Maputo, Mozambique:
Following squandered opportunities at the
Rio+20 talks in Brazil, Mozambique has created
a national roadmap towards a Green Economy.
Within two months of
a regional conference on Green Economy organized
by Mozambique’s Ministry for the Coordination
of Environmental Action (MICOA) and WWF
in Maputo in April this year, the roadmap
was approved by Mozambique’s Council of
Ministers and rapidly found its way to Rio
de Janeiro, the stage for the International
Conference on Sustainable Development.
During a side event
organized by MICOA, with the cooperation
of WWF and the African Development Bank,
Mozambique joined the likes of South Africa,
Cambodia, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Guiana,
Vietnam and South Korea in launching concrete
initiatives moving towards a Green Economy.
The Green Economy Roadmap
outlines how the country will move towards
economic development and poverty eradication
through laying down an institutional, policy
and legal framework that will create an
environment where sustainable development
thrives.
Speaking during the
launch of the roadmap, the President of
the Republic of Mozambique, Armando Emílio
Guebuza emphasised the importance of Green
Economy as one of many approaches designed
to extinguish the scourge of poverty.
“In Mozambique, the
Green Economy model forms part of the body
of approaches designed to make poverty history.
This is the future that we, Mozambicans,
want. This is also the future that the rest
of Humanity dreams about,” he said.
President Guebuza added
that working together in the future will
be essential in saving the earth and its
biodiversity.
“The conditions that
allow all of us the right to development
and to provide for the sustainable use of
our resources must be strengthened and protected,
at all cost. Working together, as the international
community, to save the earth and its biodiversity
is imperative. It is an ethical duty, a
moral obligation.”
Donald Kabaruka, President
of the African Development Bank committed
his institution’s support to Mozambique
as they embark on this important initiative.
The Director General of WWF, Jim Leape,
lauded Mozambique achievement following
a disappointing outcome at the Rio+20 talks.
“It is heartening to
see that some countries are taking responsibility
in their own hands, by preparing bold plans
and implementing measures to better manage
the natural capital that is in their hands,
reduce their dependency on non-renewable
resources and by making the choices that
protect the lives and wellbeing of their
population,” said Mr. Leape
The Green Economy plan
for Mozambique is the result of months of
intense work by the Ministry for the Coordination
of Environmental Action (MICOA), with the
Ministry of Planning and Development, WWF
and other partner organizations. The approval
and launch of the roadmap is an important
milestone in a planning process that aims
to make socio-economic development in Mozambique
more sustainable and more resilient to climate
change by protecting, restoring and rationally
using natural capital and its ecosystem
services to guarantee inclusive and efficient
sustainable development for the benefit
of present and future generations of Mozambicans.
Mozambique’s population
is highly dependent on the availability
of basic natural resources such as land,
water, forests and fish. The high dependency
on such resources and the unsustainable
rate and methods of their use and extraction
is destroying the very basis of their existence.
The pressures are rapidly rising as the
population is expected to double by 2030,
putting even more of a strain on the already
stressed natural resource base in the region.
Mozambique’s roadmap
to a Green Economy will be implemented over
a period of 18 years through to 2030. Key
provisions of the Green Economy plan include
a thorough evaluation of the opportunities
provided by its rich national natural capital
base, including mapping and quantification
of ecosystems, an assessment of current
and future risks and an assessment of the
role of ecosystems in the local economy
and the wellbeing of the population.
By John Kabubu
