{"id":55241,"date":"2022-12-13T19:24:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T03:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=55241"},"modified":"2022-12-13T19:24:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T03:24:28","slug":"secretary-blinken-at-the-conservation-climate-adaptation-and-just-energy-transition-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=55241","title":{"rendered":"Secretary Blinken At the Conservation, Climate Adaptation, and Just Energy Transition Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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12\/13\/2022 06:13 PM EST<\/div>\n
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Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State<\/p>\n

Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

Walter E. Washington Convention Center<\/p>\n

SECRETARY BLINKEN:<\/strong>\u00a0 Well, thank you.\u00a0 Good afternoon, everyone, and a big thank you, Hayde, to you for keeping us moving, and I will try to stay on your good side.\u00a0 (Laughter.) \u00a0But it\u2019s an honor to be joined at this table by so many leaders, so many colleagues \u2013 among other, President Tshisekedi \u2013 it\u2019s very good to be with you \u2013 President Ramkalawan, President Hichilema, President Buhari, President Obiang, President Bongo Ondimba \u2013 thank you, thank you, thank you for your partnership, for your partnership to help preserve our planet.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re also joined today by members of Congress, members of the Biden Cabinet \u2013 I think Congressman Meeks is about to join us if he\u2019s not already here \u2013 we have representatives from multilateral organizations, philanthropies, private sector leaders, activists, academics, youth leaders.\u00a0 To each and every one of you, welcome.<\/p>\n

The diversity of this group is heartening \u2013 a statement not merely of how we\u2019re all affected by the climate crisis, but how committed we all are to working together to address it.<\/p>\n

Last month many of us were in Egypt for COP27.\u00a0 An African COP was a recognition that, as the urgency of the climate crisis grows, our focus must increasingly be on Africa.<\/p>\n

As we know, 17 of the world\u2019s 20 most climate vulnerable countries are on the African continent.<\/p>\n

Four straight years of drought in the Horn of Africa have left more than 18 million people facing severe hunger.<\/p>\n

Communities across the continent are feeling the impact of a changing climate.\u00a0 Severe storms have battered southern Africa; surging temperatures kindle wildfires in northern Africa; rising seas threaten lives and livelihoods on island nations, while extreme weather events in central Africa worsen already-dire food crises and fuel tensions that feed and fuel violent conflict.<\/p>\n

We know that African nations have contributed relatively little to this crisis but are disproportionally harmed by it.\u00a0 It\u2019s both unfair and unrealistic to ask them to turn their backs on economic development and opportunity in the name of a clean energy transition, to ask them in effect to forego what many of us have done in the past in developing our countries and our economies.<\/p>\n

And so we believe that the best way \u2013 indeed, the just way \u2013 to address the climate crisis in Africa is to work together.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, in South Africa, I had an opportunity to set out President Biden\u2019s new Strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa.\u00a0 It\u2019s based on a simple idea: we can\u2019t achieve any of our shared priorities \u2013 tackle any of our biggest challenges \u2013 unless we do it together as equal partners.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s true of every major issue we face today, and it\u2019s particularly true of climate change. So here\u2019s how we\u2019re addressing this crisis together.<\/p>\n

First, we are partnering to conserve ecosystems.\u00a0 Africa is home to some of the world\u2019s most precious ecosystems, which are critical for combating climate change.\u00a0 This summer I visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, where forests absorb more carbon than is emitted by the entire continent of Africa.\u00a0 The Congo Basin is also a place of tremendous biodiversity, a lifeforce for agriculture across the region.<\/p>\n

To support the sustainable management of the Congo Basin rainforest, we\u2019ve invested over $600 million in the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment, which brings together the U.S. Government and African and U.S. NGOs.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019re building new coalitions between African governments, the private sector, civil society to protect other vital ecosystems across the continent.<\/p>\n

Oceans are also a key part of this fight.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we\u2019ve launched the Ocean Conservation Pledge to encourage countries to commit to protect at least 30 percent of their ocean waters by the year 2030.<\/p>\n

Second, we\u2019re partnering to make commitments and communities more resilient in the face of climate change.\u00a0 The President\u2019s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience is working with national governments to help more than half a billion people in developing countries manage the impacts of climate change.\u00a0 This and other initiatives to support climate-resilient agriculture are increasingly critical as Russia\u2019s war of aggression compounds the impact on food security.<\/p>\n

At COP, the President also announced a doubling of our pledged contributions to the Adaptation Fund, which has deployed nearly $1 billion to help over 36 million people in the most vulnerable communities around the world.\u00a0 And we committed to begin discussions on loss and damage funding arrangements to support low- and middle-income countries.<\/p>\n

Third, we\u2019re partnering to advance a just transition to a clean energy economy that both saves our planet and fosters inclusive economic opportunity.<\/p>\n

Africa will be at the center of the clean energy transition.\u00a0 Its renewable energy potential is second to none.\u00a0 It\u2019s home to roughly a third of all critical minerals, essential to the technology that will power the clean energy economy, like batteries for renewable energy storage and wind turbines.\u00a0 But with nearly half of Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s population lacking reliable access to electricity and the population set to grow to more than two billion people by 2050, how that transition is made will be decisive in shaping our future climate.<\/p>\n

The United States will work closely with African countries as they determine how best to meet their specific energy needs \u2013 understanding that, for many, the clean energy transition will be a transition to consistent, reliable energy in the first place.\u00a0 We\u2019ll do so through programs like Power Africa, which has mobilized the public and private sectors to deliver cleaner, more reliable electricity to over 165 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa who previously didn\u2019t have access.\u00a0 We\u2019re proud to announce a new investment of $290 million in that program.<\/p>\n

Too often, those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of these changes have been denied a seat at the decision-making table.\u00a0 We\u2019re committed to changing that, including through the new Accelerating Women\u2019s Empowerment in Energy project, which is making sure that women have a say in how their countries move forward on clean energy.<\/p>\n

All of these efforts recognize that combating the climate crisis, like so many other challenges we face, was actually championed by Africans in the first place.\u00a0 Indeed, in Africa, we see not only the stakes of this crisis, but also the solutions.\u00a0 Gabon has led the way in conserving its forest resources, which now absorb 140 million tons of CO2 every year.\u00a0 That\u2019s the equivalent of taking 30 million cars off the road.<\/p>\n

The Seychelles has pioneered the world\u2019s first sovereign blue bond to marshal public and private investment for sustainable marine and fisheries projects.\u00a0 It\u2019s on the way to conserving 30 percent of its ocean waters \u2013 that\u2019s an area the size of Zimbabwe \u2013 by 2030.<\/p>\n

Zambia is harnessing the power of its wetlands and forests to mitigate climate impacts, benefiting tens of thousands of people vulnerable to both floods and to droughts.<\/p>\n

Nigeria has set bold targets and robust regulations for methane reductions \u2013 the first country in Africa to do so \u2013 which could reduce air pollutants by a third and avert tens of thousands of deaths.<\/p>\n

Equatorial Guinea just raised its commitment to cut emissions by 35 percent by 2030.\u00a0 And the DRC has hosted the pre-COP27 meetings in Kinshahsa.\u00a0 It\u2019s teaming up with the United States on a broad scope of these issues through our Sustainable Development Solutions Working Group.<\/p>\n

Today, and throughout this summit over the course of this week, I look forward to hearing from this group on how we can most effectively deepen our partnership to the benefit of all of our people, and indeed to the benefit of people around the world.\u00a0 And I look forward to continuing this conversation in the months and also the years to come.\u00a0 This is an enduring project for all of us, but I think we also all feel the fierce urgency of now.\u00a0 And that determination is reflected in so much of the work that is being done and is being represented in this room.<\/p>\n

With that, it is a pleasure and honor to turn the floor over to President Tshisekedi to offer some remarks.\u00a0 Mr. President, the floor is now yours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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