Members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) have collectively called on the EAC to establish a regional fund that would help mitigate effects of climate change in the region.

They made the call during their two-week parliamentary session that ended in Nairobi, Kenya yesterday.

Speaking to The New Times, yesterday, from Nairobi, Rwandan EALA member, Patricia Hajabakiga, said that they requested the Council of Ministers to fast track the establishment of the Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.

"Once the fund is in place, it will facilitate the region to deal with the effects of climate change through a portfolio of actions aimed at mitigation, adaptation and improving knowledge on climate change issues,” she said.

The parliamentarians further challenged the EAC to prioritise climate change, noting that mitigation strategies need to be put in place before it is too late.

Hafsa Mossi, the Chairperson of the EAC Council of Ministers, informed the House that top officials of the East African Development Bank (EADB) and the EAC secretariat recently met in Arusha, Tanzania over the fund.

She told the EALA members that the EAC would soon submit a proposal to EADB under its green fund initiative to support programmes on climate change. 

During the EALA sitting, four reports on the Committee on Agriculture, Tourism and Natural Resources, Regional Dialogue, Politics of Food Security in Eastern Africa and Regional Parliamentary Symposium on Strategic Planning to address Climate Change were debated and adopted.

Also adopted were reports on Developing Mining Legal Frameworks in the East African region and that of the EAC Observer Mission to Southern Sudan Referendum.

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