Maputo — Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has called for shared responsibility between countries in order to protect maritime territories from climate change, arguing that these are areas that transcend borders.
According to Nyusi, who was speaking on Tuesday, in Nairobi, at a panel held on the occasion of the African Climate Summit 2023, which brought together African Heads of State and Government, United Nations agencies, civil society, and private business, "climate change in these areas transcends borders. The sea transmits what is bad elsewhere, but it can also do the opposite.'
According to Nyusi, Mozambique has been at the forefront of protecting inland and coastal forests to better respond to climate impacts.
"We need to work together and with vision in order to provide joint responses. I invite everyone to work together to change the world (...) with few resources, but we have to start doing something. If everyone does their part, many will do theirs', he said.
Nyusi, at a panel entitled "Unlocking the potential of the regenerative blue economy in Africa and beyond", listed some of the actions underway in Mozambique, stressing that the country has favorable conditions in the area of the blue economy, including carbon sequestration.
"We have over 200,000 hectares of land with the potential to be reforested and generate over 21 million carbon credits'. he said.
Nyusi also said that Mozambique is not only looking at the green landscape, but also the blue landscape and this means that it is necessary to protect all species.
"We have concrete activities in terms of protecting biodiversity', Nyusi declared. "In the five-year period 2000/2024, we replanted over 8,000 hectares of mangrove forest, with the capacity to sequester over 160,000 tonnes of carbon, which could generate over 15 million US dollars. We are about to start a project to replant around 140,000 hectares of mangrove forest which will generate 15 billion carbon credits over a 20-year period, starting in 2025'.
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According to the President, Mozambique was the first African country to receive funds from the World Bank for carbon credits, "which means that we have some experience that we can even share.'
"The money we receive from the World Bank we give back to the communities, they are using that money on their own to be able to use in their own projects', he said.
The first African Climate Summit comes ahead of the United Nations Climate Conference (COP28), to be held in the United Arab Emirates next December, and serves to align ideas so that the entire continent can participate with a single position.
