The GCCA+ West Africa project supports the ECOWAS Commission in strengthening their leadership in the international climate negotiations

With the technical and financial support of the GCCA+ West Africa project, implemented by Expertise France with financing from the European Union, the ECOWAS Commission created in 2021 its first Regional Advisory Group for Climate International Negotiations (RAG-CLIN) to reinforce the capacities of the climate negotiators of its Member States and build common positions in relation with its mandate for strengthening the unity and the West-African voice within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement.

With four West African members and one international advisor, the RAG-CLIN 2021 work programme was adopted by the ECOWAS Commission on May 2021. Its first priorities are negotiation areas regarding the mechanisms of ambition regarding mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage, Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on cooperative approaches to emissions trading, financing, emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. The themes covered by the RAG-CLIN experts correspond above all to the specialities they have acquired over their long experience in international climate negotiations.

Expertise France, technical partner of ECOWAS on climate issues since 2017 through the GCCA+ West Africa project, has supported the ECOWAS Commission since 2020 through the preliminary design of this regional governance mechanism and has accompanied it during its implementation in 2021 through the mobilisation of the regional and international expertise necessary for the functioning of RAG-CLIN. The technical support provided to the project helped to define and implement the work programme, culminating in a key moment during COP26, where the ECOWAS Commission and its RAG-CLIN benefited from a dedicated workspace over the fifteen days of negotiations.

Capacity-building of West African climate negotiators, an ECOWAS mission at the heart of RAG-CLIN

For several years now, the ECOWAS Commission has been supporting its Member States in international climate negotiations to prepare them for the annual Conferences of the Parties (COP) held under the UNFCCC. As part of its historical mission, the Commission has organised capacity-building and negotiation preparation workshops every year. In 2021, the annual workshop organised in Lomé in June brought together all the focal points of national climate issues of the 15 countries of the region, as well as representatives from regional partner institutions[1]. RAG-CLIN was also present to drive the work and discussions around the priorities of the region in the upcoming climate negotiations at COP26.

“The urgency and magnitude of climate damage in West Africa requires a regrouping of efforts around this issue that transcends national frontiers and requires the implication of all active forces and opinion leaders from all backgrounds,” stressed George Manful, Expert climate negotiator and member of RAG-CLIN.

COP26 : Laying the foundations for common positions of ECOWAS Member States on climate

For even more specific preparation towards COP26, a second workshop took place virtually on 7 and 8 October 2021, and allowed finding common positions to take in the international scene by ECOWAS, CILSS and WAEMU in a joint communication published during COP26. In between these meetings, RAG-CLIN also prepared a series of background briefs for West African climate negotiators providing an update and a brief analysis of the latest developments on the priority negotiations adopted at the beginning of the year. 

To allow RAG-CLIN to carry out its work in the heat of the action during COP26, the GCCA+ West Africa project supported the presence of the ECOWAS Commission in Glasgow by financing a dedicated workspace and facilitating the organisation of RAG-CLIN activities during the fifteen days of negotiations. A strategy for laying out and publicising the common positions of the region within the negotiation groups was defined and shared with the delegations of the ECOWAS Member States. RAG-CLIN accompanied each delegation that so wished throughout the day.  At each major stage of the conference, the ECOWAS Commission also ensured that the common positions were updated in real time.

“ECOWAS must continue to strengthen the capacities of negotiators, who must master the discussion points through summaries that are made available to them to defend the common position of the West African region. Today, climate negotiators are more prepared to bring the priorities of the West African region to the heart of the African Negotiation Group,” says Honadia Mamadou, expert climate negotiator and member of RAG-CLIN.