The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willie Aucamp, has called on African leaders to mainstream climate change adaptation and resilience across their planning and budgets.
“Droughts, floods, cyclones, sea level rise, and heat extremes already cost lives and livelihoods every year. Let us partner to build robust investment pipelines that convert plans into projects, and projects into resilience on the ground,” the Minister said on Thursday.
Addressing the Ministerial Breakfast Meeting of the African Ministers of Environment taking place on the margins of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) sessions in Nairobi, Kenya, Aucamp emphasised that Africa is at the frontline of the triple planetary crisis - climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
“We should therefore come with clear priorities and practical solutions, anchored in solidarity, equality, and sustainability - values that have resonated throughout recent African and Group Twenty (G20) deliberations, and which must now translate into measurable action.
“Our development pathway depends on a just energy transition that expands access while cutting emissions. Over 600 million Africans still lack electricity, and nearly a billion rely on biomass for cooking. Energy poverty is a climate and health emergency,” the Minister said.
He said Africa is ready to scale solar and wind, mini grids, clean cooking, and regional power pools, if the financing terms are fair and if projects are built with communities.
“We must confront pollution and waste with a circular economy lens, as envisaged in the African Union Continental Circular Economy.
“The time for talking is long past, the time for action is now. Africa stands ready to lead with solutions that protect people and planet, strengthen economies, and deepen regional integration.
“Let us match ambition with delivery, and turn commitments into credible, financed, and implementable programmes that transform lives across our continent,” Aucamp said. -SAnews.gov.za
