Mozambique: Africa must act now to stop climate abuse – Nyusi

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Mozambique: Africa must act now to stop climate abuse – Nyusi

7:44 CAT | 14 Oct 2022

Photo: Twitter / @ONUMocambique

The Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday called all countries from all over the world, particularly from the African continent, to act immediately to halt human man-made disasters which are damaging the environment.

Nyusi states that the African continent has been watching with great concern the floods that have ravaging the Sahel region in western Africa, which is extremely volatile, impacted by several crises, including global warming, ethnic cleansing and the terrorism.

Nyusi was delivering his speech as African Union Champion for Disaster Risk Management in the continent, during the celebrations of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, an event held this Thursday in Maputo.

“Extreme weather events will occur, with increasing frequency, if we do nothing,” Nyusi warned, stressing that “we know what to do at each moment.”

He made reference to the Sendai Framework, where “G” stands for substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030, stressing that extreme weather events need not become disasters.

Nyusi shared initiatives he has been leading in the region and in the country in particular, noting with concern that the impact of climate change is at the same time putting also biodiversity at risk.

“Within the framework of risk and disaster management in defence of humanity, we have been paying special attention to the oceans. As you may have seen, the oceans are regulators of climate and temperature on the planet, but due to the misuse of their resources, such as waters, overfishing and illegal fishing, the results are loss of biodiversity,” he noted.

Such practices, Nyusi added, negatively affect the availability of food, sustainability of economies and the well-being of communities, making already vulnerable communities even more.

“As we have said on other occasions, our home is unique: planet Earth; we do not have another substitute, if planet Earth disappears, we will have no home,” he said, warning that destruction biodiversity is the same as ending the habitat of living and non-living beings.

Mozambique is one of the victims of climate change. The country is still reeling from the impact of Idai, in March 2019, which is believed to be the most severe cyclone to hit the southern hemisphere in the past 20 years. On its wake it left over 600 people dead and destruction or damage of over 240,000 houses.

Also present at the event were members of the Mozambican government, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Josefa Sacko, and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Mami Mizutori.

Hoje, celebramos o Dia Internacional para a Redução do Risco de Desastres em Maputo com a presença do Presidente @FNyusi, @HeadUNDRR, @JosefaSacko e @icdiong.

Este ano, focamos em como os avisos antecipados salvam vidas. #EarlyWarningforAll #DRRDay 🇲🇿🤝🇺🇳 pic.twitter.com/XXD9c1etQ8

— ONU Moçambique (@ONUMocambique) October 13, 2022

Despite recent progress made in #DRR, the danger of leaving hundreds of communities behind is real🚨.
Only 1/2 of 🌏 is covered by #EarlyWarning systems: it’s time to do better ✊

Today, we celebrate #DRRDay with 1 goal: #EarlyWarningForAll!
👉https://t.co/LunG9bEwwi pic.twitter.com/Hmv0sPu05m

— UNDRR (@UNDRR) October 12, 2022