Mozambican PR calls for conversion of African countries' "debt" into climate funds Africa

 Thursday, April 18, 2024    10:37 am

                                                                    President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi Pedro Parente-ANGOP

Maputo - The President of Mozambique, Jacinto Nyusi, appealed on Wednesday, in Washington, to the availability of more developed countries to convert debt from African countries into investments in the climate, as these countries are the ones that pollute the least and face the most consequences.

"Mozambique, like many African countries, has been among those that have contributed least to climate change, but is among those that suffer most from its negative effects, such as longer droughts (...) more intense floods and frequent cyclones that contribute to the increase in food insecurity, water scarcity and the large-scale displacement of people", warned Filipe Nyusi, at the end of the International Conference on the Sustainable and Integrated Management of the Miombo Forest.

At this international conference in the North American capital, the 11 southern African countries that make up the Miombo Forest adopted a Commitment to the defense of that area, which provides for a fund to be based in Mozambique.

The Miombo Forest covers two million square kilometers and guarantees the subsistence of more than 300 million inhabitants, constituting the largest tropical dry forest ecosystem in the world, currently facing, among others, deforestation problems.

The head of state said that within the scope of environmental conservation, Mozambique "has already mapped 64 emission reduction projects" and intends "for the private sector to actively participate in the development of carbon projects in forestry, agriculture and other uses of land, energy, industry and waste management".

It is Mozambique's expectation "that cooperation seeks to raise awareness among different sectors about the fairest modalities that allow the transformation of countries' debt into climate financing, to free up national resources to be invested in environmental conservation programs", pointed out Filipe Nyusi, recalling that if a body has two lungs, the Miombo Forest appears together with the Amazon Forest for the planet.

The Mozambican Government hopes to mobilize, after the Washington conference, investments to protect the Miombo Forest, estimated in the action plan at US$550 million (518 million euros), of which US$154 million has already been guaranteed since 2022.

African and United States politicians and experts debated over the last two days the sustainability of the Miombo Forest at an international conference organized by Mozambique, as part of the implementation of the Maputo Declaration on Miombo, aiming to achieve goals on climate change, biodiversity conservation and integrated sustainable development.

"We hope that this promising Washington DC event has been a privileged space for discussion, in an open and in-depth way, on issues related to the energy transition, management of water and forest resources, payment for biodiversity conservation services and ecosystems and on the concrete solutions that have been identified to guarantee the sustainability of the Biombo forest and the socioeconomic development of our people", he further said.

"We believe that this conference reflects that the Miombo Forest is not only a priority for the countries that signed the Maputo Declaration, but also for all the inhabitants of planet Earth", he concluded.

The conference, also organized by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation (ICCF) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), resulted from the initiative of the Mozambican President, who in August 2022 brought together the leaders of ten other countries in the "Maputo Declaration on the Forest of Miombo", to promote a common approach to the "Sustainable and Integrated Management of Miombo Forests and the Protection of the Great Zambezi Basin", the largest transnational basin in the region.

In Mozambique, forests cover almost half of the country, with a total area of 34.2 million hectares, of which 22.9 million hectares are miombo, the habitat of threatened animal species such as wild dogs, lions, elephants, leopards and giraffes. , among others, and responsible for carbon sequestration or traditional medicine practices.

The Swahili word for 'brachystegia', miombo is a genus of tree that includes a large number of species and a forest formation that makes up the largest tropical forest ecosystem in Africa, being a source of water, food, shelter, timber, electricity generation and tourism .

The growing population and resulting increase in demand for agricultural land, combined with the unsustainable use and over-extraction of natural resources in parts of Miombo forests, and the impacts of climate change, however, constitute a threat. J.M.