Former Nigeria president wants African-Caribbean action plan on climate change
Published:Monday | March 25, 2024 | 12:08 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Former Nigeria President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo has noted that, while Africa and the Caribbean and have consistently worked together to enhance areas of governance, economics, and health security, a change in direction was necessary to tackle other crucial areas that would advance the development of both regions.
During last Wednesday’s public advocacy symposium on ‘Strengthening Cooperation between African and Caribbean States: Facing the Challenges, Creating Solutions’, which was organised by the P.J. Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Advocacy and The University of the West Indies, Obasanjo focused most of his remarks on climate change-related issues.
He advocated for the regions to work together in developing a joint African-Caribbean action plan that would address the resilience and mitigation strategies required to deal with natural disasters and climate change.
The objective of the one-day hybrid event was to explore ways that Africa and the Caribbean might work together more closely and carry out joint research in the key areas of innovation, information technology, and climate change.
In an effort to build a framework for the promotion of cooperation between the two regions, the symposium aimed to ease the sharing of ideas, experiences, and best practices.
“Both regions have not invested enough in critical areas that can accelerate development and improve the lives of the citizenry,” he said, while, however, commending the action taken by the institute and The UWI to host the event which brought focus to the crucial areas of climate change, information technology and innovation.
“Africa and the Caribbean remain some of the most vulnerable regions to the impact of climate change – despite having contributed the least to global warming and having the lowest emissions, the regions face the risk of exponential damage, posing risks to the enormous industrial investment, food security, public health and livelihood,” he said.
NEED FOR CLIMATE FINANCING
Obasanjo said Africa and the Caribbean must seek to put greater emphasis on climate financing and, as such, needed to come up with their own goals and targets regarding climate change action. There was need for financing which included “grants through multilateral development banks, concessional lending windows promoting climate resilience debt clauses and initiatives such as the debt for climate swaps and insurance of green bonds”.
Said Obasanjo,“Africa and the Caribbean must unearth the potential to create a regional framework that focuses on the green recovery and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable system.”
He suggested that the Afro-Caribbean Foundation be established in both regions through the P.J. Patterson Institute, Bells University of Technology of Nigeria, UWI, and other partners in order to promote research and development initiatives centred on renewable engineering and climate smart actions.
“In addition, the foundation should continually work on bringing Africa and the Caribbean close in everything,” he added, noting that the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library could help in providing technical support to the foundation as a “think tank on environmental security to governments and other agencies”.
In innovation and technology and information, that the symposium also highlighted, Obasanjo stated that he was pleased that both regions had “scored high points in these areas”.
He noted, however, that both Africa and the Caribbean could continue to learn from one another to further themselves in these areas.
“The future of African-Caribbean relations is one ripe with huge benefits but it requires the investment of time, research attention and political will and political action to transform the relationship into one fit for our purpose,” Obasanjo stated.
“For years, both regions have talked about cementing their relationship and I believe that, with over 70 countries, African and Caribbean states can form an important block and an influential coalition partner,” he added.
He urged the P.J. Patterson Institute and The UWI to continue to “build bridges between nations and the people of the African Union and CARICOM” to engage in activities that will promote a “truly symbolic and symbiotic” relationship.
“The Bells University of Technology and the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library are ready on the African side to cooperate and collaborate in bridge building,” he stated.
In his remarks, P.J. Patterson, the Institute’s statesman-in-residence, said it aimed to embrace the similarities of Africa and the Caribbean while also building on the shared strengths of both regions.
“We believe in the sharing of knowledge and capacity building. We are proud to say that we have the intellectual capacity,” he said, referring to the institute’s distinguished scholars programme which includes academics, technical experts and authors from the region, Africa and the diaspora. The institute, he went on to say, aimed to apply “intellectual rigour” to research in various fields, including finance, trade and investment, tourism, culture, and sports.