20120710
Xinhua
Anglophone countries in the African continent are converging in the Gambian capital Banjul for a five- day sub regional workshop on resource mobilization strategy for the Great Green Wall of Sahara and the Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI).

The workshop is organized by the Global Mechanism in collaboration with the Gambia government, the African Commission and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, with the main objective of the forum is to provide stakeholders the opportunity to share their experiences and develop innovative approaches to resource mobilization through partnership.

The GGWSSI is a political initiative of the AU with the objective of conserving biodiversity, addressing soil degradation, increasing land productivity, as well as reducing poverty through cross sectorial action.

The Global Mechanism program coordinator for East and Southern Africa region, Kwame Awere Gyekye, called for more investment in land management.

The GGWSSI countries need to invest more in land management practices and provide more allocation for the members for their budgetary resources.

The development is hampered by lack of investment in this crusade; therefore countries in this program need to invest more for proper protection of the environment for socio-economic development, said the coordinator.

The Gambian Minister of Forestry and Environment Fatou Gaye lauded the noble objective of the Great Green Wall in addressing social economic and environmental impact and land degradation.

Minister Gaye however lamented that in adequacy of resource continue to impede the fight against land degradation and deforestation in the Sahel and Sahara region.

The Gambia ratified the UN Convention to combat desertification in 1996 and submitted its National Action Plan (NAP) for desertification control in the 2000, NAP is a cooperation scheme in Action Plan comprising all the major areas contributing to the process of desertification in the count and is to be implemented over a period of 15 years.

The major problem affecting the NAP in the Gambia is lack of sufficient fund for practical implementation. The resource invested in the implementation of programs for sustainable land management remains insufficient.

The African Union Commission policy officer for Forestry and Sustainable Land and Management, Almameh Dampha, highlighted some of the hurdles for global funding for climate related issues.

The workshop on resource mobilization came at a time when global funding for climate faces serious challenges and constraints, that therefore underscored the needs for stakeholders in this gathering to re-strategize and explore other innovative funding mechanism especially at the national level.

Crucial to this process is the need for additional focus at the national level in particular great partnership with other programs and project which are already implemented.

The forum is organized by the Anglophone Africans which is a follow up for a similar one held in April in Algeria for French speaking countries it is therefore expected for both regions to work towards environmental protection.