Mozambique: Carlos Mesquita defends sustainable use of natural resources and the Miombo forest
Photo: Lusa
The US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield today got started on her two-day visit to Maputo planting mangroves and joining a beach clean-up in Costa do Sol with other volunteers.
Alongside participants in coastal protection projects supported by the US embassy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that they are “ a priority for the Government of Mozambique, but also for the whole world and for the US”.
The U.S. “is a partner of the country and of these efforts” in favour of the environment and in the face of climate change, she underlined, with a shovel in one hand and holding seedlings of mangrove – a dense shrub that holds the dunes – in the other.
“Sometimes we have to get our hands dirty in the sand for a country to survive. I’m ready, let’s go to work,” she said, walking in the low tide of Costa do Sol.
Mozambique has been identified as one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, a weakness that local authorities have echoed in international forums in order to become more resilient.
For her part, Linda Thomas-Greenfield has today planted five mangrove trees whose progress she promises to “check up on regularly” via the internet.
This afternoon, the U.S. ambassador to the UN will meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Verónica Macamo.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s visit follows the US-Africa summit, which in December brought together around 50 African leaders in Washington and in which the Joe Biden Government reinforced its commitment to expanding and modernizing relations with the African continent.
Strengthening partnerships with current and former members of the UN Security Council, including Mozambique (which has just begun its first term as a non-permanent member) is one of the points on the diplomat’s agenda.
The US has already pledged to support a reform of the body so that it can have a greater number of permanent and non-permanent seats, including for Africa.
In general, almost all UN countries consider it necessary to reform the Security Council, but there is no agreement on how to do it, with different proposals on the table for years.
Veto power has been one of the most controversial issues and the target of several requests for modification, a mechanism that has been used by Russia to prevent the Security Council from acting against it in the face of the war in Ukraine.
On another level, Linda Thomas-Greenfield will focus part of her efforts on addressing regional security issues, strengthening food security and supporting African resilience and recovery in the face of the effects of climate change.
On Friday, she meets first with representatives of United Nations operations in Mozambique, where humanitarian actions are underway, and then with students in international programs.
The diplomat will then travel to Kenya on the last leg of an African tour that started in Ghana on Wednesday.
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