Luanda – The Secretary of State for Climate Action and Sustainable Development, Paula Coelho, on Saturday defended the need for an improved environmental law on the preservation of sea species and the education and awareness of children regarding environment protection.
Speaking on the fringes of the president João Lourenço's visit to the turtle protection project, the official said the follow-up work will focus on turtles, taking into account that there are already plenty of detailed studies on the species.
"Let this be the pilot project or model, but these are some of the immediate actions that we're going to follow up on as the Ministry of the Environment," the Secretary said.
The official added that the Environment ministry has supervised the work carried out by the Kitabanga Project, with the aim to make citizens aware, since that is an endangered species.
Paula Coelho praised the efforts undertaken by partners and called for more sponsorship, especially for the community to help overcome the challenges that lie ahead and aid the country to improve in terms of environment protection.
Angola´s geographical position and the Benguela current brings nesting areas and other species, the Secretary said, stressing that the country has a large data for science study by national, regional and international institutions.
Started in 2003, Kitabanga is a sea turtle study and conservation project implemented by the biology department of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Agostinho Neto University.
The project has the partnership of the Kissama Foundation and the University of Namibe and operates under the umbrella of the Ministry of Environment.
It monitors 150 kilometres of coastline in the provinces of Bengo, Zaire, Benguela, Namibe and Cuanza Sul.
During this period the project has protected 45,000 nests, resulting in the safe spawning of 4.5 million turtles.VC/MRA/AMP
