AUC Stresses Need for Climate Action Collaboration in Africa

Addis Ababa, April 1, 2025 (ENA) --- Coordinated continental efforts in climate actions are critical for Africa, Jolly Wasambo, African Union Commission (AUC) Intra-ACP Climate Services and Related Applications Program Coordinator said. 

According to him, most African countries are engaged in nature-based climate actions.

"In Ethiopia, you have got this Green Legacy, a green revolution initiative, where you are planting billions of trees...The Ethiopian green revolution is very critical in order to ensure that we address issues of desertification as well as getting the issues of carbon sequestration," the coordinator stated.

Other countries have got also their own initiatives, he noted, adding "why don't we come together as a continent to say, 'this is done in Ethiopia, this is done in Tanzania, this is done in Burkina Faso.'"

Wasambo believes that Africans should come together and then try to bring coordination among nations so that they can share in experiences; so that they can also share best practices, and then help one another to do it together.

The coordinator further noted that there is the Great Green Wall Framework and Strategy developed by the African Union.

"We have now the Great Green Wall Framework and Strategy, which AU has come up with, that is basically aimed at bringing these countries together in that area to ensure that they become sure this will be done as we move ahead."

In this regard, reliable and timely climate information is crucial in providing them with information and services which is usable, timely and reliable and that can contribute to social economic development of countries as well as the continent, he elaborated.

The African Union Commission is best positioned to coordinate these efforts, Wasambo asserted.

"As far as Africa is concerned, AUC is the organization to do this, and it is doing this in various sectors,” he said, stating that it is, for instance, the commission that is bringing together member states in forestry areas and sustainable blue economy management.

Furthermore, the coordinator called for a collaborative approach to leverage existing initiatives and innovations like the Green Legacy in Ethiopia and other initiatives.

"What is needed most is that as we do this, we have also to open our eyes. What are the other new initiatives, what are the other new innovations?”

Under the ClimSA program, he stated that the AUC is focused on enhancing the capacity of member states to generate and utilize reliable climate information.

"In order to do that, we need to have reliable and timely climate information upon which our policy makers can base their decisions, as well as the users of that information can use in order to improve their economic development as well as their livelihoods in their various countries.”

The program aims to address data gaps by utilizing space-based technologies and providing infrastructure and training to member states.

"We need to strengthen the capacities of national metrological and hydrological services, because these are the ones that produce weather and climate information, which every sector can use," Wasambo elaborated.

The coordinator pointed out that Integrated African Strategic Meteorology, Weather and Climate Services, was adopted in 2022.

The strategy is a blueprint guiding the continent on how it can generate information.