PARLIAMENT speaker Jacob Mudenda has sounded the alarm on the devastating impacts of climate change, calling for swift action in enacting climate change laws and adopting AI-powered solutions to mitigate its effects.

This comes after the devastating effects of the El Niño weather phenomenon, which caused the worst drought in 40 years during the last season in the SADC region.

Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi are among the hardest-hit countries.

Speaking at the Indonesia-Africa Parliamentary Forum 2024 this week, Mudenda highlighted the importance of domesticating international climate change agreements underscoring the critical role of technology in addressing climate change.

"This calls for Parliaments to expeditiously domesticate the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement (2015) and its subsequent Katowice Rule Book into in-depth climate change municipal laws.

"The laws should assist in addressing climate mitigation, adaptation, and financing measures as well as conjuring up joint research on climate action technologies and disaster risk reduction as driven by the robust application of Artificial Intelligence (AI)," Mudenda said.

He further stressed the urgent need for action to mitigate the devastating impacts of climate change.

"The vagaries of climate change impacts continue to negate the accelerated tempo of global economies inclusive of those of Indonesia and Africa," he said.

Some African countries, like South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco, have already started leveraging AI and data analytics to address climate change challenges.

To mitigate climate change impacts, African countries have set ambitious goals to build climate-resilient and low-carbon economies through their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to the Paris Agreement, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance resilience.