The specific aim was for the stakeholders to be able to develop proposals that will attract funding for the mitigation and adaptation of challenges related to climate change.
The training, on a concept called ‘Request Incubator Programme (RIP)’, was jointly organised by Climate Technology Centre and Network CTCN in collaboration with ENDA Energy of Senegal.
Speaking on the occasion, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Ousman Sowe said such training is important because climate change is increasingly becoming worrying worldwide.
“We as developing countries and developed countries alike need sustained and predictable funding to mitigate and or adapt to the challenges of climate change,” he said.
Mr Sowe pointed out that The Gambia, like other least developed countries, is vulnerable to the negative impacts associated with extreme weather events linked to changes in climatic conditions.
Such impacts include increased strength and severity in windstorms and flash floods as well as droughts.
“Each year, these hazards result in significant infrastructure damage, and loss to agricultural production,” he said.“It is known that each year, property damages from windstorms, floods, and loss from crop fields are unsettling experiences in the country.”
PS Sowe further said that excessive floods, for instance, affect communities by damaging houses and destroying farmlands leading to food deficit.
In urban areas, flooding leads to damage of roads and bridges and some parts of the Kombo Peninsula and the Greater Banjul Area remain non-motorable for a large period of the rainy season.
“The situation is exacerbated by the high dependence on climate-sensitive natural resources, rain-fed agriculture, fisheries and tourism,” the permanent secretary said.
However, he noted that there is high level of readiness and commitment to tackling climate change by The Gambia government as demonstrated in an array of policies put in place by the government.
The said the Ministry of Environment is as well ready and committed to such drive.
Lamin Jatta of the Gambia Technical Training Institute (GTTI) - the national designated entity for climate technology centre and network – expressed optimism that countries will mainstream climate technology issues in all national climate change-related strategies, policies.
