Expert calls for more efforts to fight climate change

Governments have been urged to intensify efforts in climate change fight and food insecurity to boost intra Africa trade and investments. The call was made by Dr. Mohamed Badraoui, the Chief Executive Officer of Institute National de Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in Morocco.

Thursday, September 08, 2016
Seyni Nafo, spokesman of the African Group in the UNFCCC negotiations. (Courtesy)

Governments have been urged to intensify efforts in climate change fight and food insecurity to boost intra Africa trade and investments. The call was made by Dr. Mohamed Badraoui, the Chief Executive Officer of Institute National de Recherche Agronomique (INRA) in Morocco. 

Dr. Badraoui, who is on a 2-day visit to Rwanda urged the governments to support the Adaption of African Agriculture (AAA) initiative, and invest more resources towards fighting climate change to keep African economies competitive.

He said the initiative will help the continent to withstand the effects of the global melt down and be able to sustain its increasing population.

Badraoui’s visit comes ahead of the 22nd Conference of the Parties on climate change (COP22) negotiations due in November in Marrakech, Morocco.

He was accompanied by a delegation of economists and climate change experts who are currently roving the continent urging states to expedite efforts to fight climate change and promote regional trade.

"We decided to start with Rwanda because Heads of State agreed in June to have Morocco and Rwanda collaborate in various economic development fronts, and agriculture is a priority of this new impetus and happens to be the largest employer in most African countries,” he noted.

The AAA initiative will be high on the Agenda come November, Dr. Badraoui said adding that nations need to work together to face the challenge for economic sustainability of the continent.

The experts say that embracing initiatives like family farming financing, proper soil and management systems will spur growth on the continent.

The idea is to help foster the implementation of concrete farming projects in order to improve existing tools and processes while adapting to climate change consequences,” he explained.

The Initiative for the African Agriculture (AAA) was launched in April 2016 in order to reduce agriculture vulnerability to climate change.

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