Hargeysa(Mogadishu24)-Somaliland’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change convened a meeting on Monday to discuss the impacts of climate change and how to overcome them in the capital Hargeysa.

The second annual climate change conference, themed ‘Towards Nature-Based Resilience, Adaptation, and Mitigation,’ was opened by Somaliland’s Deputy President Abdirahman Saylaci.

The two-days conference aimed to address the main effects of climate change on fisheries, agriculture, livestock, and human lives, and propose solutions to these challenges.

The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Mr. Mohamed Abdullahi Duale, stated that Somaliland is committed to attracting climate financing from international partners despite not being recognized as an independent state.

“The primary aim of this conference is to discuss Somaliland’s role in combating climate change, which is a real problem we have experienced in recent days, including the floods that have submerged our towns in the past few days,” said Mr. Duale.

He added, “We will also discuss how to attract international climate financing independently, although we have not yet gained international recognition.”

“We will address the challenges caused by climate change and the required joint efforts from the people of Somaliland, including youth and women.”

The Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Ms. Shukri Ismail, emphasized the urgent need for collaboration between government ministries to develop a working environmental plan.

“We need to review and evaluate every ministry’s operations and see if it is working on issues to promote climate change and the role it promotes to reduce its effects. We need to develop working environmental policies in our ministries and implement them,” said Ms. Shukri, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

Somaliland, like any other part of Somalia, has experienced severe droughts for the past three years, impacting the lives of the people and killing thousands of livestock.

Since October, there have been torrential rains that caused riverine floods, killing over 50 people and affecting more than 1.7 million, including over 600,000 displacements.