More than 500 MPs from across Africa are on Wednesday convening at Parliament Buildings to discuss legislative interventions to mitigate effects of climate change.
The Africa Climate Change Parliamentary Dialogue shall take place at the National Assembly chambers.
The meeting is part of the inaugural Africa Climate Summit that comes to an end today.
The conference started on Monday.
Several heads of state and government and key dignitaries were among those who attended the high-level conference staged at the Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi.
Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Sierra Leone's Julius Maada Bio, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, Ghana's Nana Okufu Addo, and Sarhawi President Brahim Ghali are among the heads of states who attending the conference.
Others are President Salva Kiir (South Sudan), Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia), Suluhu Samia (Tanzania), Macky Sall (Senegal) and Mohamed Al-Menfi (Libya).
National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula and his Senate counterpart Amason Kingi confirmed the meeting in a joint statement released on Tuesday.
“The role of Parliaments in Climate Change agenda cannot be overstated and we therefore consider it expedient to convene a Dialogue for Parliamentarians on the side lines of the Summit,’ the Speakers' statement reads in part.
In their communication to the parliamentarians, the two speakers noted the importance of parliaments in forging consensus on the modalities of unlocking Africa's vast potential to positively impact the climate agenda.
Wetang'ula and Kingi said parliamentarians have the potential to rally the world to tap the numerous opportunities that the Continent presents towards global net-zero ambition.
They explained that the role of the dialogue session is to convene leading African parliamentarians responsible for climate action in their respective parliaments to deliberate on the role of parliaments in achieving the outcome of the summit.
“The dialogue will deliberate on areas for capacity-building of parliamentarians in providing effective oversight for implementation of the climate actions,” they said.
The speakers noted that the dialogue will culminate in the adoption of parliamentarians' statement at the African Climate Summit.
Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’, who’s the chairman and convener of the parliamentary caucus on climate change action in the Senate, shall be among the key speakers at the event.
The meeting shall discuss among others the role of Parliamentarians in climate action and culminate in adoption of the final text of the parliamentarians statement at the Africa Climate Summit and statements from African Members of Parliament.
Global renewables congress chairman and former MP of the German Bundestag Bärbel Höhn and Dr.Kandeh Yumkella, MP and chair of the Presidential Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security, Sierra Leone, will deliver keynote addresses.