LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Malawi government through ministry of natural resources, energy and mining last Friday launched the much awaited national climate change policy coupled with biodiversity strategy and action plan to offset resilience.The policy is expected to create an enabling legal frame work and documents for a pragmatic, coordinated and harmonized approach to climate change management.
The document affirms government’s commitment to fully addressing of climate change issues in order to reduce the people’s vulnerability, ecosystems and socio-economic development to the effects of climate change through adaptation and mitigation, technology transfer and capacity building.
The policy also complements the country’s commitment to 1992’ United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which obligates Malawi to take various actions to address climate challenges.
The 2010 Malawi State and Environmental and Outlook Report predicted in extreme weather patterns including floods, dry spells, hailstorms which the nation recent times experience resulting into food and water crisis.
For instance, in 2015 unprecedented devastating floods affected 1.1 million people, displaced 230,000 and claimed 106 lives in the country.
The flood further caused widespread damage to crops, livestock, homes, roads and bridges costing the country’s General Domestic Product (GDP) about 1.7%.
Malawi is ranked third amongst most vulnerable countries to climate risk as more than 84 percent of its population depend on rain-fed agriculture.
Therefore, urgent and ambitious strategies including climate change intervention were dearly needed to offset resilience among locals hence the launch of the policy.
Implementation, monitoring and monitoring of the national biodiversity strategy and Action Plan II will require about MK20 billion in the next five years.
Speaking during the launch in the capital Lilongwe, Bright Msaka, Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining hinted that the event gave an opportunity for the nation to reflect on the relationship between climate change and biodiversity particularly how the phenomenon has adversely affected people’s lives, agriculture, ecosystems and economy.
Minister Msaka observed that unsustainable actions that the nation undertakes to attain economic development and poverty reduction contribute to biodiversity loss thereby exacerbating the effects of climate change.
Msaka therefore lauded the policy that will serve as an overarching reference document for policy makers in government, private sector, civil society and development partners concerning climate change as a development issue.
“The national Climate Change Management Policy and National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan are complementary documents to the Malawi Constitution that outlines our country’s vision for conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity and climate change management.
“I urge everyone to take full responsibility to manage the environment responsibly and conserve and utilize natural resources sustainably while building climate resilience and promoting socio-economic growth”, appeals Msaka.
In her remarks, UN Resident Representative, Mia Seppo calls for serious implementation of the two documents if the nation is to avert climate change effects.
Seppo noted that Malawi has good policies whose challenge is implementation which she said must be looked into diligently.
Meanwhile the Association of Environment Journalists (AEJ) has commended government for launching the documents saying was bold step in the domestication of various environmental protocols which Malawi is party to, on the international platform.
AEJ’s Secretary General Charles Mkoka said the policy and plan are timely especially when a plethora of climate change related ills, continues to wreck havoc on peoples livelihoods.