Malawi President, Arthur Peter Mutharika, will address the UN Climate Change Conference which will officially open today at the Fair Institution of Madrid complex (IFEMA) in Spain.
The conference will be presided over by the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez. President Mutharika is expected to address the world Climate Change summit at 11: 30 hrs CAT.
The meeting has been organized for nations to join forces and commit themselves in the fight against the effects of climate change.
Mutharika who arrived in Madrid in Spain on Friday told Malawi Press before his departure that there are several challenges that have resulted from climate change such as dwindling water levels in the Shire River and Lake Malawi, floods and global warming among others which have negatively affected some of the least developed countries in the world including Malawi.
In the recent years, Malawi has also experienced changing rainfall patterns and dry spells which specialists have attributed to climate change.
This year’s talks will focus on putting the 2015 Paris agreement into practice with the aim of cutting on greenhouse gas emissions which are a major culprit of climate change. The conference will also be a preparatory meeting for the National Plans for 2020 climate conference which will take place in the UK where it is expected that long term responses to climate change emergency will be decided.
Mutharika is amongst the few five African leaders who have been invited to attend the meeting based on their splendid performance towards climate change in their countries.
The conference is designed to take the next crucial steps in the UN climate change process. Following agreement on the implementation guidelines of the Paris Agreement at COP 24 in Poland last year, a key objective is to complete several matters with respect to the full operationalization of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.
Spanish President is also expected to host the world leaders to a state Luncheon and in the evening where they will be treated to a reception by their majesties the King and the Queen of Spain at the Royal Palace.
