adminAshley Mujoma
The Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu, has said Zimbabwe’s collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on environmental management and protection is strong in the triple environmental crises of biodiversity loss, climate change and pollution control.
Minister Ndhlovu said this in a meeting with acting deputy executive director and corporate services division for UNEP, Sonja Leighton-Kone, in Harare yesterday.
“The collaboration between Zimbabwe and UNEP has created an important platform for compliance with various Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), accessing funding mechanisms and resource mobilisation for implementation of MEAs.
“The country has benefited significantly through technical assistance for institutional capacity building and policy development to guide transformative projects and programmes,” he said.
He said Zimbabwe has made commitments to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to a conditional 40 percent per capita greenhouse gas emissions reduction across all sectors by 2030.
“The NDC’s mitigation is estimated to cost US$5 billion and the commitment is conditional on the means of implementation, namely technology, finance and related trainings. The NDC has both mitigation and adaptation priorities to be achieved by 2030,” he said.
Leighton-Kone appreciated the recognition of support UNEP is providing to Zimbabwe.
“We also stressed that UNEP should continue to support Zimbabwe to have a prosperous and empowered upper middle-income society by 2030,” she said.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter