Maputo, Mozambique – H.E. Minister of Land and Environment of Mozambique, Ms. Ivete Maibaze, called for the inclusion of communities in a collective "environmental responsibility" to boost the fight against natural disasters and deliver results. Mozambique is implementing the Local Climate Adaptive Living facility with support from the European Union, Sweden and Switzerland. "We are all called upon, as a society, to participate in the implementation of actions that ensure greater environmental responsibility, seeking to contribute so that communities, in an inclusive way, participate in the process, thus reducing the negative impacts of this phenomenon," said H.E. Minister Maibaze.

Photos above: H.E. Minister of Land and Environment, Ivete Maibaze, addressing high level delegates during the 1st National Conference on Climate Change ©Government of Mozambique Photos Paulo Alexandre June 2021

The minister was speaking at the opening of the 1st National Conference on Climate Change on 9 June, an event at which the Mozambican government and partners analyzed the impacts of climate change, planned ongoing actions and shared good practices in the implementation of local adaptation plans. Mozambique is a LoCAL Phase II country with 62 projects implemented in 17 districts by end of 2020, with expansion and funds secured for more in 2021.
The country, she continued, must strive to reduce the negative impacts of natural disasters, through actions that include sustainable economic growth based on the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.

High level delegates attend Mozambique's 1st National Conference on Climate Change, ©Government of Mozambique Photos Paulo Alexandre June 2021

The impact of climate change on people is complex and can culminate in the displacement of entire families, livelihoods destruction and negatively affect economic growth, thus compromising development, said H.E. Minister Maibaze, who is also a LoCAL Ambassador and advocate of the LoCAL facility.
H.E. Minister Maibaze noted that extreme weather events exacerbate gender inequalities. In the case of Mozambique, she continued, natural disasters are a brake and threat to the gains that the country has achieved in recent years in social and economic development.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Mozambique, Myrta Kaulard, stressed in her speech at the opening of the event the importance of sustainable management of natural resources, adequate governance and equitable benefits sharing. For the UN Resident Coordinator, if these three components are carried out, they could exponentially expand the real and potential social and economic benefits generated by natural resources and the government's capacity to achieve the main development goals, such as food security.

Ms Kaulard congratulated H.E. the Minister for her role as one of seven Ministerial LoCAL Ambassadors and for being the voice of Least Developed Countries on global platforms with a focus on climate and environment.
The United Nations welcomes local climate adaptation plans and participatory planning processes as examples of how institutions can listen to the voices and needs of communities to promote adaptation to climate change," said Ms Kaulard, adding: “By making peace with nature and putting communities and their voices at the center of this process, we can restore ecosystems and drive a transformation that will contribute to lasting prosperity and peace.

The Ambassador of the European Union Delegation in Maputo, Antonio Sánchez-Benedito Gaspar, highlighted how crises and emergencies do not happen in an orderly sequence, how they overlap and how we need to respond to them in parallel.
The European Union and its Member States are ready to move forward together and share their experiences to help accelerate global climate action, said Mr Sánchez-Benedito Gaspar.
In Mozambique, the European Union has supported the government in implementing its environmental and climate policies and programmes since 2010 through various initiatives. These include the Sector Support Program and the implementation of Local Adaptation Plans through the Building Local Climate Resilience program (MERCIM in its Portuguese acronym) - both funded by the Global Climate Change Alliance plus - GCCA+ and supported by the Nations United via UNCDF.
Mozambique is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world, with climate change paying a significant part. Floods, cyclones, rising sea levels, coastal erosion, droughts and earthquakes regularly impact resident’s lives and the national economy, and their intensity and frequency have increased in recent years.
The 1st National Conference on Climate Change brought together around 100 participants representing public institutions, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, embassies, educational and research institutions and, virtually, district administrators, directors of environmental services, directors of the District Services for Planning and Infrastructure, Directors of the District Services for Economic Activities, among others.

For more information about LoCAL in Mozambique, visit our website, read our online brochure or download the brochure.

Penina Chaogua plants maize seeds in a field in the community of Ndonga, Gaza Province. With the support through LoCAL, implemented by the Government of Mozambique with technical support from UNCDF, the community was able to build a canal system and an irrigation project that supports a local agricultural cooperative and ensures food security for the entire community. Photo | UNCDF Mozambique/Philip Hatcher-Moore