Climate change is fueling population displacement and threatening regional stability across West Africa, experts warned Monday as the Second Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament opened in Accra.
The warning was issued at the Second Extraordinary Session and Second Parliamentary Seminar with the theme: “Climate Change as a Driver of Environmental Degradation, Population Displacement and Rising Insecurity in the ECOWAS Region.” The session will run from 21st to 28th September 2026 in Accra, Republic of Ghana.
Experts told lawmakers that rising temperatures, extreme weather, drought, unpredictable rainfall, flooding, rising sea levels and land degradation are putting direct pressure on livelihoods, critical infrastructure and security.
Opening proceedings, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hadja Memounatou Ibrahima, said the session was convened at a critical time for the region. She drew attention to Ghana’s Founder’s Day, marking the birth of Ghana’s first President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, and called on participants to honour his vision of a free and united Africa. A minute of silence was observed in his honour.
Dr. Derek Sarfo-Yiadom, Senior Programme Officer, Climate Change and Ozone Directorate of Ghana’s Environmental Protection Authority, said climate hazards were no longer distant threats.
He noted that: “Climate hazards are with us,” listing extreme heat, drought, heavy and unpredictable rainfall and rising sea levels as growing concerns.
Sarfo-Yiadom said seasonal temperatures have risen by between one and three degrees Celsius since 1970, driving hotter heatwaves and unpredictable weather.
He lamented that changing rainfall patterns are increasing flood risks while drought and heat are crippling farming, while identifying farmers, low-income communities, coastal settlements and displaced populations as the most vulnerable.
He decried that homes, irrigation, electricity, transport networks, ports, markets and public services are at risk.
He however warned that the impact becomes a disaster when exposed communities lack capacity to cope, and that climate pressure is already contributing to displacement and conflict in agriculture-dependent communities.
He called for increased investment in adaptation, flood-proof zoning, expansion of climate-risk mapping, early-warning systems that reach vulnerable communities, and accountability for climate-related spending.
On his part, the Principal Officer, Climate Change and Climate Services at the ECOWAS Commission, Mr. Raoul Kouame, said ECOWAS must harmonise regional climate policies and support member states to implement their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
“The challenge is no longer just to define climate commitments,” Kouame said.
He identified institutional fragmentation, differences in national capacities and difficulties accessing climate finance as the main obstacles to action.
Kouame advocated stronger coordination between regional and national institutions and mechanisms to help countries align national frameworks with regional structures. He said cooperation must cover climate services, early warning systems, forest and ecosystem protection, carbon markets and access to finance.
The gap is huge. The ECOWAS Regional Strategy for Access to and Mobilization of Climate Finance, adopted in 2022, had estimated the region’s climate financing needs at $294 billion, based on conditional requirements contained in the NDCs 2.0. ECOWAS officials have warned that 32m West Africans risk displacement, with $294bn needed to tackle the crisis.
In 2024 the Commission began a new regional process, in line with ECOWAS Vision 2050 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, to develop a harmonized framework for a regional carbon market platform.
Dr. Abdou Ali, climate, water and meteorology expert with the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), told lawmakers that West Africa has been here before.
He noted that CILSS itself was created in 1973 during the first great drought in the region, in the wake of the devastating droughts of 1968-1970, stating that its mandate remains food security and combating drought and desertification.
Ali said regional cooperation is essential because climate risks do not stop at national borders. He listed agriculture, coastal areas, biodiversity, disaster risk and human displacement as areas requiring coordinated adaptation, and said climate action must be integrated into agriculture, forestry, energy, transport, industrialisation and waste management policies.
He stressed that regional strategies need adequate financing, stronger institutions and effective implementation mechanisms.
The presentations converged on one point: adaptation measures must account for the needs and livelihoods of affected communities to avoid creating new vulnerabilities.
Parliamentarians are now in closed deliberations on the expert presentations.
