Institute Urges Regional Bodies to Expand Good Practices Like Green Legacy Initiative in Africa

Addis Ababa September16/2022/ENA/ Civil societies and other regional institutions should do more to share and expand emerging good practices in African countries, including the Green Legacy Initiative of Ethiopia, according to the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).

South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) is an independent public policy think tank advancing a well-governed, peaceful, economically sustainable and globally engaged Africa.

SAIIA Governance Resources Program Head, Alex Benkenstein told ENA that Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative is, for instance, a good practice to combat the effects of climate change and the lessons should be shared and expanded to the broader region.

To share lessons from the good practices and expand them in other parts of the continent, it is important that civil societies and other regional institutions concerned on the issue of climate change do more tasks, he added.

“There is much good practice emerging on the continent. We should be very clear about that. But much more can be done to share that and to scale it regionally.”  

According to him, there are certain platforms and institutions to share lessons between countries and undertake joint action.

The Great Green Wall Initiative which unites the Sahel-Sahara region in a campaign to fight land degradation and dessertification is also another regional initiative in Africa to share the lessons of the good practice and expand it regionally, the program head pointed out.

“There is a role to play for regional institutions. There are regional programs like the Great Green Wall Initiative, and those programs help facilitate lesson sharing between countries and joint action.”  

Speaking as a representative of civil society working in a think tank, Benkenstein said, “I do believe that civil society has a very important role to play to capture the challenges, successes and good practice stories of what is being achieved at local, national, and regional levels”

The head believes that it is crucial to establish forums to communicate those lessons and capture them in writing policy-relevant briefings. Content showing the truth that can be communicated with stakeholders is required to make sure the expansion of the good practices.

There are certain platforms, but there are also more works to be done at an individual level by researchers, policy actors and those working on projects on the ground. There is work to be done to engage with the institutions and individuals in these institutions, he elaborated.

In its Green Legacy Initiative, Ethiopia has been conducting not only massive tree seedlings plantation campaigns but provided tree saplings to neighboring countries to combat the chronic effects of climate change both in the country and in the region in a collaborative way.