Angola asks COP28 to keep promises to developing countries

Angolan President João Lourenço called on this Saturday in Dubai the financial commitments promised in the past to developing countries to adapt their economies to climate change.

“We believe it is important that this COP28 defines [28.ª conferência das Nações Unidas sobre alterações climáticas] a road map outlining the steps that need to be taken to deliver on the commitments made at the Glasgow COP [em 2021]which set a goal of doubling adaptation financing by 2025,” João Lourenço said this Saturday in a speech in the United Arab Emirates, where the meeting is taking place.

“Climate finance beyond 2025” must take into account “a whole set of factors that do not weaken or weaken the economies of developing countries that are unable to abandon natural resources, sources of currency, from one moment to the next.” namely oil,” said the head of state of one of the largest hydrocarbon producers in the world.

João Lourenço stressed “the need to fulfill repeated promises of financial contributions and access to financing on favorable terms for least industrialized and least developed countries, with a focus on small island states,” which are also the most at risk.

The Angolan leader therefore hopes that “the growing sensitivity of people and countries around the world to climate-related issues” could this time lead to the goals being “addressed with greater commitment and greater determination.”

However, even without adequate funding channels, “the issue of climate change is part of the central priorities of all the programs and strategies for sustainable development that we outline in the Republic of Angola,” the minister said, recalling the National Climate Change Strategy until 2022. /2035.

“We emphasize our commitment to renewable energy, which represents one of the main pillars of climate change adaptation” and “we are committed to changing the national energy matrix, prioritizing clean energy generation sources through the construction of hydroelectric power plants and photovoltaic parks,” the area, on which accounts for more than 65% of the energy produced in the country.

“As part of the ongoing program to expand the national energy transmission network from the main generation sources located in the Baisho-Kwanza Basin to the eastern and southern provinces of the country, our goal for the next four years is to phase out the use of thermal power plants that still control some parts of the national territory,” explained João Lourenço.

On the other hand, the country is “constructing new and expanding old hydroelectric dams, which have provided the country with a significant increase in its energy production capacity and created a surplus that can meet the needs of SADC countries.” [Comunidades dos Países da África Austral, na sigla inglesa]especially with the completion of the Caculo-Cabasa hydroelectric power station and the commencement of work on the binational Baines hydroelectric dam project on the Cunene River”, which connects Angola and Namibia.

“Angola has been the victim of a severe drought in the south of the country, with devastating consequences for human and animal life,” especially in the south of the country.

“Due to the consequences of climate change, Angola had to look for urgent endogenous solutions to save the entire population from the effects of drought,” he said, highlighting the construction of a 165-kilometer canal and several reservoirs in the Cafu region, in the province of Cunene, an infrastructure that solved the problem and helped create conditions for the development of family farming, he gave an example.