By Fatou Saho
The National Environment Agency together with the Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA), Thursday organised a costal forum meeting with stakeholders on the seventh integrated coastal zone management.
The meeting came up as the GCCA+ climate resilient, coastal and marine zone project for the Gambia nears its end. It allows for the parties involved to discuss on their findings and proffer solutions to mitigate the problems.
Speaking at the forum held at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara Conference Center, the project coordinator Abubacar Kujabi, said stakeholders cooperation in dealing with the coastal and marine environmental issues has been strengthened through different mechanisms and called for their continuous cooperation in coastal areas, for effective management of “our natural resources.”
He added: “There is no better way of managing our coastal zone than taking an integrated approach with the Global Climate Change alliance plus project intervention which seeks to benefit hostile communities, adapt to the impact of climate change through institutional strengthening”.
The executive director of the National Environment Agency, Dawda Badjie, said the project has archived a lot in the Gambia since its commencement.
“We started a long way and all these meetings have a particular thematic area on how we can put our coastal environment better for us and the future generation of this country,” he said.
The head of the technical assistant team of the GCCA+ project, Heiko Seilert, mentioned that, the project capacitates and enabled discussions to make informed decisions about the future of the country.
Considering the coastal and environmental challenges on the environment, economy, people and wildlife, Enrica Pellacani, a representative from the European Union, said they are committed to maintain and enhance dialogue on coastal management for the benefit of the Gambian people and the world at large.
