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Climate change is one of the most urgent global challenges facing
humanity today; its impact on economies and human security is
the defining issue of our era and every day of inaction makes its
consequences more irreversible. While the world's climate has
always varied naturally, the vast majority of scientists now believe
that rising concentrations of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in the earth's
atmosphere, resulting from economic and demographic growth over
the last two centuries, are overriding this natural variability and
leading to potentially catastrophic climate changes.
Climate Change has disastrous impacts on food production, natural
ecosystems, fresh water supply, health, and more. In the developing
countries particularly, it will affect all four dimensions of food security:
food availability, food accessibility, food utilization and food systems
stability. It will have an impact on human health, livelihood assets
and inevitably affect the purchasing power and market flows.
Additionally, Climate Change has short-term impacts resulting from
more frequent and more intense extreme weather events, leading to
devastating long-term changing temperatures and precipitation
patterns. As a result, people who are already vulnerable and food
insecure are likely to be the most affected.
Agriculture-based livelihood systems that are already vulnerable in
developing countries face immediate risk of increased crop failure,
new patterns of pests and diseases, lack of appropriate seeds and
planting material, and loss of livestock. Agriculture, forestry and
fisheries will not only be affected by climate change, but have also
been contributing to it through emitting Greenhouse Gases. But, these
sectors also hold part of the remedy; they can contribute to climate c
hange mitigation, if appropriate policies and management infrastructure
are adopted and implemented to ensure GHG emissions reduction
through changing agricultural and fishing practices for example.
Countries will need to design and implement mitigation policies and
measures as a matter of urgency, giving priority to the most polluting
sectors such as mining, energy production, agriculture and transport.
Though the African continent has a very small contribution to the
Greenhouse Gas emissions, it is the most vulnerable continent to
climate change. Africa already experiences pernicious poverty. Natural
disasters are one acute cause. Above all, poverty drives communities
to use unsustainable agricultural methods and to deforest land for
timber trade, both of which precipitate soil erosion. Most African countries
lack infrastructure, resources and the institutions to carry out adaptation
and to reduce the consequences of climate-related disasters.
Africa is not spared by Climate changes and therefore the involvement
of African governments and other stakeholders in tackling the immense
challenges is critical. Parliamentarians are ideally placed to ensure ownership
of policy responses at the national and local levels. In the face of climate
stress, they play a key role in leading constituency action and catering to
the needs of the local population. In this respect, Parliament plays a
significant role in reviewing existing legislation and exercising oversight
of governmental policy, regulations and budgets. Through these
responsibilities parliamentarians are in a position to identify gaps in climate
strategies and propose inclusive responses.
On the basis of the above, AWEPA has developed Parliamentary
Programmes on Climate Change. These include the
"Parliamentary Programme on Climate Change Mitigation" which
AWEPA is implementing with the Funding from the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office (FCO) of the British Government; and the
Programme on "Sustainable Development and Climate Change:
African-European Parliamentary Dialogue on Climate Change"
whose overall objective is to increase parliamentary action in Africa
and Europe related to sustainable development and climate change,
based on the Action Plan of the Environment Initiative of NEPAD.
The overall objective of this programme is to promote an informed
and proactive debate on climate change within the parliaments of:
South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland
(hereinafter referred to as SA/BNLS). The program also aims at
engaging and involving parliamentarians in the process of policy
formulations at the national and sub-regional (SACU) level.
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