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OPINION

By Shartsi Kutesa Musherure

Libya was hit by a climate disaster of unprecedented proportion hardly a week after the inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS), which I attended and participated in.

The harsh reality and nightmare that befell Libya made me question my role as a policy maker in climate change discourse — what is the role of African legislators in the climate change agenda?

As delegates to the summit, my colleague legislators and I are grateful for the lead role that Kenya and President William Ruto took in hosting the maiden Africa-led climate summit.

Climate change in Africa

Climate change poses an existential threat to the African continent. Africa and the global south remain most vulnerable to climate change effects. Some sources even classify Africa as the most vulnerable continent on earth.

It was projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that in many African countries and regions, agricultural production and food security would be severely compromised by climate variability. Managing this risk requires an integration of mitigation and adaptation strategies in the management of ecosystems of goods and services and agricultural production systems in Africa.

Currently, Africa is warming faster than the rest of the world on average. Large portions of the continent may become uninhabitable because of the rapid effects of climate change, which would have disastrous effects on human health and increase poverty levels.

Sub-Saharan Africa and, Uganda in particular, with her narrow economic base of rain-fed agriculture, remains extremely vulnerable. The country is experiencing climate change variability and erratic weather patterns, which have increased in frequency, intensity and magnitude over the last two decades. Legislation remains integral as we explore how to strengthen the course of African climate action and contribution to the improvement of national specific climate resilience.

The role of African legislators

Africa is the least polluter, but the most affected by the climate crisis. As African legislators, we ought to proactively continue coming up with relevant and timely policies and actionable instruments for climate change mitigation.

The main objective of the Parliamentarians Dialogue at the Africa Climate Summit was to identify key areas for strengthening parliamentarians’ capacity to ensure effective oversight of the implementation of climate action and to build consensus on parliamentary action at continental level to champion the outcomes of the summit in the run-up to COP28 and beyond.

In summary, the dialogue acknowledged the integral role of legislators in advancing climate adaptation and committed to the establishment of a specialised African Parliamentarians’ Working Group on Climate Adaptation within the broader African Parliamentarians Network for Climate Action. This will aim at strengthening the capacity of African parliamentarians to ensure effective oversight in the implementation of climate adaptation action.

The dialogue also agreed to work towards policies that encourage and accelerate the transition to clean and sustainable renewable energy sources that align with Africa’s unique circumstances and serve the continent’s development agenda.

Commitments:

• Commitment to Climate Action: To drive change, the parliamentarians pledged to promote strong climate action in their respective countries and in Africa as a whole.
• Youth empowerment and inclusion: The energy and creativity of Africa’s youth should be harnessed in shaping the climate discourse and platforms and initiatives for youth engagement, including young parliamentarians shall be prioritised to value their perspectives and foster their leadership.
• Gender-responsive approaches: Gender-related issues are at the heart of climate change. Parliamentarians will ensure that climate policies are both inclusive and attuned to addressing the specific needs and roles of women, who often bear a disproportionate burden of climate impact.
• International collaboration: The parliamentarians will actively engage in international climate discourse, advocating for African interests and contributing to the global dialogue on climate solutions.
• Accountability and monitoring: Parliamentarians should pledge to hold themselves and their governments accountable for the commitments they make at national, regional and global levels.

By convening the first Accountability Summit for Parliamentarians at COP28, they will establish mechanisms to monitor progress, assess the effectiveness of policies and drive continuous improvement.

As Ugandan legislators, we need to break down these commitments into actionable programmes.

We need to evaluate the current activities and expenditure by our government, monitor our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDCs), examine the contributions of development partners and determine what is effective and what can be improved.

The Parliamentary committees of natural resources and climate change are committed and able to take the lead in partnership with the relevant government bodies. Uganda can lead Africa in this effort.

The writer is the Member of Parliament for Mawogola North Constituency, Sembabule District