Climate Change Policy : Empowering Civil Society To Analyze, Assess Efficiency

“Climate policy should be people-centred and driven towards raising the livelihoods of people faced with the challenge. Government cannot do all this alone. Non-state actors should participate in policymaking and policy implementation as far as climate change is concerned,” commented Dr. Augustine Njamnshi, the Executive Director of the  African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access, ACSEA. 

Assissting CSOs To Act Better
He spoke in Yaounde on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 at the opening of a one-day training to build the capacity of Civil Society Organisations, CSOs to analyze and assess climate policies in a rigorous and systematic way. The training was jointly organised by the African Coalition for Sustainable Energy and Access and the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance, PACJA.   

Women, Youth More Concerned 
“The people involved most in agriculture in the rural areas of our country are women and young people.  This is where their future lies, and they should be more concerned about climate change issues. The future therefore lies in the hands of these highly-impacted potentially-impacted strata of society to assure and ensure that they do not continue to face the consequences of climate change,” Dr Njamnshi noted. 

No Stand-alone Law
As a cross-cutting subject, the impact of climate change is felt more by people on the ground. “These people need to know if there are policies and legislation protecting them from the impact of climate change,” Njamnshi said. He added that though Cameroon does not yet have a stand-alone, specific climate law, some environmental instruments have been enacted and are applied in the country. They include the 1996 Framework Law on the Environment, the Forestry Law, the Bio-safety Law, etc, which all have aspects that can help in the fight against climate change. 

The Process Has Begun!
“But civil society organizations advocate stand-alone policies, regulations and laws on climate change in order to attract more climate funding. The process has started with the civil society in Cameroon. We hope to propose something to government as contribution to policymaking. In some African countries, climate law emanated from civil society actions,” he disclosed. 

PACJA As Government’s Key Partner
“The Pan-African Climate Justice Association, PACJA is a special partner to the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection, which has been assisting us in implementing the national policy on climate change. They organized the training for civil society members on evaluating the national policy on climate change. This policy is based on the Paris Agreement,” recalled Prof. Bring Christophe of the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development.  

Topics, Facilitators 
The training was facilitated by Prof. Bring Christophe and Eugene Nforngwa of ACSEA. The topics covered included “Climate change vulnerability and impacts in Cameroon,” “Current climate change policy framework of Cameroon,” and “The framework for policy analysis and assessment.” While small group discussions handled topics such as: Climate change development nexus; Impacts of climate change on youth and women: Mitigation strategies, adaptation measures, and financing options; Indigenous adaptation to climate change in the North-West Region by women and youths; Agriculture, water resources, health and energy. 

Focus Group Discussions 
Other topics were the main challenges and opportunities for youth and women in the context of climate change; How youth and women can contribute to the design and implementation of climate policies and actions at different levels; the best practices and lessons learned from existing youth and women-led initiatives on climate action; how to foster collaboration and partnership among youth and women organizations, networks, mov...