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Alliance of environmental parliamentarians workshop underway

Mar 5, 2013, 12:05 PM | Article By: Lamin B. Darboe

The Network of Alliance of Environmental Parliamentarians and local elected representatives of West Africa Coastal Countries, RAPEL that comprised Cape Verde, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone and The Gambia are attending a three-day workshop on environment, at Sunswing Hotel, Kololi.

The well-established workshop brought together the National Networks of Parliamentarians and local elected representatives for the protection of the environment in the coastal countries of West Africa, under the auspices of the Network-Alliance of Environmentalist Parliamentarians and local elected representatives of West Africa Coastal Countries (RAPEL).

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop, the Minister of Environment, Madam Fatou Ndey Gaye, who commended the parliamentarians for their efforts in protecting the environment, urged them to engage the staff of the Department of Forestry and other agencies who are involved in the climate change issues in the country.

“Gambians are now very much involved in climate change issues and as National Assembly Select Committee on Environment, you need to be active politically, if you are to achieve RAPEL objectives,” she said.

Noting that climate change does not stop at one’s door, he said, National Assembly Members can play an important role in climate change issues.

Other speakers included Honourable Netty Baldeh, the Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on Climate Change, Mr. Racine Kane, Head of Mission UICN/Senegal, Mr. Ahmed Senhoury, the Director of PRCM and Mr. Mamadou Lamin Thiam, the President of RAPEL.