Environmentalists say water capture should be a climate fund priority in Cape Verde

Cape Verdean environmental associations have told Lusa that water capture should be a priority of the country’s new climate fund, soon to be created by the government.

“This fund should be used to mobilize water resources and protect the environment and biodiversity,” said Januario Nascimento, president of the Association for the Defense of the Environment and Development (ADAD).

“We are a dry country,” explained Nemias Gonçalves, director of environment and climate change for the environmental association Quercus Cabo Verde.

Commitment to investments that will enable Cape Verde to conserve water resources is a common denominator in both organizations’ list of priorities.

The archipelago has only a short rainy season, from August to October each year, with an average rainfall of 230 millimeters per year, which is very irregular, with some islands experiencing consecutive years without rain.

Besides collecting water, the sea acts as a natural backdrop for the rest of the list.

Quercus Cabo Verde has warned of the need to recycle plastic to prevent coastal and marine pollution as part of a sustainable development program that should prioritize the transition to renewable energy sources.

Stressing that environmental issues affect the entire society, Nemias Gonsalves said the country should also invest in awareness campaigns on beach conservation, control and management of natural resources and construction in appropriate places – combating what is breeding in disorder on several islands .

“Instill in people’s heads [que há] suitable sites for construction,” he said, is important because Cape Verde “is a country vulnerable” to extreme events, with mountainous terrain, high slopes and the site of sudden and potentially devastating floods.

“We are building in risky places, and this further increases the vulnerability of the population and the country,” the environmentalist warned.

The Cape Verdean government hopes to soon set up a new climate and environment fund so its capitalization can begin in March with an initial forgiveness of €12 million of Portugal’s debt.

The amount corresponds to the amount that will be transferred by the State of Cape Verde as reimbursement of capital costs in accordance with the Debt Consolidation Contract between Cape Verde and Portugal, signed on February 1, 2022.

“We understand that negotiations on public debt are very important,” stressed the ADAD president, who has been following the proposal to convert Cape Verdean public debt into climate finance from the very beginning.

In turn, the director of environment and climate change at Quercus Cabo Verde considered that the announced capitalization “is already a good start” and hopes that other countries will follow the example of Portugal.

“I think that Cape Verde will take a very important step in preserving the environment and in the fight against climate change,” stressed the representative of the association, which has not yet formally heard its opinion on the fund, but has the expectation that this will happen.

Both ADAD and Quercus Cabo Verde understand that the Climate and Environment Fund is coming to the country “at the right time”, when there is a lot of talk about climate change and less than two months after the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP28). .

The environmental associations consulted by Lusa also hope that the diploma will be approved “as quickly as possible” by the government and then the National Assembly and will be widely publicized in all areas of civil society.