CSOs demand more information sharing and more interventions

CSOs

Maputo, August 2011 - Recognizing that civil society groups are often closer to the communities that government development programmes want to reach, the Government of Mozambique has recently upped its efforts to create a formal partnership with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to facilitate development of climate changes policies.

“Since we work within and for the communities, we need to raise their voices in order to be part of the process ”, said Policarmo Tamele from the NGO “ARO Mozambique” that operates in 8 provinces.

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Civil Society Organizations demand more information sharing and more interventions on Climate Changes in Mozambique.

The effects of climate change have the potential to increase mortality rates in the future and can easily undermine development efforts and increase the vulnerability of poor people, who disproportionately depend on the environment for their livelihoods. This dependency also highlights the need to adopt more sustainable ways of using resources and to include environmental conservation in poverty alleviation interventions, irrespective of climate change concerns.

In order to involve all the main stakeholders, last August UNDP supported a workshop with national CSOs working on Climate Change agenda. The workshop was held in the framework of the country’s need to have a stronger platform of CSOs working on climate change. These CSO would monitor government interventions and serve as a forum representing and defending the interests of the communities who are the ones most affected by the negative impacts of climate change.

The two days’ meeting allowed participants to reflect upon the role of CSOs in mitigating of the negative impacts of climate change. Participants agreed on the need to improve and share information in a coordinated manner among CSOs, and shared information amongst themselves on what they were doing and how their could better interact with the government and other national players in dealing with climate change issues and poverty reduction in the country.

The aim of the meeting was also to inform stakeholders in Mozambique on UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties. This year the Government of Mozambique, via its Ministry of Environment (MICOA), will attend, for the first time, the 17 Conference of Parties (CoP-17) meeting in Durban, South Africa. The Government delegation aims to be joined by a delegation of well organized and coordinated Mozambican CSOs members, equipped with the technical skills to negotiate with other Nations.

The annual Conference of the Parties (COP) assesses progress in dealing with climate change and takes forward the negotiations for an instrument for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It widely expected that the conference in South will successful lead to the finalization of a legally binding instrument and finalizations on the operationalization of the Green Climate Fund.

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Participants during the coffee break

CSO members at the workshop raised a number of different issues were pointed out and recommended for adoption by Mozambican delegation for COP-17 Negotiations. For example, Nilza Matavel from “Justiça Ambiental”, an environmentalist NGO, pointed to the need to invest in clean and renewable energies in Mozambique. She stressed the need of mainstreaming climate change in all planning processes as well as create an efficient monitoring system for uncontrolled burning.

With this platform, CSOs in Mozambique will be able to represent communities better, and to defend community interests in the context of climate change. The platform sent an appeal to developed nations and other environmental polluters to respect communities’ rights and to build a better Green Human Development. Furthermore, the platform demand better protection of natural resources and argues for the government to support them in guaranteeing a better and healthier future.

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