ClimDev-Africa secretariat assesses Benin’s climate change needs

 

On a request from the government of Benin, the ClimDev-Africa secretariat carried out a consultative mission in Benin between the 27 and 31 January 2014. The main objective of the mission was to discuss and jointly agree with the Government authorities on key priority areas where ACPC/ECA support is needed. The agreed priorities and modalities for implementation will be contained in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Government of Benin and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

 

The meetings held were attended by large numbers of government officials from ministries, non government organizations and the media. A number of planned climate change adaptation projects were presented.

A total of nine well organized meetings were attended by 87 climate change stakeholders, including Directors of Cabinet in ministries, Permanent Secretaries, Director of technical departments, professionals, civil society representatives and the Media. 

 

The first meeting was held at the Ministry of Environment, chaired by the Chief of Staff to review the mission objectives and get the views of government on climate change issues and development in Benin. The Chief of Staff gave an overview of government efforts being implemented in the country and highlighted priority areas where additional support is required for effective implementation. He welcomed support from ACPC and looked forward to long term collaboration between ECA and the government of Benin in addressing issues of climate change and development. 

 

After the introductory meeting with the Chief of Staff, a working session followed with the Benin climate change focal point, Mr. Djibril Ibila who presented five climate change adaptation priorities defined in the National Climate Change Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA). He gave the mission a copy of the National Climate Change Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) for consideration.

 

The technical working session continued in the afternoon co-chaired by two Permanent Secretaries from the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing. This session identified key priority areas and discussed the on-going projects on climate change adaptation. Emphasis was put on the government flagship programme of "Ten million souls, ten million trees per year”. H.E.  President Yayi Boni's aspires to get each person in the country to plant one tree per year,  a project he launched following the RIO+20 Summit and that is estimated to cost 22million US dollars on completion. The government believes continuous reforestation can quickly and continuously reduce carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and minimize climate change impacts on Benin’s development officials explained. 

 

In this regard, the government officials identified the following three areas of priority for ACPC consideration: (i) promotion and capacity enhancement of the seed bank; (ii) establishment of monitoring and evaluation mechanism for deforestation and (iii) promotion and reinforcement of human and institutional capacity.  A reforestation project document was submitted to ACPC Team for review and consideration for additional support. Ten other projects which may require heavy investments will be reviewed, improved and translated into bankable projects to be submitted to the ClimDev-Africa Special Fund (CDSF) for funding.

 

In addition to the national flag ship programme, five other priorities as identified in the NAPA were discussed. They include:

Following the above, the permanent secretary(PS) in charge of the environment thanked the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) for responding favorably to the request of his country where negative impacts of climate change on people livelihoods are seriously felt, and reiterated sentiments of other senior official that Benin needs to address climate change issues in order to get citizens out of poverty and ensure sustainable economic development of the country.  He invited the mission to do its best and translate ACPC envisaged support into concrete actions on the ground. The mission informed the PS that ECA wishes to invite H.E. the President of Benin, Dr. Boni Yayi, to be the patron of ClimDev-Africa and help lead climate change issues on the continent. The PS, recalling the President’s continental leadership in agriculture, said that he would favorably consider the ECA request, especially since climate change adversely affects agriculture, the bedrock of majority of African economies. 

 

At the ministry of Agriculture, primary areas of concern were water resource management, adaptation, integration of climate change into planning and practices, development and implementation of ongoing programs of information, education and extension. At the ministry of Energy and Water, the need to develop a critical mass of expertise on adaptation, risk prevention, flood control, and efficient management of water resources were raised as priority areas.

 

The last meeting was with the National Committee on Climate Change, which involves most of the actors drawn from the public and private sectors, NGOs and the media. Fruitful exchanges during the meeting showed unanimous concern in the country of climate change impacts and the need to address country priorities of adaptation and the integration of climate change into development processes.

At the end of the mission, at a debriefing session, the secretariat team presented the Minister of environment and climate change, H.E. Raphael Edou, with an overview of the mission activities and achievements including:  identification of priority areas, long term actions and the roadmap for their implementation. The minister stressed the importance of the "Ten million trees, ten million souls" programme and emphasized that the government’s primary ambition is to quickly achieve this goal. Once again he reiterated the view that tree planting is the quickest and most cost effective way of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a principal causal agent of climate change. An additional priority area is conservation of water resources and improving peoples living conditions through income derived from sale of carbon credits. Planting trees and restoration of degraded land will benefit not only Benin but also countries in the sub-region by preventing soil erosion, salinity and conserving water systems among others.