Senegal Readiness Reports

senegal covers
aymerou
Hon. Aymérou GNINGUE
Chairman, Benno Bokk Yaakaar Parliamentary Group

The new environmental policy, as defined by His Excellency the President of the Republic and translated into the Plan Sénégal Émergent (PSE), requires improved environmental governance. By 2030, Senegal plans to achieve the objectives of the PSE in terms of sustainable development. The ambition to provide its citizens with a healthy environment inevitably requires considering a certain number of measures to combat climate change, desertification, biodiversity, and sustainable development.

The PES-Green orientates the action of public authorities towards a fundamental ideal which is the right to a healthy environment. Senegal's position requires measures to face the multiple challenges of sustainable development.

The creation of the Senegalese Agency for Reforestation and the Great Green Wall (ASERGMV) could reinforce our country's opportunity to make the GGW the engine of development to improve the living conditions of local communities. In addition, the new political orientations of territorial development and poverty reduction will be a good opportunity for the planning of strategies for the valorisation of natural capital in the regions bordering the GGW.

In this perspective, a legal and institutional reform defining the REDD+ framework would be an added value for the integration of strategies to combat the impacts of climate change and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into a coherent set of the Emerging Senegal Plan (PSE).

In this ambition, the President of the Republic, His Excellency Macky SALL, presided over a Presidential Council on the Great Green Wall with the objective of creating a multi-actor framework. This spirit of political dialogue, to which the President of the Republic invited all the actors, must be at the heart of the fight against the advance of the desert.

This salutary invitation from the Head of State must be underpinned by an environmental dialogue with a focus on the creation of green jobs.

I am pleased that the GLOBE GEF6 Project "Legislative actions to advance REDD+ and natural capital governance towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda", contributes to the diagnosis in the form of a review and analysis of legislation and regulations related to the implementation of the GGW.

Therefore, it satisfies a long-standing demand of parliamentarians, who have always expressed the desire to intervene based on evidence from studies rigorously conducted by experts on previously identified themes. The objective is to place the GGW at the heart of the activities of parliamentarians with a more rigorous control of the decisions of the Executive and the policies implemented in environmental matters.

To this end, the commitment of Senegal's parliamentarians will respond to the recommendations of the study as well as to the political will expressed in the Constitution to establish the environmental issue as a fundamental right.

The project's vision is to work towards capacity building for parliamentarians based on scientific studies. This vision is based on an innovative idea: evidence-based policy. This idea focuses on capacity building to help parliamentarians access knowledge, information, training tools and good practices on GGW. This analysis will serve as a basis for proposing a plan to update and refresh legal frameworks, including those related to REDD+.

It should be noted that the challenges to be met are enormous. Indeed, to stimulate reflection on the main political, multisectoral and institutional obstacles encountered by GGW interventions in Senegal is a real requirement for breakthrough governance. This experience to encourage ambitious actions for the protection of the environment is already on the agenda of GLOBE International.

The study provides a new impetus for action by parliamentarians. They need to take an action-oriented approach to accelerate the implementation of the policy and legislative frameworks for the GGW. To better address these challenges, it is imperative to promote more inclusive control strategies. These are more participatory approaches that rely on the involvement of stakeholders but above all on improving awareness in the decision-making process. That is why we are committed to this issue with the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development to reflect on practical solutions based on the interests of the nation and Africa.

In this regard, I would like to point out that the forestry policy for the period 2005-2025 has, in its component "Development and rational management of forests", the ambition to meet the challenges of sustainable forest management while fighting poverty. To this end, the legal value of the report will be assessed in terms of parliamentary action, which could focus first on advocacy to ensure that the budgetary allocations for ASERGMV are increased in line with the strategic objectives set out in its action plan. Undoubtedly, a stronger impetus will be given to legislative reforms, considering the territorialization requirements of environmental policies specific to the Great Green Wall.

We are particularly grateful to:

  • Rafael Jiménez Aybar, GLOBE Programme Director for technical support, advice, and guidance.
  • The Honorable Ibrahima Baba Sall, President of GLOBE Senegal, who has demonstrated his availability and leadership in taking charge of Senegal's adherence to REDD+ and the Gaborone Declaration on Sustainability in Africa.
  • Special mention should be made of Colonel Gogo Banel Ndiaye, Technical Advisor N.1 at the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development, who spared no effort in the institutional support of the study, the organization of meetings, and his availability.
  • Colonel Moussa Diouf, Secretary General of ASERGMV, for his availability, his open-mindedness, and his promptness in reacting each time he was asked.
  • We also thank the Director of Water and Forests, Colonel Baidy BA, for his unfailing support throughout this study.
  • Mohamed Diédhiou, Project Coordinator in Senegal, for his ongoing support.

This study is an important milestone in the advocacy and resource mobilization strategy for the success of the GGW.