Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Friday said the involvement of communities in the fight against the evils that influence climate change is indispensable.
Giving a lecture at the close of an international conference in the Pungue University in the central city of Chimoio, held on the theme “Science, Technology and Community Development”, Nyusi stressed that global warming, floods and cyclones are among the consequences of climate change.
Communities should take part in monitoring and preventing such disasters, he urged. “We should work with them and educate them to participate in this struggle”, he said.
For example, communities should be persuaded to abandon practices that damage the natural environment, such as uncontrolled bush fires.
“We are not going to punish them for these practices”, Nyusi said, “since we run the risk of punishing the entire country. We must endow them with knowledge about how to fight against these practices”.
Climate change is a reality, Nyusi said, and could endanger the survival of humanity, if measures are not taken in due time.
“This impacts upon biodiversity in the world, and particularly in Mozambique”, he added. “We know that this phenomenon results from human action. It calls for a deep reflection from us, since it is one of the major challenges that affects our lives”.
Since the 19th century, Nyusi continued, humanity’s burning of fossil fuels has been the main cause of these changes, resulting in cyclones, floods and droughts. These in turn cause food insecurity, water shortages, desertification, tropical diseases, and the loss of infrastructures.
“As the human race, biodiversity is fundamental for our survival. It is obligatory that we preserve it”, he warned. “Population increase and demographic changes, poverty, bush fires, deforestation and poaching are evils that contribute to changing the climate”.
Hence nature must be preserved, he stressed, notably by avoiding deforestation.
“We must work with the communities, teach the public, and transfer scientific knowledge to the communities”, Nyusi said. “We must ensure that the people know they must not destroy nature, but should use acceptable practices that do not cause a negative impact on the natural world”.
The president pledged that the Mozambican state will continue to respect the agreements and conventions on the environment that it has signed.
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