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DSG / SM / 1446
Deputy Secretary General
Below are statements from UN Under-Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at the high-level launch of the Global Center for Africa Adaptation, in New York today:
I am pleased to join this impressive gathering of visionary leaders for the launch of the Africa office of the World Center for Adaptation, organized by the African Development Bank. I join everyone in congratulating my brother President Akin Adesina on his well-deserved unanimous re-election as President. [of the African Development Bank] for a second term.
The Secretary-General and I welcome this important step, which will help foster and support initiatives that will increase the adaptive capacity and resilience of African countries and communities to climate change.
The Secretary-General’s strategy on climate change focuses on increased ambition in adaptation, mitigation and financing, and this new African Regional Office will address two of these priorities directly.
As the world continues to grapple with the impacts of our changing climate, we must ensure that communities are prepared to face the direct and associated challenges of food insecurity, water scarcity, migration, rising sea levels and loss of life and livelihoods. .
Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, we have witnessed an increase in adaptation actions, including an increase in financial support to assess climate risks. But the reality is that adaptation and resilience still lag behind mitigation efforts in terms of focus, ambition and support. This center can and should help address this gap.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has so painfully illustrated that both crises do not recognize borders, we urgently need to be prepared for the worst. As noted in the recent policy brief by the Global Center for Adaptation and the African Adaptation Initiative, the COVID-19 crisis has collided with the continent’s climate crisis, where changes in precipitation levels, an increase From extreme temperatures and rising sea levels already have a wide range of direct and indirect impacts on the poorest and most vulnerable.
But there are also reasons for hope. As noted in the policy brief, there is potential for a triple dividend if governments, stakeholders and communities make the right policy and investment decisions and share capacity and knowledge widely. These three dividends are: reduced pandemic risk, increased climate resilience, and strengthened and sustainable economic recovery.
We can and must “recover better” by building a world that is carbon neutral, green, fair and resilient, with young Africans, especially women, at the forefront not only at the table, but also in leading institutions and initiatives. The future is theirs to shape and own.
I am particularly pleased to see that the African Adaptation Initiative, one of the key projects presented at the Secretary-General’s 2019 Climate Action Summit, is playing an active role in today’s launch. This initiative can and should be seen as the establishment of a menu of options for the participation of all interested parties.
The COVID-19 pandemic, while devastating, also presents an opportunity to change course and address long-standing frailties and injustices. We must seize this moment and ensure a sustainable and inclusive economic recovery that places the well-being, security and future prosperity of the African people, especially their women, at its core. Now is the time for action; now is the time to protect our development achievements and ensure a sustainable world for current and future generations.
I reiterate the commitment of the United Nations to work with the Center, Member States and partners to achieve our common goals. Let’s use the current twin crises to get out of the right side of history for people and our planet. Thank you.
For information media. It is not an official record.
