Senegal's constitutional reform of 5 April 2016 introduced provisions strengthening the role of parliamentarians for the evaluation of public policies. According to Article 85, 'Members of Parliament may put oral questions and topical questions to members of the government, who are required to reply to them. The questions and answers relating thereto shall not be followed by a vote’.
On the basis of these provisions, GLOBE Senegal Members Aboubakry Ngaide, Juliette Zingan and Yancouba Coly put forward questions concerning the fundamental aspects of the project "Legislative Actions to Advance Forest Governance through REDD+ and Natural Capital towards the Implementation of Agenda 2030" during the review of the draft 2020 Budget for the Ministry of the Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) and the Budget vote.
(Full session available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB0PfdgWhxY&feature=youtu.be; interventions of MPs Aboubakry Ngaide at 1:14:15, Juliette Zingan at 1:41:40 and Yancouba Coly at 3:09:05).
Hon. Juliette P. ZINGAN questioned the Minister on the budget lines that will support the capacity of the Water, Forests, Hunting and Soil Conservation Directorate for the sustainable management of wood resources. Also, another question related to the initiatives of the Senegal Emerging national development plan which may be implemented under the cover of REDD+.
Hon. Léopold Y. COLY focused on on incentives to enhance carbon value through reforestation and on the financial and institutional mechanisms needed to support agro-forestry development in the local authorities of the Great Green Wall.
Hon. Aboubakry NGAIDE stressed the importance of supporting the National Statistics and Demography Agency (ANSD) by the MEDD to advance the implementation of the 2012 United Nations System of Economic and Environmental Accounts (SEEA), and how environmental statistical data inform national policy planning.
The budget allocated for Programme 2, “Biodiversity Conservation and Protected Area Management”, which is the new policy on territorial development of the national development plan Senegal Emerging, is CFA francs 8,259,513,387, or 33% of the MEDD budget. (Source: Report on the draft budget for the MEDD)
After ten years of existence, reforestation efforts under the Great Green Wall have delivered substantial results, both in terms of silviculture and of territorial development. Going forward, the MEDD intends to develop new strategies, i.e. to mobilise CFA 25,375,562,412 leveraging on the funding of Programme 2, “Biodiversity Conservation and Protected Area Management”. This leveraged budget would represent about 1% of the national budget.
This context calls for the Members of GLOBE Senegal to collaborate closely with the members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (EESC), the Union of Local Elected Representatives' Associations and the members of the High Council of Territorial Communities, who support public authorities in the management of natural resources.
