Lomé - From 17 to 19 September 2024, the Sancta Maria Hotel hosted a capacity-building workshop initiated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), aimed at taking better account of human mobility in planning documents, in particular National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) between Parties in West and Central Africa.

With the main objective of providing the regional negotiators and diplomats involved with information on the links between climate change and human mobility, this workshop provided a genuine platform for peer learning and enabled participants to learn about the initiatives and projects of their counterparts in different national contexts. This set of cognitive acquisitions equipped the participants to better integrate human mobility into their official positions and commitments at the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP 29) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process, as well as in their NAPs.

In addition to IOM's support, the representatives of the public authorities responsible for climate issues and migration in the countries of West and Central Africa benefited from the assistance of experts from organisations such as the UNFCCC's Regional Coordination Centre for West and Central Africa, the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for West and Central Africa and a number of other organisations, the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for West and Central Africa and a number of civil society organisations (CSOs).

The topics addressed during the first day's work enabled the participants to agree on a common understanding of human mobility in the context of climate change, and the related planning documents and consultation frameworks. During the second session of the workshop, the possibilities of integrating human mobility into the UNFCCC discussions during COP 29, which will be held in November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan, were examined. In addition, the opportunities and entry points for integrating human mobility into ongoing processes (NAPs/NDCs) in the target countries were identified. The final day was devoted to identifying the challenges and opportunities facing countries and defining priorities and next steps in the run-up to COP 29 and the new NDC cycle starting in 2025.

To further consolidate the knowledge and skills acquired, a negotiation simulation was carried out to enable participants to project themselves into a real-life scenario. The organisers invited the participants to make use of the knowledge acquired during the Lomé training course to incorporate the issue of human mobility in the context of climate change into their respective declarations at COP 29. They invited them to work in synergy to make their voices heard within bodies such as COP 29, which could offer them numerous financial and technical opportunities. To this end, they suggested, among other things, that they lobby leaders who have not yet signed the Kampala Ministerial Declaration on Migration, Environment and Climate Change (KDMECC-AFRICA). The partners, led by IOM and the NDC Partnership, reiterated their full readiness to support the countries in revising their NAPs and NDCs.

This is the quintessence of the work of the Lomé workshop, which enabled the next representatives of the Central and West African sub-regions to be better prepared for COP 29.

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For further information, please contact:

• MAURICE Charles Quentin, IOM Cameroon, cmaurice@iom.int
• Georges Elisée AFANE AFANE, IOM Togo, jioafane@yahoo.fr