Mozambique calls for an African Union climate action program – Watch

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Mozambique calls for an African Union climate action program – Watch

2:59 CAT | 10 Mar 2021

Photo: TVM

Mozambique has called for the creation of an African Union action program to tackle climate change, in the light of the Paris agreement, the United Nations Framework Convention on the phenomenon.

The suggestion was advanced on Tuesday by President Filipe Nyusi, addressing a virtual meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union from Maputo.

For the head of state, there is sufficient evidence that climate change, whose effects have a stronger impact on poorer nations, including many African countries, is a reflection of the unbridled exploitation of natural resources.

Filipe Nyusi recalled that Mozambique will soon be home to a regional humanitarian assistance centre for victims of the effects of climate change in the Southern African Development Community region (SADC).

President Nyusi, who currently also serves as the acting chairperson of the SADC, said that, despite the understanding that the best approach to climate change is prevention, the centre would help the region mitigate the suffering of people who were frequently forced to move about by phenomena such as floods, droughts, and others.

The centre will be located in Nacala, Nampula province, a strategic choice given its deep water port, international airport and rail corridor.

The president of the AU Peace and Security Council, Kenyan statesman Uhuru Kenyatta, in March urged more vigorous continental action against climate change, even proposing African solutions to local problems.

Kenyatta made it clear that changes in climate, sometimes manifested by irregular rainfall, droughts and increasing numbers of cyclones, among other anomalies, require sustainable management of natural resources, themselves the source of many conflicts and humanitarian disasters on the continent.

He called on countries on the continent to take steps to mitigate climate change as a means of restoring the peace and security conducive to Africa’s economic development.

For his part, the chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, said that climate change was the main threat to development, with drought and pests destroying agricultural crops and affecting livestock.

Mahamat also noted that climate anomalies generated conflict between shepherds and farmers, encouraging terrorism. He advocated the sharing of experiences among member states as a way of reducing impacts and agreeing a common continental position for the annual United Nations summit on climate change.