The ECOWAS Parliament is poised to hold a weeklong parliamentary seminar on climate change.
The seminar, to be held under the theme “Climate Change as a Driver of Environmental Degradation, Population Displacement and Growing Insecurity in the ECOWAS Region,” will also feature the holding of the 2026 Second Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament, from 21st to 28th September 2026 in Accra, Republic of Ghana.
In her introductory remarks on Monday, 21st September 2026 in Ghana, the Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Rt. Hon. Memunatou Ibrahim, said: “The subject that brings us together offers a striking illustration of our collective responsibility.”
She added: “Climate disruption can no longer be measured only in degrees, statistics, or projections. It is read in land that yields less, in coastlines that retreat, in flooded neighbourhoods, in families losing their livelihoods, and in communities forced to relocate.”
Behind the climate question, she pointed out, lies a profoundly human issue: how do we protect the living conditions, dignity, and security of our populations when their environment is changing faster than their capacity to adapt?
She told lawmakers: “Our responsibility during this seminar will be precisely to connect these realities, not to restate here what we already know, but to better understand what is at stake in our territories and to consider the most appropriate responses.”
She indicated that the expertise to be shared should inform discussions, but must also meet the experience of parliamentarians, who remain in close contact with their territories and their people.
She added: “It is from this dialogue between technical knowledge and lived realities that truly useful proposals can emerge.”
The joint solemn opening of the extraordinary session and the parliamentary seminar, originally scheduled for today, will now take place tomorrow.
However, Speaker Ibrahim cautioned: “This should in no way diminish the usefulness and importance of this day, which gives us the opportunity to get straight down to work.”
