Minister of Natural Resources, Energy and Mining Bintony Kutsaira has urged developed countries to continue building funding for least developed countries in the areas of climate change resilience and adaptation.
Kutsaira was speaking in Madrid, Spain where he is leading the Malawi delegation at United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop25).
The minister said impacts of climate change continue to affect least developed countries hence the need to build climate change resilience and adaptation in the communities.
He added that Malawi together with other least developed countries are making progress in putting forward their agenda on the negotiation table with the developed countries.
He said: “Negotiations are done as a block, so as the developed countries come together with an agenda, we also as least developed countries come together with our agenda and we present on the negotiation table and reach a compromise.”
At the summit, Malawi has made a commitment towards implementing the reviewed Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in line with the Paris agreement.
On Monday, President Peter Mutharika addressed the Cop25 where he described climate change as a catastrophe that is more colossal than any war “known to us” saying it is taking innocent lives, frustrating national economies and inflicting untold suffering to many people of the world.
Mutharika told the summit that Malawi’s agro-based economy has failed to withstand the natural disasters.
“Malawi would have made more economic progress without the setbacks of climate change.
“This is the double tragedy of the developing world. The weaker the economy, the more fragile the existence of our vulnerable people, and the more we suffer the shocks of climate change. The more a weak economy suffers the shocks of climate change, the more we lack resources to fight climate change,” he said.
Malawi has suffered four natural disasters in the past five years including a drought in 2015, floods in 2016 and dry spells which allowed fall armyworms to thrive in the 2017/2018 growing season.
In March earlier this year, Malawi was hit by Cyclone Idai and Cyclone Kenneth which directly affected one million people and led to 60 deaths.
