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Statement by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Comrade R. G. Mugabe, at the United Nations High Level Event for the Signing of the Paris Climate Agreement, United Nations Headquarters, New York, April 22, 2016
The President of COP 21, Madame Segolene Royal,
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-Moon,
The Executive Secretary of the
Convention on Climate Change, United Nations Framework
Ms Christiana Figueres,
Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Honourable Ministers
Invited Delegates,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Comrades and Friends.
Your Excellency,
I am pleased to join fellow Heads of State and Government and other leaders on this occasion that has a vital bearing on the future of humankind and the world we live in.
I wish to thank the President of COP21, the Secretary-General, and the President of France, for today’s high- profile event.
My country welcomes the Paris Climate Agreement as a stepping stone towards tangible action in addressing the climate change challenge facing the world today. We commit ourselves to playing an active role in the global efforts to save our planet.
In this regard, in 2015, Zimbabwe submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) its intended Nationally Determined Contributions towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
We aim to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent below the projected business as usual energy emissions per capita by 2020.
To demonstrate my country’s commitment to implement its nationally determined contributions, I have established a High Level Committee that will be chaired by my office. This platform will ensure the coordinated implementation and monitoring of our contributions, taking cognisance of the seriousness and cross-cutting nature of our nationally determined contributions.
Your Excellency,
Climate change is a stark reality. It is no longer a projected phenomenon. Zimbabwe and many other countries in the Southern Africa region are currently suffering from the worst drought in over 35 years. This El Nino-induced drought has led to widespread crop failure, loss of livestock and wildlife, inadequate water supply, and a drastic reduction in hydro-electric power generation.
The current drought further compounds the damage already caused to people’s livelihoods, to our economies, and to flora and fauna by the occurrence, with alarming regularity, of highly variable climatic conditions in recent years. Urgent and comprehensive action is needed, at all levels, to address these negative impacts of climate change.
Your Excellency,
Guided by our national development plans and taking into account the provisions of the Paris Agreement, Zimbabwe, with the support of the UN Development Programme, has developed a comprehensive programme that will enable the establishment of robust development of a Monitoring and Reporting Framework for the implementation of the nationally determined contributions. The broader scope of the programme will support enhanced climate action towards climate resilience and a low carbon development pathway.
In our determination to accelerate climate action, we have developed and are implementing a National Climate Change Response Strategy that seeks to mainstream climate change across all the economic sectors, in particular agriculture, water, energy, industry and tourism. The strategy will be supported by the National Climate Policy which has been validated by all stakeholders and will shortly be adopted by Government.
Your Excellency,
Clearly, our individual national efforts on their own will be inadequate to ensure success in combating this universal and mammoth challenge. The Paris Agreement and the signatures we have appended to it earlier today confirm that robust collective action that recognises our respective national circumstances, is a pre-condition for success in this fight. We expect the developed countries to take the lead, as they are obligated by the Convention and the Paris Agreement, in these actions.
For us in Africa, adaptation remains essential and a priority. We are already bearing climate change-attributable economic burdens that are reversing our development gains. Inadequate support for our adaptation efforts will hamper our capacity to contribute meaningfully to the global actions needed to reduce global warming and scale back climate change.
Your Excellency,
In conclusion with our national process, Zimbabwe will make every effort to expedite the ratification of the Paris Agreement.
I hope that the confidence and momentum generated by the Paris Agreement will galvanise concrete action to address climate change and its impact. Life itself is at stake in this combat. We have the power to win it. Let us therefore go forth and win it for ourselves and for those yet to be born.
I thank you.
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