Africa-Press – Botswana. President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi has pleaded with developed countries to fulfil their financial obligations under the Climate Change Convention so that developing countries could access funds and implement projects that enable sustainable development.
Dr Masisi made the call when giving a country statement during the High-level opening segment of the Sixth Session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) at the United Nations Environment Programme headquarters in Nairobi yesterday.
President Masisi made the clarion call to developed countries to honour their pledges and assist those greatly affected by climate change access the much-needed resources for adaptation.
“Botswana and other southern African countries are experiencing prolonged periods of drought and extreme temperatures that will surely have a negative impact on food security of our countries, therefore action is necessary now,” he said.
Dr Masisi said this in his capacity as chairperson of the Global Water Changemakers, a high-level panel on water investment for Africa that was launched during COP 28 to assist countries to mobilise at least US$30 billion annually for the achievement of water-related Sustainable Development Goal targets on the continent by 2030.
As chairperson of Landlocked Developing Countries (LDCs), President Masisi appealed to delegates to stand in solidarity with their agenda through a reinvigorated global partnership and support for the group.
He said 40 per cent of Botswana’s land area was dedicated to conservation, which underscored government’s dedication to preserving biodiversity.
“Botswana, like many other developing countries, requires significant financial resources to build resilience, mitigate the impact of climate change and transition to a low carbon economy.
In a quest to breach the biodiversity finance gap, one commercial bank in Botswana has launched the first ever sustainable bond in the Botswana Stock Exchange amounting to about US$3.6 million,” he said.
Dr Masisi said the private sector initiative would go a long way in supporting sustainable development and growth.
In welcoming delegates to Nairobi, Kenya President Dr William Ruto said his government had instituted a comprehensive institutional framework to anchor decisive interventions across numerous sectors including energy and pollution, forest conservation and critical landscape restoration.
“The aim is to proactively reverse the impact of climate change and promote resilience of our people and economy.
The understanding that the people are invested in our climate action agenda and that our policies and strategies must make space for their effective participation has inspired the emergence of a bottom-up climate action paradigm in Kenya to complement our bottom-up economic transformation agenda,” said President Ruto.
For her part, UNEA president, Ms Leila Benali said challenges could be solved by all worked together.
She said multilateralism worked and one great example was the negotiations on global treaty to end plastic pollution that are underway.
She appealed to delegates to drive inclusive, multilateral action and focus energies on key and credible solutions.
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