The call emerged during the opening of the Regional Parliamentary Seminar on Methane Emissions and Climate Action in Nairobi, where legislators, climate experts and development partners warned that Africa risks falling further behind in accessing climate funds despite bearing the brunt of climate change

📻 Breaking It Down

NAIROBI, Kenya, May 15 – African lawmakers have been urged to dismantle legislative and regulatory barriers blocking climate financing and fast-track methane reduction policies, as parliaments across the continent push to position themselves at the center of the global climate response.

The call emerged strongly during the opening of the Regional Parliamentary Seminar on Methane Emissions and Climate Action in Nairobi, where legislators, climate experts and development partners warned that Africa risks falling further behind in accessing climate funds despite bearing the brunt of climate change.

Speaking during the forum, Jitu Soni, Director East and Southern Africa, Climate Parliament said Africa continued to receive only a fraction of global climate financing because of legal and policy bottlenecks within national systems.

📌 What You Need to Know

“There’s big talk of big money and a lot of help, but if we do not work to remove the legislative barriers and the regulatory barriers, that finance will not flow towards us,” Soni said.

He challenged parliamentarians attending the seminar to move beyond dialogue and return to their countries with concrete legislative reforms capable of unlocking climate investment and accelerating methane reduction efforts.

“We do not need rocket science to tackle this,” he said. “We can work together, learn from scientists and professionals, and put it into simple ways of reducing methane emissions to make Africa a better place.”

The two-day seminar, themed “African Parliaments for Climate Action: Reducing Methane, Promoting Development,” has brought together delegates from 21 African countries alongside organizations including Inter-Parliamentary Union, United Nations Environment Programme, Climate Parliament and Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

In a video address, Martin Chungong, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary General, said African parliaments were increasingly emerging as drivers of climate action rather than passive participants in global discussions.

“Africa is not simply participating in the global climate discussion,” Chungong said.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya