FEICOM´s Climate Funding Window takes off.

This was the subject of a workshop organised Thursday at FEICOM in Yaounde with goal to acquaint actors at the level of decentralised collectivities with the new development. 

Opening the workshop, the Director General of FEICOM, Philippe Camille Akoa, situated climate change in modern day context and stressed why all hands must be on deck, if the adverse effects of climate change must be contained.

He disclosed that not less than 70% of the population of Cameroon that relies on agriculture for a livelihood is already suffering from the devastating effects of climate change. Which are manifested in continuous degradation of soils, rising sea levels, and deforestation, to name but these. 

All of which, Akoa said have a negative impact on agriculture which is the main stay of a majority of Cameroonians. The negative effects, he said, are also manifested in lower yields from agriculture, reduced quality of agricultural products, giving rise to frequent incidents of food scarcity and rising levels of poverty.

This, he said, help to accentuate social inequality and increase vulnerability of certain segments of the population.

Role of Decentralized Collectivities

The FEICOM boss said it is against this backdrop that regional and local authorities are being called to assume the responsibility of addressing the concerns of grassroots population by stepping up their fight against the adverse effects of climate change.

He assured grassroots actors that the creation of a Climate Funding Window within FEICOM, is in line with the national strategy to enable decentralized collectivities effectively assume this role.

“After a phase of reflection on its organization and operation, the creation of this Window was approved by FEICOM´s Board of Directors, during its extraordinary session of 1 November 2024. Its objective is to provide Regional and Local Authorities with the means to enable them address climate challenges at the level of their territories,” he said.

National Observatory on Climate Change

Dr Batha Romain Arman and Forghab Patrick Mbomba, who represented the National Observatory on Climate Change, NOCC, at the workshop, took turns to screen a film and deliver speeches that highlighted the devastating effects of climate change across Cameroon.

They urged local actors and Cameroonians in general, to note that Cameroon has five ecological zones that experience the adverse effects of climate change differently.

While some zones could be experiencing floods, the experts said, other parts could be experiencing arid conditions. But stressing that both floods and arid conditions make the practice of agriculture impossible.

They gave assurance that the National Observatory on Climate Change is in a position to give regional and council authorities the meteorological information they need to manage the effects of climate change.

The officers cited some examples, like the recent landslide on the cliff of Dschang, in the West Region, and the devastating flood in the Far North Region where the officers said they gave accurate warning before time but lack of awareness still allowed many people to suffer loss, while human life was lost in extreme cases.

They drew attention to a new approach introduced by the United Nations, that can help grassroots actors easily understand what is required of them.

The Tracking, Adaptation, and Measuring Development, TAMD, method, the NOCC officials said, is what the UN recommends for all actors fighting climate change.

They warned decentralized collectivities that climate change is a reality that is impacting socioeconomic development, ecosystems and human life. Before they concluded that Regional and Local Collectivities stand to make enormous gain by getting actively involved in the fight.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3326 of Friday December 20, 2024