Angola defends strengthened fight against climate change

 Lunda – Angola’s Vice-President, Esperança da Costa, defended in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, a strengthened international cooperation for the success of the strategies to combat climate change.

The Angolan official, who was speaking on Monday at the World Climate Summit COP27 taking place since Sunday, stressed that a strengthened international cooperation should play a central role in sharing knowledge, technology transfer and financial resources from industrialized countries to less developed nations.

 

The same cooperation, the Angolan Vice-President said, should put Africa on the top, since it is one of the continents that pollutes less but suffers the most from climate change.

 

Esperança da Costa mentioned the fact that at the Extraordinary Humanitarian Summit and the African Union (AU) Donors' Conference, at least 100 million US dollars were pledged to tackle problems related to climate change and the humanitarian crisis in Africa, although there has been an almost timid attitude regarding its materialization.

 

The Angolan politician added that in relation to the African continent, there is  the urgent need for the creation of an early warning system and the operationalization of the African Humanitarian Agency to make it possible to identify  multiple dangers related to climate change.

The intention, the Angolan Vice-President clarified, is to collect and share data to respond to the different problems related to climate change, including forced displacement.

 

According to Esperança da Costa, the link between climate change and global peace and security challenges, especially in Africa, is increasingly evident.

 

Esperança da Costa  pointed out that the rising temperature of the planet's oceans, prolonged droughts, coupled with some other extreme phenomena are affecting the lives and livelihoods of communities around the world, worsening economic, social, or political conditions, leaving populations vulnerable and very prone to conflict and instability.

 

In this sense, as champion of the African Union for Peace and Reconciliation in Africa, President João Lourenço believes that the risks and threats associated with climate change require a more comprehensive international approach, which also includes a review and adaptation of continental peace and security mechanisms to make their instruments of intervention more efficient.

 

Angola recognizes that climate change has negatively impacted the achievement of different development plans, the politician said, stressing a national strategy has been  approved for this purpose.

 

The strategy, she said, establishes a vision until 2030, with the aim to  ensure  the adaptation of Angolan territory and contribute to the global effort to combat its causes.