STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER OF THE KINGDOM OF SWAZILAND
DR B.SIBUSISO DLAMINI
AT COP 22
MARRAKESH, MOROCCO, NOVEMBER 2016
Your Majesty King Mohamed VI
Heads of States
Excellencies, Prime Ministers
COP 22, CMP 12 and CMA 1 President
Honorable Ministers
Distinguished delegates
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my honour and pleasure to address this august gathering on behalf of our Head of State, His Majesty King Mswati III. And I thank the Moroccan Government for hosting this year’s Climate Change Conference, and extending its warm welcome and hospitality to us all.
The rapid coming into force of the Paris Agreement recognizes the urgency attached to securing climate change action at an accelerated pace. It is incumbent on all sectors of global society to convincingly and productively collaborate in order to achieve the global temperature goal of “well below 2 Degrees Celsius,” and to then pursue the further goal of 1.5 Degrees Celsius. The need for countries to review targets or nationally determined contributions by 2018, at the same time as identifying the rules that include how progress can be tracked, is clearly important.
The most vulnerable countries, especially those found in Africa, are faced with the huge challenge of preventing climate change risks from becoming disasters. The negative impact of climate change has recently been heavily exacerbated by the re-emergence of the cyclical weather phenomenon that is El Niño. The ensuing drought has led to widespread food and water shortages, seriously challenging the lives of more than 30 million adults and children in Africa. In February of this year Swaziland declared a National Emergency with a very large number of our people now dependent on food and water assistance.
Swaziland is fully committed to the global solution on climate change, having ratified both the Paris Agreement and the Doha Amendments, and adopted its own National Climate Change Policy and Strategy. Establishment of the supporting institutional arrangements is now in progress. We are committed to making the transition to a green, low carbon-emission economy, and climate-resilient society.
However, in common with other developing countries we need our commitment to action – especially with regard to adaptation and mitigation - to be supported by predictable finance, capacity building and technology development. In this regard, a report on the progress being made towards the developed-to-developing countries grant, targeted at US$ 100 billion by 2020, would be greatly welcomed.
Global action for positive global climate change demands global inclusion. The onus of responsibility is on all mankind. We, therefore, appeal that the Republic of China (Taiwan) should be given the opportunity to be Party to the Climate Change Convention.
We should all recognize that effective planning demands the setting of quantified, measurable and time-bound targets with regular and thorough monitoring. The extent to which our global partnership applies this approach to climate change planning will be a major determinant of success in achieving our targets. Simple, but not easy. But the complexities should not be allowed to create obstacles to embracing those components of meaningful planning.
Thank you.