The President of the Republic of Mozambique, H.E. Armando Emilio Guebuza, officially launched the country's Green Economy Roadmap on June 21 during a high level side event at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20).

Event participants included Dr. Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr. Jim Leape, Director-General of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and senior members from the Mozambique government, including the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Environment, Planning and Development, Agriculture, and Mineral Resources.

President Guebuza stated that this "is the future that we Mozambicans want," referring to the vision laid out in the Roadmap, which will allow Mozambique to become "an inclusive, middle-income country by 2030, based on the protection, restoration and rational use of natural capital and ecosystem services, to guarantee inclusive and efficient sustainable development, within planetary limits." The President emphasized that working together "to save the earth and its biodiversity is an imperative. It is an ethical duty, a moral obligation."

Dr. Kaberuka lauded President Guebuza's leadership and visionary thinking, noting that Mozambique has joined the ranks of countries that are "redefining the growth process from an African perspective."

H.E. Alcinda Antonio de Abreu, Minister for the Coordination of Environmental Affairs, thanked "the African Development Bank and WWF for their financial and technical support, which concretely demonstrates their commitment to move forward together with us through to 2030, to realize our dream for a greener, evermore beautiful and prosperous country."

The Green Economy Roadmap envisages the integration of natural capital planning and adjustment of national accounts to ensure Sustainable GDP within the government's next Five-Year Plan for 2015 to 2020. Natural capital mapping, characterization and quantification, along with many other technical and human resource capacity-building investments, will be undertaken to facilitate the transition to the Green Economy model.

The Roadmap will be the first official initiative the AfDB is supporting under the joint leadership of its Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department and Mozambique field office. The Green Economy agenda is part of the Bank's new Long-Term Strategy preparation, and this work will provide valuable insights that can be showcased widely across the region and continent.