ACCRA, Sept. 23 — Ghanaian Vice President Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang on Tuesday urged the sub-regional parliament of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to prioritize the protection of livelihoods and food security as essential keys to ensuring peace and security in the subregion amid the incidence of climate change and violent extremism.
During the regional bloc’s second extraordinary session and second parliamentary seminar of 2026 in Accra, the Ghanaian Capital, Opoku-Agyemang noted that climate change and environmental degradation had exerted far-reaching adverse consequences on livelihoods, food security, and the holistic wellbeing of communities, with the effects further aggravated by displacement and insecurity.
“Across West Africa, the effects of climate change are increasingly evident in disrupted livelihoods, displacement, and growing insecurity. These challenges do not respect national borders, and our response should not either,” she noted.
The interconnected nature of these challenges, according to the vice president, requires unified responses, urging ECOWAS member states to fortify cooperation and frame coordinated regional strategies to address the challenges resolutely.
She added that the subregion required more robust early and enhanced warning systems, as well as improved cross-border coordination, to prevent or minimize the scale of livelihood disruption and the causes of food insecurity.
According to her, the ECOWAS parliament has a pivotal and indispensable duty in influencing regional policies, ensuring accountability, and galvanizing support for collective action.
On extremism, she noted that millions of people remain forcibly displaced and have become stateless, adding that the crisis has assumed a profound regional dimension in West Africa and the Sahel region.
“Insecurity, environmental stress, and disrupted livelihoods in one part of West Africa increasingly put pressure on communities and national systems in another part of the region,” she cautioned, calling for an integrated and holistic approach that creates synergy in security, development, and climate resilience.(Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
