(Monday October 10, 2016 Issue)
The
Minister of Environment Climate Change and Natural Resources, Pa Ousman Jarju,
Friday presided over the official launching of the Ecosystem-Based Adaptation
for Food Security Assembly (EBAFOSA), Gambia Chapter, at the Paradise Suites
Hotel.
EBAFOSA
Gambia Chapter will be hosted by Worldview The Gambia office in partnership
with NACOFAG, a farmer-based organisation.
The
Gambia is among the 12 countries EBAFOSA has been launched.
Speaking
at the launching ceremony, the acting UN Residence Coordinator, Dr Charles
Sagoe-Moses, said UNEP is facilitating the rollout of the Ecosystem-Based
Adaptation for Food Security Assembly across the entire sub-Saharan African
region.
He
said that currently there are 40 countries that have set up their national
branches.
He
said EBAFOSA is an inclusive Pan-African policy and implementation platform whose
creation was facilitated by UNEP in partnership with the AUC, AFDB and other
partners in July 2015.
Dr
Sagoe Moses stated that EBAFOSA includes cross-cutting actors from
government/public sector institutions and civil society organisations as well
as policymakers, members of the private sector, academics, and researchers, and
UN partners.
EBAFOSA
seeks to support government in domesticating high-level continental and global
declaration on food security, climate change, and inclusive sustainable development.
“EBAFOSA
work is country-driven, through country-level branches that convene these
cross-cutting stakeholders and is coordinated at continental level by a
secretariat facilitated by the UNEP, “he said.
He
added that EBAFOSA is premised on building country level partnerships and
coordinating these across the continent to facilitate country and continental
cross-hybridization of solution, capacity building and best practices
transfer in order to bridge the policy-
implementation action gaps in technology, financing, techniques,
commercialisation and policy processes.
Also
speaking at the launching ceremony, the president of EBAFOSA Gambia chapter,
Ahmed Salami, said the launching aimed at addressing the critical and
interrelated challenges of food insecurity, degradation of ecosystem, climate
change, poverty and unemployment.
According
to him, EBAFOSA is a solutions space that bridges the gaps in implementation
that have long stifled real substantial progress in Africa through fostering
partnerships between solutions providers by providing a platform for interaction between stakeholders in
government, private sector, regional and global intergovernmental bodies.
He
said EBAFOSA Gambia had been established to draw the attention of the general
public and the authority on the need to adapt to climate change and reduce its
impact on environment, especially the crucial, but highly vulnerable
agriculture sector.
“We
hope to contribute to the improvement of the value chain of agricultural
products through market standards for its modernization and generating by
developing synergies between actors from different sectors of the agro-value
chain for healthier and competitive end products,” he said.
He
also stated that in line with their principle of inclusivity and the move to
involve all stakeholders, EBAFOSA Gambia is progressing in mobilising
stakeholders and has registered focal persons across all regions in The Gambia.
“We
expect EBAFOSA Gambia to be a formidable
partner of government in developing and implementing policy and solutions
towards solving The Gambia priority
challenges on food insecurity, climate change, ecosystem degradation, income
and job creation, especially for the youths through optimising the agro-value
chain using EBA techniques, supporting access
to affordable agro-lending, enhancing access to supply and demand
markets and enhancing clean energy access in rural areas to spur rural
agro-industry,” he added.
