best practices to ameliorate the environment of the region for prosperity,” Secy Cham added.

According to Mr. Cham, respect for global and regional initiatives and agreements go a long way in complementing the efforts at the national level and in meeting national needs for enhanced natural resources and environment management.

“With effective international cooperation,” he said, “significant capacity development and progress in planning and management of national and regional policies can be achieved.”

In his welcoming address, Mr. Momodou B. Sarr, Executive Director of the National Environmental Agency, described the approach by the ECOWAS Commission to harmonize and coordinate a common environmental policy for member states as “a great deal of sense.”

‘The harsh impacts of transboundary environmental problems such as desertification, climate change and coastal erosion, to name just a few, cannot be solved effectively by individual states acting on their own” he said, adding that past experience has proven that the only viable option is a coordinated regional approach.

For his part, Mr. Samuel O. Medu, a representative of ECOWAS, prescribed a good grasp of issues to be able to do a correct balance sheet, a diagnosis, and to be able to develop a correct holistic view of the vision and objectives that will be of interest to all concerned. “The document”, he noted, “is the fruit of a deep understanding of our sub-region, rich and yet diversified, contrasting and yet unique when one considers the geographical and climatic facts and factors, the human communities and the major processes affecting the Relief.”