On Friday, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan flew to Glasgow, Scotland, to attend the 26th United Nations (U.N.) Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).
During her speech, Hassan urged developed countries to accomplish the climate finance goal of donating $100 billion by 2025 to expedite the implementation of the Paris Agreement.
The agreement was made in 2009.
“We know what is required and we know that if the world will not act accordingly, the countries like ours with lower adaptive capacity have no option but to brace for more devastating impacts. Our pride, the Mount Kilimanjaro, is drastically becoming bald due to glacier melting,” said Hassan.
Vice-President of Nigeria, Oluyemi Osinbajo, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, the Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and the Executive Secretary of U.N. Commission for Africa, Dr. Vera Songwe, were all in attendance.
The president spoke candidly about how Tanzania’s natural beauty has been impacted, which has led to a decline in tourism.
“Our exotic and beautiful archipelago, Zanzibar, is struggling with temperature rises, saltwater intrusion and inundation, thus impacting its tourism ecology,” she explained. “What does all this mean to a poor country like Tanzania? It means 30% of our GDP (gross domestic product) that comes from agriculture, forestry and fisheries is not sustainable.”
In 2017, Tanzania expressed its disappointment with then-President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord.
“We are disappointed by the decision because the U.S. is one of the biggest emitters of pollution in the world,” said January Makamba, the East African nation’s Minister of State in the Vice-President’s Office responsible for environmental matters.
At the summit, President Joe Biden apologized for the exit.
“I guess I shouldn’t apologize, but I do apologize for the fact that the United States — the last administration pulled out of the Paris accord. It put us sort of behind the eight ball a little bit,” he said during a session on “action and solidarity.”
During his presidential campaign, Biden vowed to rejoin the Paris accord. At the summit, he remained committed to his pledge.
“We can keep the goal of limiting global warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius within our reach if we come together. If we commit to doing our part with each of our nations with determination and with ambition,” he said adding it “must be the kickoff of a decade of ambition and innovation to preserve our shared future.”
