In his speech at the COP29 summit in Baku President of the Republic calls for swift action to address climate change while taking into account the priorities of Africa’s least developed countries

Baku (Azerbaijan), November 12, 2024 (WAM) – The severity of climate change, due to the steady rise in global temperature, threatens the continuity of human life, and even the continuity of life as such on the entire planet, said HE President of the Republic and Chairperson of the African Union, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, in his speech at the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29), which started on Tuesday in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital.
He called on the international community to move quickly to confront climate change by strengthening international cooperation and solidarity and mobilizing funds that are up to the challenge, taking into account the priorities of the least developed countries, especially in the African continent.

In his speech, Mr. President said:

“We in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, despite our marginal contribution (0.02%) to global warming emissions, live daily with the devastating effects of climate change through the growing phenomenon of desertification and floods and their profound negative repercussions that affect our social fabric, threaten our food security and hinder our economic development.
With this in mind, we have made great efforts to comply with the requirements of the Paris Agreement by combating desertification through the Great Green Wall initiative, actively contributing to the Sahel Climate Commission, and adopting the charter of the Green Middle East Initiative, launched by the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
We have also taken strong measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, such as imposing a tax on domestic producers and investing in increasing the size of marine, coastal and continental reserves and restoring degraded lands.
All this is in addition to our great efforts to exploit our renewable energy stock, which exceeds 4,000 gigawatts, allowing us to produce green hydrogen and increase the share of renewable energies in our total energy consumption, which reached 48% this year, with plans to reach 60% in 2030.
In this context, we renew our call to financial institutions and interested companies to support us in this direction.
I would like to emphasize that the African continent, as a union and as countries, is making great efforts to gradually reduce global warming despite its small contribution to it. It is also expanding the use of renewable energies, which should be strongly supported in the field of enhancing adaptation and resilience to the adverse effects of climate change.”