Africa-Press – Angola. The city of Menongue, in the province of Cuando Cubango, has been hosting, since Wednesday (26), a southern regional conference, under the motto “Natural resources, a blessing for all”, promoted by the Tchota-Angola platform, in partnership with the Forum of Women Journalists for Gender Equality (FMJIG).
The event, which has the participation of representatives from the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Huíla, Huambo, Lunda-Sul and Cuando Cubango, has as its main objective to analyze the management and benefits of the exploitation of natural resources, in the southern region of Angola. .
During three days, participants will address issues related to the State’s vision on the exploitation and management of natural resources, the impact of the exploitation of natural resources, legal protection of the rights and duties of communities in extractive industry zones, local communities and access to natural resources, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of exploiting natural resources.
The president of the Tchota-Angola platform, Reverend Daniel Ntony-a-Nzinga, said that his organization is concerned about the situation of exploitation of natural resources in the country, because the population living in those communities is not feeling the benefits.
According to the Rev. Daniel Ntony-a-Nzinga, when natural resources are not serving or benefiting the population living in the exploitation sites, they constitute a great danger. He added that people living in areas of exploitation of natural resources should be the first beneficiaries.
He regretted the fact that many citizens residing in areas of exploitation of natural resources do not have knowledge of what is happening, nor the right to make a decision or benefit from the revenues collected.
“It is necessary for everyone to participate with ideas and benefit from the exploited resources”, he defended. He underlined that those who are in Cuando Cubango should be the first beneficiary of the timber exploited in the province and not those residing in other regions.
He said that in a country with so many forest resources, the furniture used in most institutions and residences is not allowed to come from other countries, with wood coming from Angola, acquired at a reasonable price, while the furniture is sold at an exorbitant price.
Rational use of wood
Daniel Ntony-a-Nzinga said that it is imperative that the country develop techniques and technologies for better exploitation and use of natural resources, with emphasis on wood that is exported in large quantities to Europe and Asia.
“Unfortunately, until today, there is a great shortage of technicians to transform the wood exploited in several provinces of the country into furniture”, he lamented, adding that it is for this fact that the Tchota-Angola platform is concerned and will discuss this matter in the municipalities and communes.
He made it known that Tchota-Angola represents all national organizations that work, strive and want to contribute to the better use of the country’s natural resources.
Reverend Daniel Ntony-a-Nzinga stressed that the exploitation of natural resources must be for the good of all and not just for the benefit of a few.
Daniel Ntony-a-Nzinga also said that the population should actively participate in advocacy in favor of good management practices and fair distribution of income from the exploitation of natural resources.
For the director of the Provincial Office for Integrated Economic Development, Afonso Ndala, exploited natural resources should create wealth to reduce the unemployment rate and alleviate hunger and poverty.
He stressed that businessmen should pay greater attention to the communities where they exploit natural resources, especially with regard to social responsibility, because the Government alone cannot solve all the problems that afflict the population.
According to Afonso Ndala, we should focus on the sustainable exploitation of natural resources, taking into account the phenomena that the world is experiencing, especially global warming, drought, floods, earthquakes, among others that threaten the extinction of living beings.
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