{"id":41790,"date":"2021-11-02T13:07:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-02T20:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=41790"},"modified":"2021-11-02T13:07:32","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T20:07:32","slug":"at-africa-adaptation-acceleration-summit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=41790","title":{"rendered":"At Africa Adaptation Acceleration Summit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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11\/02\/2021 03:47 PM EDT<\/div>\n

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\n

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State<\/p>\n

Glasgow, United Kingdom<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Thank you very much, Patrick.\u00a0 Thank you so much not just for today, but for your leadership every day.\u00a0 It is greatly appreciated, and I simply want to start by thanking everyone who made this event possible, including President Tshisekedi, chairperson of the African Union.\u00a0\u00a0Monsieur President, merci pour votre leadership.<\/em>\u00a0As well \u2014<\/p>\n

(Applause.)<\/p>\n

And Dr. Adesina, greatly appreciate everything that you\u2019re doing as well.\u00a0 And to President Sharma, who I just saw on the way out, thank you as well.\u00a0 And I also want to extend thanks to Secretary-General Guterres, Dr. Georgieva \u2013 managing director of the International Monetary Fund \u2013 for all the work that they\u2019re doing, for the focus that they\u2019re putting on this issue.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re spending a lot of time here today talking, and that\u2019s important because we are bringing a spotlight, we are bringing the world\u2019s attention to these critical issues.\u00a0 But we know \u2013 we know that ultimately we are going to be judged not by what we say, but by what we do.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve heard very important calls to action in the last 24 hours.\u00a0 Commitments are being made.\u00a0 We now have to follow up on them.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been focused intently on stepping up our collective response to the climate crisis that threatens our planet, threatens our lives, threatens our futures.\u00a0 And as we\u2019re hearing today, one important way to do that is by working with countries that are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.\u00a0 By helping those countries, by working together, by helping them adapt, we can mitigate some of the worst effects of the crisis and prevent future humanitarian emergencies.\u00a0 But more than that, we can also seize the opportunity that is here in this moment of necessity to build a better future, to build back better, to create greener economies, greener livelihoods, greener possibilities.<\/p>\n

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has recognized Africa as the region on Earth most vulnerable to the climate crisis.\u00a0 The worst impacts \u2013 including, as we\u2019ve already heard, prolonged droughts, record heat waves, food and water shortages, public health crises, instability, poverty \u2013 we know that they are hitting Africa with a special vigor.\u00a0 That\u2019s why governments, the private sector, civil societies across the region are working so intently already to adapt.<\/p>\n

The Africa Adaptation Initiative launched by the African heads of state six years ago is one very powerful example of this.\u00a0 Citizens and leaders across the region have seen what\u2019s coming, and they want to stop it.\u00a0 The world, especially those countries that contributed a great deal to the crisis in the first place, must stand up and help.\u00a0 The United States is committed to working in partnership with countries in the region to make real strides on this critical piece of the global response to the climate crisis.<\/p>\n

Just yesterday, President Biden launched the President\u2019s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience, also known as PREPARE.\u00a0 This initiative will bring together agencies across the U.S. Government to provide financial and technical support for vulnerable countries and communities at scale and with speed.\u00a0 The President will work with our Congress to dedicate $3 billion annually in adaptation finance by the year 2024.\u00a0 This is the largest commitment ever made by the United States to reduce the impact of climate change on those most endangered by it around the world.<\/p>\n

There are three other core elements to this initiative that I just wanted to highlight briefly.\u00a0 First, we intend to focus on knowledge, deepening understanding of climate risks, vulnerabilities, adaptation techniques, and supporting early warning systems and other informational tools that can save lives in climate emergencies.\u00a0 Second, we\u2019ll focus on plans and programs that support climate adaptations.\u00a0 And third, and as we\u2019ve already heard, very critically, we will focus on resources, mobilizing finance and private capital in service of adaptation projects.<\/p>\n

These three components of the PREPARE initiative are, I think, very well aligned with the pillars of the Africa Adaptation Initiative, which is why, as part of the rollout that we\u2019re doing, we\u2019ll be providing support to the African Adaptation Initiative directly.\u00a0 This will ensure effective implementation of the accelerator program.\u00a0 We\u2019ll continue our work with the AU Commission and other African partners to shape and implement climate-smart policies across the continent.<\/p>\n

For example, on agricultural best practices, we were very proud to participate in the National Adaptation Planning\u00a0Global Network to help countries in Africa develop practical, whole-of-government adaptation plans.\u00a0 And our work will continue with partners across the region to promote clean energy, prevent deforestation, and improve climate awareness.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a very good reason that COP27 will be held in Africa.\u00a0 Because this region is where a great deal of the world\u2019s attention needs to be, should be as we work as fast as we can to prevent and mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis, but also \u2013 also to seize the opportunities that are before us.<\/p>\n

This is a priority for the United States, and I\u2019m grateful to everyone here for your commitment, and especially for your partnership.\u00a0 Thank you very much.\u00a0 (Applause.)<\/p>\n

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11\/02\/2021 03:47 PM EDT   Antony...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41791,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41790\/revisions\/41791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}