NCOP CHAIRPERSON CALLS FOR STRONGER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE INTERVENTIONS TO REVERSE THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

The Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), Mr Amos Masondo has joined a global call for stronger and more sustainable interventions across all spheres of governance and society to halt and reverse the devastating effects of climate change.

The Chairperson was addressing a plenary session of the Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference (CSPOC) of the African Region, that is held this week in Yaoundé in Cameroon. Chairperson Masondo made inputs during a debate on climate change and its devastating impacts on particularly the African continent that contributes the least to climatic changes and gas emissions.

The conference heard that losses in arable, Agric revenue, and business opportunities due to incessant rains, disasters, and unprecedented heatwaves, all have a devastating impact on people’s lives across the continent.

The theme was presented by Cameroon before various member legislatures of the CSPO made inputs to the debate. Other solutions proposed for all Parliaments to use in their execution of the oversight mandate were to ensure a climate-responsive budget that helps empower the successful execution of interventions, the introduction of proper carbon pricing which could generate over 300 billion Francs (R900 Billion rands) for Cameroon alone, let alone the whole continent, and for every effort to make climate change work to be everybody’s business.

The conference also investigated what African Parliaments could do to accelerate the successful execution of the Africa Free Trade Area, the agreement endorsed by many countries including South Africa.

Making her contribution during this debate, National Assembly (NA) Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula decried the perpetuation of raw material exports and the absence of beneficiation within the continent, which result in stagnation or de-industrialization of the continent despite its richness in terms of minerals, oils, and many other resources.

She said, “the promotion of ‘intra African’ trade remains an imperative to boosting African economies and make it possible to address the triple challenges of poverty, inequality, and unemployment in our various societies all around the continent.”

She said, as custodians of oversight and accountability, Parliaments need to reaffirm their centrality in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. She called for responsive and agile budgetary processes to appropriately deal with identified areas of trade among the African countries, including the gender dimensions of growth and development.

“As a continent with rich mineral and energy resources, I am compelled to mention that our mineral reproduction, trade, and investments require urgent collective attention, beyond policies and our debates. We continue to produce and export raw materials, yet our countries continue to suffer from deindustrialization and poor beneficiation. Our industrial policies need serious consideration and rethink, so that we become the main beneficiaries to address unemployment of young people and other related constraints”, said Speaker Mapisa-Nqakula. (NA Speaker soundbite, Ms Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, please click: https://iono.fm/e/1334094)

Tomorrow, the NCOP Chairperson Mr Masondo will present on how the Parliaments of the continent could rebuild public trust to strengthen openness, transparency, accountability, and meaningful citizen and stakeholder engagement in Parliamentary processes.

Over 60 legislatures inclusive of sub-national structures are attending this week-long CSPOC conference that is held once every two years.

The conference ends on Friday and is expected to take decisions on more concrete and trackable actions legislatures of the African continent should take to help realise the ideals mapped out in the African Agenda 2063 and the global Sustainable Development Goals.

Source: Parliament of South Africa