The World Bank has warned of the risk of worsening poverty in Mozambique over the next three decades due to the effects of climate change.
According to a report on Climate and Development, released last Friday, 1 December, the “impacts of climate change could drive up to 1.6 million additional people into poverty by 2050, further exacerbating the factors of fragility in most of the country”.
The document assesses how climate change and global decarbonisation could impact Mozambicans and the country’s development in the coming decades and points out four ways to mitigate the possible impacts, based on adaptation, resilience and low-carbon growth.
Adopting economy-wide measures to increase the country’s adaptive capacity, prioritising the development and maintenance of critical infrastructure, protecting the most vulnerable while promoting green, resilient and inclusive growth and capitalising on Mozambique’s energy and mineral wealth are the suggestions made in the report.
“Mozambique needs to fully incorporate climate change into its national development strategy so that it becomes more resilient and able to adapt to the challenges and opportunities posed by climate change,” emphasised Idah Pswarayi-Riddihough, World Bank director for Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros and Seychelles.
Quoted by Terra magazine, the report highlights the fact that Mozambique’s contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions is minimal (0.21 per cent), which contrasts with the impacts it has suffered, making it one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change.
On the other hand, the document estimates that the level of investment needed by 2030 to achieve climate resilience of the country’s human, physical and natural capital amounts to 37.2 billion dollars.
“The cost of inaction is likely to be higher. However, expected revenues from liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales will increase the country’s debt sustainability and could generate significant budget space to support investments in adaptation and climate resilient infrastructure, although these revenues are only expected after 2030. In the meantime, investments in resilience and adaptation should be centred on the most urgent needs,” reads the text.
