President Arthur Peter Mutharika has told Malawi media that the nation is set to benefit a lot from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) summit by learning how other nations have managed to deal with effects of climate change.
Mutharika was speaking at Intercontinental Hotel in Madrid where he had an interface with members of the Press from Malawi on the sidelines of the conference which started on Monday.
Addressing the Malawi Media, Mutharika said he was very happy to be part of conference which has put Malawi’s efforts on the world map in the fight against climate changes.
He added that Malawi was the only Nation from the SADC region which was invited to attend the meeting, based on her numerous intervention to deal with climate change.
The Malawi leader pointed out that the Conference of Parties (COP 25) was organized not for the Nations attending the summit to benefit financially but to learn from others through shared stories and action plans on how best effects of climate change can be dealt with.
Mutharika said time was now for the world to join hands to save the planet from further damage.
He cited the drying of the rivers in Malawi and low water levels in most of the lakes in Malawi and the rest of the world as clear signs of bearing the cost of climate change, and that something was to be done to make sure that the situation does not worsen further posing great risks to the world in the future.
“Let me take you back to the old days when we were secondary school students, the rivers which we used to cross on our way to schools from Zalewa (Shire river) to around Chingeni were all full of water under bridges, but today when you pass the same rivers, you will notice that they dried up, this is how climate change has changed our nature and if we cannot do something about it now, the situation will be worse in the future and by then I may not be there but I have the change to change that now,” said Mutharika.
President Mutharika also said the gathering was crucial as it was a follow up of the 2015 Paris agreement which aims at cutting on greenhouse gas emissions which are a major culprit of climate change and a preparatory meeting for the National Plans for 2020 climate conference which will take place in the UK.
Out of the 35 Presidents who were invited from across the world, only 6 African Presidents were invited and all were Present at the summit.
They include President Saadeddine Othmani of Morroco, President José Mário Vaz of Guinea Bissau, King Mswati III of Eswatini, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo Brazaville and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda
