Garowe (PP Comment) — The Puntland Environment and Climate Change Ministry, under the re-elected administration of President Said Abdullahi Deni, has bigger plans given the enthusiasm and commitment shown by Mohamed Abdirahman Farole, the Minister. Planting more trees and combatting plastic bag misuse and cutting trees remain commendable plans of action.
What the Minister seems to have overlooked is the illegal exportation of exotic trees such as geed quwaax including dheddin (known by its botanical name as Commiphora Myrrha) and associated plants. Those plants have drawn the attention of pharmaceutical companies due to their medicinal properties.
In 2022 the Office of Puntland Attorney General wrote to the former Speaker of Puntland Parliament Abdirashid Yusuf about investigating several MPs who were accused of being involved in the illicit exportation of geed quwaax. The Speaker invoked parliamentary immunity for MPs and quashed the investigation.
Climate change is the other challenge that the Ministry aims to tackle. The Ministry does not have the resources to draw up and implement climate change plans. The federal Ministry of Environment and Climate Change manages Green Climate Fund (GCF) investments, allocates funds for five projects, but it does not disclose beneficiaries or locations. Puntland Post investigation found that “ the National Adaptation Programme of Action in Climate Change, written in 2013 with an introductory message by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, contains political favouritism and ethnic discrimination.”
Puntland Ministry of Environment and Climate Change should prioritise rebuilding ties with the federal Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to discuss funding for climate change projects in Puntland State of Somalia and to make the National Adaptation Programme of Action in Climate Change more inclusive.
© Puntland Post, 2024