Nairobi — Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu has called on African countries to join forces in lobbying for the establishment of a special fund to tackle climate crises in the continent in the upcoming 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28).
President Suluhu said Tuesday, when she addressed the delegates at the African Climate Summit in Nairobi, that Africa needs to speak in one voice on the establishment and capitalisation of a fund exclusively designed to support African nations in their battle against climate change.
She underscored the vital role such a specialized fund could play in facilitating Africa-led solutions to the ongoing climate crisis.
"We need to face the fact that Tanzania and indeed the whole of African continent still faces and unprecedented impacts of climate change with limited capacity to finance the mitigation and adaptation needs," Suluhu said.
She insisted that developed nations must fulfill their pledges of support for the African continent and urged a more detailed allocation of pledged resources, moving beyond blanket commitments.
"The contribution and the pledges which are given by the advanced countries have to say what percentage of those pledges goes to Africa and not just a blanket pledge."
No choice but to decarbonization
President Suluhu stressed that Africans have no choice but to seize the moment and capitalise on its potential to offer solutions to green growth and decarbonization while creating resilience to communities and economies.
She added that the continent needs to work together in order to address economic development, climate change and African poverty burden.
"The stakes are high, and actions have to take place not tomorrow, but today and literally now," Suluhu said in her call to action.
The Tanzanian President noted that the interplay between development and climate change is undeniable and calls for an integrated and coherent solution that would provide opportunity for socio-economic development for Africa.
Suluhu said Africa holds the key to solving the climate challenge.
She cited the recently released Economic Development in Africa report 2023 which she said shows the potential of Africa to capture technology intensive global supply chains.
Suluhu said the report provides a unique insight into Africa centrality to the green transition that she argues will the transform the economy of the continent.
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Mineral-rich continent
Commenting on the minerals in Africa, Suluhu said the continent need to stand firm to utilize the materials for its own development.
"It is said that all metals and minerals that are important and strategic for the low-carbon transition abundantly found in Africa," she said.
"Given the abundance of these minerals, the continent needs to reposition itself not only as a supplier of raw materials globally but strengthen the value chains by ensuring their conversion into intermediate and final products is done within the continent."
Further, President Suluhu stressed the importance of ensuring that critical minerals contribute to internal revenue collection, employment generation, and environmental protection on the continent.
Touching on human capital development, Suluhu urged African nations to invest in equipping their youth with skills that contribute to the continent's growth.
She pointed out that addressing the climate crisis could also present an opportunity to combat youth unemployment by focusing on skill development.
"To avoid the past mistakes, in the history of our continent, we need to focus on human capital advancement by training our own people especially youth so that we are able to rip from these vast opportunities," President Suluhu said.
