Africa-Press – Angola. The Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, defended Friday, in Lubango, Huíla province, the strengthening of community cooperation, for the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda on the Sustainable Development Goals and 2063 of the African Union .
Speaking at the IX Meeting of Ministers of the Environment of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), Esperança da Costa called for the strengthening of inclusive partnerships with the private sector, as well as the participation of youth and women to achieve environmental sustainability.
He said that Covid-19 and other externalities led Angola to consider the unpredictability and emergencies that create obstacles to development, so it bet on making efforts for stability and based on good governance to grow, focusing on improving the quality of population’s life.
This, he stressed, involves increasing production, diversifying the economy, with priority given to the primary sector of agriculture and fisheries, manufacturing industry, as primary sources of employment, nutrition and inclusion.
“Angola has increasingly prioritized environmental issues, both nationally and internationally and, in this sense, approved the National Strategy for climate change, which establishes a vision of reducing emissions by 2030, which is being implemented with energy diversification, with the aim of ensuring the adaptation of the national territory and contributing to the global effort to combat its causes”, he stressed.
According to the Vice-President of the Republic, the rational management of resources and preservation of biodiversity is also a priority, as well as the commitment to expand areas of environmental conservation, the increase of national natural parks, with emphasis on the Maiombe forest.
It is, he said, a cross-border protection initiative to boost the action plans that are part of the efforts of the African initiative to preserve the Congo basin, to achieve the goals of the global agenda for post-2020 biodiversity.
He recalled that Angola has 1,650 kilometers of coastline, recognizing the strategic importance of the seas and oceans for humanity, as a source of life, hence the climate crisis, ocean pollution, plastic production, loss of habitats, the decline of biodiversity are issues that must continue to be considered priorities for the CPLP.
He also referred to the commitments assumed at the V Meeting of Ministers of Maritime Affairs held in May 2022 in Luanda, during which Angola assumed the presidency, having reviewed and approved the CPLP strategy for the oceans, as well as the plan of action 2022/2024.
“Angola has global challenges on its agenda and participates in emergencies, but it also pays attention and concern to conflict management, the commitment to lasting peace”, he underlined.
“As a champion of the African Union for peace and reconciliation in Africa, President João Lourenço considers that the risks and threats associated with climate change can exacerbate social crises and generate conflicts, which is why he has been strongly committed to dialogue and concertation”, he underlined. .
He said he hoped that the IX ordinary meeting of CPLP Ministers of the Environment, in light of the growing call to action to halt the global environmental crisis, would address the nexus of forests, energy, livelihoods and assume pragmatic commitments to strengthen scientific and technique and coordinate actions that allow the preservation of biodiversity, the reduction of carbon emissions through the commitment to alternative energy sources that are the guarantee of the survival of our planet.
From the agenda of the meeting, under the motto “Environmental Emergency in the Current Context of Multiple Crises”, the presentation of the proposal called “Climate Heritage of Humanity”, a consultation process for eventual legal recognition at the UN, stands out.
The event will also discuss the issue of “Stable Climate” as a global common good and interventions by Member State on “Environmental Emergency: Challenges and Opportunities”, among other points.
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