Climate Change: Morocco Chairs 52nd Meeting of Economic Commission for Africa

Morocco’s Permanent Representative to the African Union and the UN Economic Commission, Mohammed Arrouchi, is chairing the 52nd Session of the ECA’s Conference of Ministers which opened works Monday in the Seychelles.

Speaking during this two-day gathering, Mr. Arrouchi said climate change is a pressing issue that demands urgent multilateral action.

“I believe that our gathering here today provides an opportunity to address this pressing issue through collective action,” he said, stressing that the meeting offers an opportunity for the permanent representatives and the ECA to enrich dialogue and exchange views on pressing issues so they can come up with recommendations on the way forward.

For his part, Seychelles health minister Jean-Paul Adam said: “we are witnessing more frequent and more extreme weather events as a result of climate change”.

He also welcomed the ECA’s innovative initiative to support investment in clean energy, affirming that “African countries need not be victims of climate change but can serve as global leaders in pioneering new economic transformation pathways, including green industrialisation, the blue economy…

ECA Executive Secretary, Vera Songwe, said the overnight tide surges were evidence enough that urgent action on climate change must be taken now, underlining the ECA’s role in contributing to efforts to keep global warming below 1.5 degree Celsius and mitigating adverse effects of climate change.

The meeting comes as COP 25 is coming to an end in Madrid wherein several world leaders and decision-makers are gathering to convince signatories to the Paris pact to submit bolder climate goals in 2020 in a bid to contain the impact of climate change on peace, security and development.