Dakar, May 23- Work on structuring the Emerging Senegalese Plan (PSE) started on Monday in Dakar, under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, with a view to define the operational elements of this government programme serving as a new reference framework for public policies in Senegal.
To this end, an “intensive workshop” called “Lab” was organised by the Operational Monitoring Office (BOS) of the Emerging Senegal Plan, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, GGGI and technical and financial partners.
Scheduled to last 5 weeks, this workshop aims to “define the elements of operationalisation of the PES/Green (…), a crucial step in its structuring”, said Abdou Karim Sall, Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development.
The work of this “Lab” provides a “framework for technical and financial structuring of complex projects and reforms”, in line with a process that started “a few months ago” and which “has mobilised all the national expertise required on essential issues to which Senegal is committed to providing solutions”.
The Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development recalled that the Head of State, Macky Sall, “has made the Green PES a priority in the second phase of the Emerging Senegal Plan, with a view to providing practical responses to the problem of sustainable development, through better consideration of environmental requirements in national policies, strategies and programmes”.
To achieve this, and considering the cross-cutting nature of the environment sector, the PES Operational Monitoring Office, which is leading the process, “has adopted an inclusive approach and facilitated the active participation of all stakeholders”.
During the whole preparation cycle of the Green PES, “the involvement of stakeholders has been effective and broad. Information is carried down to the grassroots through regional development committees and departmental councils,” he said.
According to him, the preliminary results obtained during the preparatory phase have led to the definition of the green PES concept, “priority sectors, key themes and essential reforms to be carried out, following the organisation of a series of meetings and exchanges”.
“A vision based on stimulating economic growth, creating jobs and strengthening resilience to climate change, by mobilising the full potential of green investment, has been set out for this programme,” the Environment Minister stressed.
For this reason, he continued, “the time has come to reconsider the environmental governance model in depth, so that the production of wealth can contribute in a sustained manner and without exclusion, to economic growth and the improvement of living standards”.
According to him, “this means that it is more than necessary to rethink our strategies, by making sectoral actions coherent and by strengthening nature-based solutions, in order to increase our economic productivity”.
Abdou Karim Sall also noted the need to highlight the balance between socio-economic development and environmental protection through agricultural, energy, industrial, water and urban development programmes.
From this point of view, he noted, “we can today be sufficiently reassured of the trajectory defined by Senegal, which has the long-term ambition of greening its economy, improving its plant cover, fighting against the causes of pollution and nuisances, forest and soil degradation, and the disappearance of wildlife.