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With regards to the 27ième Conference of Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to be held in Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt, from 6 to 18 November 2022, West African regional institutions of integration are actively preparing for a joint participation.

The first milestone of this joint participation is the preparatory regional workshop for climate negotiations

The strengthened regional cooperation is the result of several years of partnership, particularly around the preparation of international climate negotiations. Historically, the regional institutions (ECOWAS, UEMOA, CILSS and BOAD) have joined forces and organised a regional workshop each year to prepare for the COPs with negotiators from the Member States to discuss the region's priorities and challenges. As usual, this year's discussions will be facilitated by the ECOWAS Regional Advisory Group for Climate International Negotiations (RAG-CLIN) and will lead to a common regional position to be published before the opening of COP27.

The workshop is being held from 27 to 29 September in Lomé, Togo, with a new scientific component coordinated by the CILSS. Carbon measurement and monitoring work in West Africa will be presented to deepen the knowledge of the negotiators on the carbon storage potential of the different ecosystems in their countries.

West Africa, a region united in the fight against climate change

To symbolise this regional collaboration, a West African pavilion will be erected this year at COP27, the African COP. Co-piloted by the ECOWAS Commission and BOAD in partnership with UEMOA and CILSS, this pavilion will be equipped with a conference room and will be a platform of choice to promote the climate action of regional institutions and the one of their Member States, thus strengthening the voice of West Africa on the international climate scene.

More than a symbol, this pavilion shows the willingness of regional institutions to strengthen their cooperation around the common challenge of climate change. This approach aims to improve the coordination and effectiveness of the collective response for the benefit of the region's populations.

The key word in this cooperation is complementarity between the respective regional mandates and with the action of the Member States. It is the coordinated intervention of the different levers specific to each regional institutions (financing, capacity building, policy and regulatory framework, scientific resources) that will enable efficient and effective support to the Member States in the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Climate Agreement. This cooperation thus responds to a principle of regional solidarity and embodies the adage "Alone we go faster, together we go further".

2022, a symbolic year for the climate commitment of West African regional institutions

The year 2022 marks the culmination of the process of developing the ECOWAS Regional Climate Strategy and its action plan to 2030, adopted by the 88th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers held from 30 June to 1 July 2022 in Accra, Ghana. Led by the ECOWAS Commission, the regional strategy embodies the collaboration between West African regional institutions. BOAD, UEMOA and CILSS were stakeholders in the development process and will be partners in the implementation.

By adopting this strategy, ECOWAS is committing itself alongside its fifteen (15) Member States to make climate a priority of the region's political action, in line with its Vision 2050, based on the observation that the impacts of climate change are transboundary and that it is together that ECOWAS Member States can meet this challenge. It is also an opportunity to raise the region's voice on the international scene, by carrying the messages of a united and supportive region in the climate negotiations.