AllAfrica Angola: President Calls On Rich Nations to Contribute More to Climate Change

Rio De Janeiro — The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, warned on Tuesday in Brazil of greater sensitivity of international partners with recognized financial, technological and scientific robustness, to engage more in the fight against climate change.

The President of the Republic was speaking at the 19th G20 Summit, '3rd Session: Sustainable Development and Transition', which has been taking place since Monday in Rio de Janeiro.

He called on them to make additional grants distinct from official development assistance, without prejudice to assistance to other needs linked to economic growth and progress.

The Angolan Head of the Sate highlighted that 'countries that are in the process of growth and development need adequate, consistent and timely support, through the provision of financial resources and technologies that allow them to face desertification, land degradation, drought and other critical phenomena that affect the successful implementation of adaptation and mitigation programs resulting from climate change'.

In the statesman's view, only by making this effort in a shared way will it be possible to face the serious problem of environmental degradation, which is already leaving, in a very evident way, worrying signs about its devastating effects, such as what recently occurred in the east and south of Spain, on the south and east coast of the USA, in Italy or in Angola in the southern region.

He stated that the concern about the efforts to be made to ensure Sustainable Development should be addressed from a perspective not limited only to the issue of the environment disassociated from other factors such as the sometimes-unaffordable external debt, which, by weakening the capacity of these nations to intervene.

He argued that it should be treated by creditor countries and institutions with a deep sense of solidarity and justice.

The President stressed that, even with these constraints, Angola has not folded its arms and has been taking its climate action program very seriously, in order to contribute effectively to reducing the adverse effects of environmental pollution.

He informed the presidents of the G20 that Angola is making a great effort to rigorously observe, in the development programs that it has been outlining, the most important decisions and recommendations on environmental preservation, although there is a lack of financial resources, technological means and human resources sufficient and adequately prepared to deal with this problem.

The President of the Republic stressed that in Angola and Africa, in general, there is a firm political will to take on a set of fundamental initiatives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals enshrined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The Angolan Head of State participates for the first time in a G20 Summit, specifically on 19.2 Summit of the 19 main economies in the world, to which the European Union and the African Union are associated, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Angola attended the meeting at invitation from Brazil, extended to Portugal, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Spain, Nigeria, Norway and Singapore to participate in the meeting, in addition to the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).

The Brazilian presidency believes that these States have a say in 'Social Inclusion and Combating Hunger and Poverty', 'Energy Transition and Sustainable Development' and 'Reform of Global Governance Institutions', chosen as priority issues. ADR/ART/DOJ.

This article was originally published in ANGOP.