The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Parliament has concluded its 2026 seminar on the theme, “Climate Change as a Driver of Environmental Degradation, Population Displacement, and Rising Insecurity in the ECOWAS Region.”
Manuel Nascimento Lopes, a member of Guinea-Bissau’s delegation to the Sixth Legislature of the ECOWAS Parliament, warned that if West African heads of state and government fail to address climate change within the next five to 10 years, the result will be catastrophic for the sub-region.
“We have a business mindset of importing plastics, but we are not taking full responsibility for protecting the environment,” he said in an interview on the sidelines of the seminar and extraordinary session. “If governments do not take action to protect the environment from the use of plastics, it is going to be a disaster within the next five to 10 years.”
Lopes further noted that in Guinea-Bissau, the climate change situation is nothing to write home about. He said nothing is being done to safeguard the ecosystem, and people do not think much about saving the environment.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/EcowasNewsOnline.com
