Morocco’s King reaffirms commitment to support Sahel Region address climate change challenges

King Mohammed VI has renewed commitment to continue providing the Climate Commission for the Sahel region the necessary technical assistance and support its actions to enable it complete its roadmap.

In a message addressed to participants in the 2nd Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Climate Commission for the Sahel Region (CCSR), which opened Friday in Addis Ababa, the Monarch said Morocco has honored its commitment by providing the Commission with capacity building, technical assistance and financial support for the preparation of feasibility studies to finalize its Climate Investment Plan.

“Consistent with what I announced in my address to the first Conference of the Climate Commission for the Sahel region, Morocco has honored its commitment”, underlined the King in his message that was read out by the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch.

The Addis Ababa meeting is an opportunity to point out that the objectives “we set for ourselves in Niamey, in 2019, during the First Conference of the Climate Commission for the Sahel region, are on track to being achieved,” said the King, praising the leadership of President Mohamed Bazoum, who has made it possible to pursue the operationalization process of the commission.

By 2030, up to 118 million of the poorest people in Africa will be directly threatened by extreme weather events. In the G5 Sahel sub-region, it is estimated that poverty could affect an additional 13.5 million people by 2050, said the Moroccan Sovereign.

Despite this alarming situation, up to 2020 our continent had received only 12% of global climate funding, deplored the King, noting that the climate battle in the Sahel region can be won only through the optimal mobilization of the region’s own public funds, which should be accompanied by effective international financial support that matches the ambitions of the Climate Investment Plan.

This prerequisite is based on the historic creation, at COP27, of a fund to address the losses and damages that have been exacerbated by the climate crisis, said the Moroccan Sovereign, stressing that no other region in the world has been more severely impacted than the Sahel.

It is a fact that Africa’s action to rise to the challenges of the climate crisis continues to be hampered by a number of constraints. Nevertheless, “we can take pride in the wise path that we, African leaders, have embarked on – the path of coordinated, concerted regional action”, said the King.

The Very High-Level Meeting of the three African Climate Commissions, held on the sidelines of COP 27 on the initiative of my brothers Presidents Macky Sall and Denis Sassou N’Guesso, is an illustration of this solidarity-based approach, which should be strengthened, added the Monarch.

Similarly, increasing coordination between the governing bodies of the three Commissions will enable “us to enhance the coherence of our joint action for an Africa which is more resilient to climate change,” he said, affirming that the commitments “we made at the First Africa Action Summit held in Marrakech, in 2016, on the sidelines of COP22, will continue to guide our efforts to ensure the continent’s resilience as well as the ambitions of future African generations.”