Madagascar minister seeks ‘real engagement’ from biggest polluters

A minister from Madagascar – the Indian Ocean island deemed the first country suffering from climate change-induced famine – says “more positive engagement” is needed on the final day of COP26 to avoid a global climate catastrophe.

Dr Baomiavotse Vahinala Raharinirina, Madagascar’s environment minister, told the Today programme countries such as hers are still waiting for a “more optimistic commitment” and “real engagement” from the world’s biggest polluters.

Tens of thousands of people in Madagascar are already suffering catastrophic levels of hunger and food insecurity after a four-year drought that has devastated isolated farming communities in the south of the country, leaving families to scavenge for insects to survive.

Although the government is building a pipeline to divert water to regions in dire need of it, Dr Raharinirina says finance from richer countries is urgently needed to help with infrastructure and new forms of “resilient agriculture” which can adapt to higher temperatures and less water.

“We are not the only one, Kenya is also living the same thing,” she adds. Projections for the next decade are “very negative”, she says, with large-scale climate migration already under way.

Quote Message: I want to remind people that Madagascar is 5% of the global biodiversity so there is a real danger here. The forests of Madagascar have to mitigate against the global issues of climate change.” from Dr Baomiavotse Vahinala Raharinirina Madagascar environment minister

I want to remind people that Madagascar is 5% of the global biodiversity so there is a real danger here. The forests of Madagascar have to mitigate against the global issues of climate change.”

Dr Baomiavotse Vahinala RaharinirinaMadagascar environment minister

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