Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said the climate crisis will harm the world’s most vulnerable people first and foremost, highlighting the urgent need to enhance disaster risk reduction through early warning mechanisms; using trained manpower, resource mobilization, capacity building, technical assistance, and national financial support.
Madbouly made the remarks at a roundtable entitled “Climate change and sustainability in fragile communities”, which was co-chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) currently held in Egypt.
The roundtable was attended by Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The prime minister emphasized the importance of strengthening coordination and partnership among actors concerned with climate, disaster risk reduction, and emergency response at all local and international levels with a view to devising “holistic responses” to climate-induced disasters.
In this regard, Madbouli highlighted the relevant role played by the Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center, as well as the Action for Water Adaptation and Resilience (AWARE) initiative that was launched by Egypt’s presidency of COP27 in cooperation with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The prime minister stressed that early warning systems, which enable individuals and societies to respond to danger in a timely and appropriate manner, can save countless lives and livelihoods threatened by climate-related disasters.
Madbouli added that the Egyptian presidency of COP27 calls on developed countries to follow up on the implementation of their commitments made at the previous climate summit (COP26) held in Glasgow as regards doubling the funding they provide to developing countries for adaptation by 2025 and establishing effective early warning systems for the most affected people.
In this regard, he pointed out to the Egyptian initiative for national projects in the fields of energy, water and food, noting that it contributes to mitigation and adaptation efforts.
