Climate change is increasingly driving population displacement, undermining livelihoods and aggravating insecurity across West Africa, experts have warned at the Second Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament in Accra, Ghana.
The warning was issued on Monday as lawmakers opened the Second Extraordinary Session and Second Parliamentary Seminar of the ECOWAS Parliament, holding from September 21 to 28, 2026, under the theme: “Climate Change as a Driver of Environmental Degradation, Population Displacement and Rising Insecurity in the ECOWAS Region.”
Experts told parliamentarians that rising temperatures, extreme weather events, prolonged drought, unpredictable rainfall, flooding, rising sea levels and land degradation were placing growing pressure on livelihoods, infrastructure and regional security.
Opening the proceedings, Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Hadja Memounatou Ibrahima, described the session as particularly important given the environmental and security challenges confronting the region.
She also recalled Ghana’s Founders’ Day and the legacy of the country’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, urging participants to draw inspiration from 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-related hazards had moved beyond being distant projections and were already affecting communities.
“Climate hazards are with us,” he said, citing extreme heat, drought, heavy and unpredictable rainfall and rising sea levels among the major threats confronting the region.
Sarfo-Yiadom said seasonal temperatures had increased by between one and three degrees Celsius since 1970, contributing to more intense heatwaves and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns.
He said changing rainfall patterns were worsening flood risks, while drought and extreme heat were placing severe pressure on agricultural production.
According to him, farmers, low-income communities, coastal populations and displaced persons remain among the groups most exposed to the consequences of climate change.
He warned that homes, irrigation systems, electricity infrastructure, transport networks, ports, markets and public services were increasingly vulnerable to climate-related hazards.
Sarfo-Yiadom, however, stressed that climate hazards only become disasters when exposed communities lack the capacity to cope with them, noting that climate pressures were already contributing to displacement and conflict in some agriculture-dependent communities.
He called for increased investment in climate adaptation, flood-resilient zoning, expanded climate-risk mapping and early-warning systems capable of reaching vulnerable communities. He also advocated greater accountability in the management of climate-related expenditure.
Similarly, the Principal Officer, Climate Change and Climate Services at the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Raoul Kouame, called for stronger regional coordination of climate policies and greater support for member states to implement their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
“The challenge is no longer just to define climate commitments,” Kouame said, stressing that implementation remained a major challenge.
He identified institutional fragmentation, differences in national capacities and difficulties in accessing climate finance as key barriers to effective climate action.
Kouame advocated stronger coordination between regional and national institutions, as well as mechanisms to align national climate frameworks with regional structures.
He said regional cooperation should extend to climate services, early-warning systems, forest and ecosystem protection, carbon markets and access to climate finance.
The scale of the financing challenge is substantial. The ECOWAS Regional Strategy for Access to and Mobilization of Climate Finance, adopted in 2022, estimated the region’s climate financing requirements at $294 billion, based on conditional requirements contained in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) 2.0.
ECOWAS officials have also warned that climate-related pressures could expose millions of West Africans to displacement if adaptation and resilience measures are not significantly strengthened.
The Commission has since been working towards a harmonised regional framework for a carbon market platform, in line with ECOWAS Vision 2050 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Dr Abdou Ali, a climate, water and meteorology expert with the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), reminded lawmakers that West Africa had experienced severe climate shocks before.
He noted that CILSS was established in 1973 following the devastating droughts of 1968–1970, with a mandate focused on strengthening food security and combating drought and desertification.
Ali stressed that regional cooperation remained essential because climate risks do not respect national borders.
He identified agriculture, coastal communities, biodiversity, disaster-risk management and human displacement as areas requiring coordinated regional adaptation measures.
According to him, climate considerations must also be integrated into policies covering agriculture, forestry, energy, transport, industrialisation and waste management.
He called for stronger institutions, sustainable financing and effective implementation mechanisms to translate regional climate strategies into practical action.
The experts broadly agreed that climate adaptation must be designed around the needs, livelihoods and vulnerabilities of affected communities to prevent interventions from creating new risks.
Following the expert presentations, parliamentarians commenced closed-door deliberations on the issues raised, with the session expected to further examine the links between climate change, environmental degradation, displacement and insecurity across the ECOWAS region.
