The project is under the Least Developed Countries Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience (LIFE-AR), which recognises business as usual approaches to climate change are not working, thus the need for long term cross-sectoral and multi-level responses.
At the end of the workshop, a range of suitable delivery mechanisms were clearly identified, for inclusion in the relevant chapter of the Gambia's LTS document currently being developed.
Countries are invited to formulate and communicate Long-Term, Low Greenhouse Gas Emission Development Strategies (LT-LEDS) in an effort to put long-term goals of the Paris Agreement into practice.
These are plans for achieving low carbon-resilience societies out to 2050.
At the forum, Ebrima Jawara, Deputy Permanent Secretary Finance and Administration of MECCNAR, who also doubles as the LTS National Coordinator, thanked the 2050 Pathways Platform and the International Institute for Environment Development (IIED) for their support in the development of Gambia's LTS.
Jawara outlined that the outcome of the workshop would be key in finalising the LTS document.
Momodou Wuri Jallow, Adviser to Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources, who also doubles as LIFE-AR Consultant, said the objectives of the LIFE-AR are to develop long-term climate adaptation interventions and investments that reach local level, thereby strengthening national institutions, domestic systems and capabilities; refine National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), National Determined Contributions (NDCs); and build resilience and address poverty in support of LDCs` Vision.
Juldeh Ceesay, deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA), representing the Permanent Secretary of MOFEA, expressed the need for more collaboration towards the creation of a climate change budget code to ensure that domestic resources are allocated to climate action and that there is government approach to addressing the climate crisis.
Alieu Njie, Permanent Secretary (PS) of MECCNAR, said LIFE-AR is meant to overcome the pressing and unprecedented challenges of climate change, LDCs face.
Ambassador Habib T.B. Jarra, PS at the Office of the President, who represented the Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service, said the challenges The Gambia faces particularly during this year's rainy season, are signals that stakeholders need to work together to put the necessary mechanisms and strategies in place.
This, he believes, would help to mitigate and minimise the effects of climate change on the environment.
