Luanda - The Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Arlete Chimbinda, said on Wednesday in Luanda that the African continent must act quickly to prevent and guarantee a reduction in the effects of climate change, such as disasters and multiple environmental crises.
Speaking on behalf of the President of the National Assembly at the 2nd annual dialogue of the parliamentary group of the forum on climate vulnerability, Arlete Chimbinda said that climate change could cause social instability and crises that would be difficult for African countries to recover from economically, as well as generating an increase in armed conflicts due to disputes over safer territories with economic potential.
In addition to the military conflicts that the continent is experiencing, she said, climate change has caused drastic transformations in the places where a large part of the population lives, affected by problems in terms of health, food security, poverty and forced immigration.
According to Arlete Chimbinda, this critical situation calls for a change in attitude, creating a strategic development model focused on increasing African capacities to deal with the problems arising from the continent's climate vulnerability.
"We need to invest more in weather observation and forecasting technologies, disaster risk prevention with early warning, as well as environmental mitigation and climate adaptation projects in devastated areas," she said.
In order to realise these investments, she pointed out, it is necessary to openly debate the aspects of climate finance, a component marked by the failure of the financial support commitments made under the Paris Agreement to compensate the African continent.
In her view, these commitments have so far not been fully realised due to the limitations of African countries in accessing fair financing within the framework of existing financial mechanisms such as the Green Climate Fund and the Global Environment Facility.
"Many countries are looking for their own solutions, many of which involve debt that in some way jeopardises their economic growth. This is why African countries are lagging significantly behind in terms of green development," she said.
According to Arlete Chimbinda, the vulnerability of the climate puts pressure on the lives of populations and negatively affects the economies of states, without forgetting that the African continent is also facing the challenge of combating a significant reduction in its Gross Domestic Product due to the effects of climate change.
She also added that as parliamentarians we have the role of promoting global political debate and advocating to the international community for financial and technical assistance to strengthen our countries' capacities.
"Together we must think about creating our own mechanisms, that is, sustainable African systems for financing programmes, projects and a value chain that guarantee Africa's transition to sustainable development and a green and blue economy, alternatives for sustainable development, a source of income for the most disadvantaged populations and particularly young people," she stressed.
According to the MP, the economic cost of climate vulnerability in Africa is already very high, which is why the African Development Fund's climate action window should be strengthened to promote environmental sustainability projects in the adaptation, mitigation and technical assistance components.
"The Paris Agreement remains the main global commitment for the climate, but we must transform its objectives into a set of more practical actions capable of mobilising the entire world community, especially the developed countries, which by the way are the most polluting. We must also promote legislative initiatives at our level to ensure that the objectives of the Paris Agreement are achieved, as well as monitor the actions of governments with regard to the implementation of environmental sustainability and climate adaptation programmes and projects," she said.
She said that parliamentarians have greater democratic legitimacy, so they can take action to demand tools and methods from international organisations and governments to protect the affected communities, which are growing more and more.
Arlete Chimbinda emphasised that diplomatic action should also be taken to promote and encourage the world's citizens to change the way they live and work together to combat climate change, believing in the success of collective efforts against global warming and resorting to alternative ways of mitigating the problems caused by the energy crisis and the nutritional food crisis.
In her view, the fast changes in climate systems also require rapid responses, otherwise the entire historical, cultural and environmental heritage that makes the African continent the cradle of humanity and the world's biodiversity will be lost.
She welcomed the holding of this second annual dialogue and the efforts of the global parliamentary group of the forum on climate vulnerability to strengthen the platform for cooperation between states to find collective solutions, expressing the hope that it will develop a series of valuable debates for more active and productive climate action for the well-being of communities.
The Angolan parliamentarians, she said, encourage the regular functioning of the forum to allow for greater monitoring of legislative initiatives, exchanges and cooperation actions to strengthen states in the fight against climate change, initiating programmes to educate communities, families and schools.
The event, organised by the forum's global parliamentary group on climate vulnerability, took place on the sidelines of the IPU's 147th Annual General Assembly. VM/DAN/DOJ
