Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As part of the implementation plan over the next couple of years, priority is being given to public awareness and to stakeholder engagement. We accept that that is fundamental to this. My role as Minister is overseeing coherent implementation across Government and Departments. I have specific responsibility for energy, sustainable consumption and climate action. It is not just about providing leadership here at home. When I was in New York, I had the opportunity to show international leadership. Ireland is now taking a lead role in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, with the Great Green Wall initiative, to look, across the Sahel region and north Africa, at building a physical barrier to the progression of the Sahara Desert, which has a direct impact on sustaining those communities along the Sahara Desert; to address some of the issues and challenges relating to migration; to provide viable futures for those communities; and, working at international level, to promote and develop that not just as a concept but with practical action on the ground.

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