Promoting regional cooperation

The Seychelles government has begun a series of negotiations with stakeholders to draft a climate law. This announcement was made during the regional seminar on inter-parliamentary cooperation on climate change.

Parliamentarians from Indian Ocean countries gathered to outline the criteria they would like to include in a future climate law for their respective nations. The Governance Committee of the Indian Ocean Commission and the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie organized the workshop, which was funded by the French Development Agency. During the seminar, it was emphasized that although Indian Ocean countries do not contribute significantly to global warming, they are among the most vulnerable to its impacts.

According to the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of La Francophonie, their organization offers these small island nations a platform to compare the different practices of island states. Furthermore, this platform will help them develop policies and legislation in their respective countries. The parliamentarians discussed various topics, particularly focusing on promoting regional cooperation in the sustainable management of natural resources and finding adequate funding for projects aimed at mitigating and adapting to climate change in the Indian Ocean region.

Attendees at the meeting pledged to reconvene regularly to collaborate on drafting regulatory texts that align with the Paris Agreement while taking into account the specificities of their countries. In 2024, nearly a decade after the adoption of the Paris Agreement on December 12, 2015, only a few Indian Ocean countries have implemented legislative frameworks to meet the Agreement’s goals.