Esperança Costa, who opened the IX Meeting of Ministers of Environment of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), referred that Angola has increasingly prioritized national and international environmental issues, as well as the rational management of resources and preservation of biodiversity.
The official stressed that Angola, in order to contribute to global efforts, approved the National Strategy for Climate Change, which establishes a vision of reducing emissions by 2030, which is being implemented with energy diversification, with the aim of ensure the adaptation of the national territory and contribute to the world effort to combat its causes.
According to Esperança Costa, the rational management of resources and the preservation of biodiversity is also a priority, and with the commitment to expanding the areas of environmental conservation, the national natural parks were increased.
The minister mentioned the Maiombe Forest, a cross-border protection initiative for which Angola continues to make efforts to streamline action plans that are part of the efforts of the African Climate Initiative for the Preservation of the Congo Basin, to achieve the Goals of the Global Agenda for Post-2020 Biodiversity.
“Angola has about 1650 kilometers of marine coastline in the Atlantic Ocean region and recognizing the strategic importance of the seas and oceans for Humanity, as a source of life, ecosystem support, climate regulator, source of employment, water reserve and pillar fundamental for the sustainability of our civilization, Angola approved in 2022 the National Strategy for the Sea, whose vision includes an inclusive, sustainable, competitive development, based on scientific knowledge, on the qualification of human resources and on support infrastructures, enhancing the blue economy ”, stressed the vice president.
Among the priorities that should continue to deserve the attention of CPLP Member States, Esperança Costa pointed out the climate crisis, ocean pollution, plastic pollution, loss of habitats and the decline of biodiversity.
“Allow me to recall that the Member States of the CPLP have the first and second largest tropical forests in the world, with the forests of the Amazon, in Brazil, and the Floresta do Maiombe, in Angola, rich in fauna and flora resources, rich ecosystems essential for sustaining life.
“And in common, in addition to language and a strong cultural base, history, they have a maritime identity that between coastal States and island States, under their respective jurisdictions, together make up more than 7.5 million square kilometers, a high extension of the great carbon sink, but also an important platform to foster political and diplomatic concertation, for cooperation for a sustainable governance of this potential in the CPLP countries”, he added.
The vice-president hopes that at the meeting, the CPLP Ministers of the Environment, in light of the growing call to action to stop the global environmental crisis, will address the nexus of forests, energy and livelihoods and assume pragmatic commitments to strengthen cooperation science and technology, as well as coordinating actions that allow for the preservation of biodiversity, the reduction of carbon emissions, by investing in alternative energy sources, which guarantee the survival of the planet.
In her speech, the Minister of the Environment, Ana Paula de Carvalho, stressed that Angola is part of several international commitments linked to environmental sustainability, having in response to the assumed commitments approved several working instruments, among which the National Strategy for Environmental Education, the National Strategy for Climate Change and the Program to Combat the Effects of Drought in Southern Angola.
“Angola reaffirms the importance of legal recognition by the United Nations of the Stable Climate, as 'Common Heritage of Humanity' and we call for concerted action by the CPLP in promoting this debate on an international scale”, said the minister.
