GLOBE Senegal MPs leverage on project knowledge in Committee scrutiny of 2022 Budget Bill

budget project

Every November the National Assembly of Senegal examines the budget of each ministry with a fine-tooth comb. The scrutiny is led by the Committee on Finance and Budgetary Control enlarged to accommodate the Members of the relevant sectoral Committees as appropriate. These 'enlarged committee' sessions are chaired by the Chairman of the Committee responsible for the ministry whose budget is being examined and the Chairman of the Finance and Budgetary Control Committee.

The report on the initial budget bill in Committee presents the budget baseline and aims to describe the key elements for each ministry, before it is considered in plenary for final adoption of its budget proposal. It aims to highlight some of the key outcomes of the budget vote interpellations, incorporating the concerns of parliamentarians to the extent possible. The report first authorises the collection of public resources and includes the ways and means to ensure financial equilibrium, while in the second part, it sets out the general budget, the annex budgets and the special accounts, the amount of credits for programmes or endowments, specifying, where appropriate, the ceilings for staff expenses.

According to the bill reviewed, in 2022 the overall national budget will increase by 12,767,039,589 CFA francs, that is, by more than 100% compared to 2021. In alignment with the requests of the National Assembly since the start of the GLOBE-UNEP GEF6 project, investment expenditures for the program to combat deforestation and land degradation, which takes into account REDD+ readiness and the Great Green Wall (GGW) will exceed 500% in 2022 compared to 2021.

During the enlarged Committee scrutiny of the 2022 Budget Bill presented by the executive, several legislators took the floor to make questions and requests informed by the findings and recommendations of the three legislative readiness studies developed by GLOBE with the support of the GEF6 and UNEP.
 
licka baEchoing the recommendations of the diagnostic study of the legal, political and institutional frameworks of the Great Green Wall in Senegal, the Honourable Deputy Licka Ba questioned the Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development on the financing of the Great Green Wall.  According to Deputy Ba, the stated objective of President Macky Sall, is to build a 'Green Senegal', and each year reforestation campaigns are organised over a length of 545 km for an area of 817 500 ha. The intervention area covering 3 administrative regions (Tambacounda, Matam and Louga) including 5 departments and 16 communes necessarily involves local authorities. Deputy Ba asked: 'When will the Ministry take the necessary measures to support the funding of local authorities in their reforestation efforts?'


Deputy Demba Keita demba keitaspoke about the importance of mobilising international private funds, highlighted by the report. In his presentation, the Honorable Demba Keita insisted that international private funds are a major tool for governments to steer the Great Green Wall towards long-term sustainability.  'However, it seems that Senegal's accession to REDD+ has not yet been effective.  Yet, joining REDD+ could have helped finance several projects and meet the wishes of populations who seem to prefer resilience grants'. 'We are really counting on your leadership for Senegal to join REDD+, which will help finance the Great Green Wall and the efforts to preserve the country's southern forests'. He maintained that GLOBE Senegal parliamentarians hope that other innovative private financing mechanisms, such as Development Impact Bonds, and Impact Development Funds, will also be explored with the support of the Green Climate Fund.
 
In her speech, Khadidiatou DialloDeputy Khadidiatou Diallo mentioned that, as made evident by the the study on legislative readiness for REDD+, this mechanism is an important enabler to deliver on the land-use component of Senegal's nationally determined contributions (NDCs), 'because they can help reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for our country and encourage investments in productivity.  Although Senegal's accession has not yet been effective, it has been tested in forestry. Why doesn't the Ministry ensure the articulation of the REDD+ mechanism with Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 15 in particular, which focus on climate change, reducing deforestation and the sustainable use of ecosystems?'
 
According to Deputy Aïssatou Cissokho, aissatou cissokhoa commitment by development partners of funding to the level of 9,091,145,000,000 FCFA over a period of 10 years (2021 - 2030) was one of the outcomes of the One Planet Summit. 'Your ministerial department has an essential role to play in developing projects to obtain this funding.  What measures have been taken to encourage and facilitate environmental actors to be more active in obtaining funding?', she asked.