CSPR held a lobby meeting on climate finance, climate legislation and the 8NDP programs on climate change on the 26th October, 2022. 25 members of parliament, the First deputy Speaker, parliament staff and partners on the VCA were present. This meeting was aimed to establish the role of Members of Parliament in issues of climate change in their constituencies, to get a buy-in on issues of climate financing especially in the National Budget allocation on environmental protection. The other objective was to lobby for the enactment of the climate change bill, capitalizing on its benefits for the country including the establishment of a climate change fund. Presentations were given and the floor was opened for plenary. The members of parliament were very engaging and posed a number of suggestions as well as questions. With regard to the presentation given, a member of caucus enquired as to whether putting up a climate change desk in constituencies won’t be a duplication of what the disaster management and mitigation unit are doing. Also, another member of parliament proposed exchange visits and research on allocations towards environmental protection in the region and on what neighboring countries are doing to address issues of climate change. It was further stated by another member of the caucus that adaptation is key to increasing community resilience to climate change and as such there is need to look for alternatives and carry out sensitizations on the ground and close the gap. Another member of the caucus expressed the seriousness of the money allocated towards environmental protection and its reduction in 2022 may have implications given the urgency of the climate change.
It was also added that CSOs and government need a clear road map towards budget allocation. One member of the caucus encouraged CSPR to work with the Ministry of Green Economy and Environment to fight impacts of climate change. Another member of parliament added that climate change is very wide hence there is need to package it very well and include everyone.
