By Sainabou Sambou
Baboucar Zaidi Jallow, Deputy Permanent Secretary-Technical at the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (MECCNAR), has said that the Gambia will participate in the upcoming Cop28 climate conference to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from the 30th November to the 12th December 2023.
The Gambia is part of three negotiating groups namely, National Determined Contributions (NDCs), The African Group and V77 Group.
DPS Jallow pointed out that there are four critical points that they want to achieve in the negotiations. First is on the global structure that will show the performance of each country in meeting the targets and ensuring that the next NDC in 2025 aligns with the global standards.
The second one is the most contentious; where discussions in the climate change negations which are referred to as “law and damages are made.” He further explained that the other point is climate finance, adding that, they want to have substantial progress on climate financing.
Mr. Jallow stated that the Gambia has a pavilion and an office space funded by the UAE’s Government to showcase the country’s progress in the climate change discourse.
“During the conference, there will be side events on climate issues from invited NGOs, institutions, project heads, and other stakeholders. COP28 is a convention framed towards creating a global mechanism for managing the impact of climate change and having agreements that would outline each country’s responsibilities in mitigating the effects of climate change,” he said.
