02 Nov 2023

Climate change is accelerating at an alarming speed and the race against it has to be urgent if the phenomenon is to be curtailed.

Speaking during a workshop to capacitate Members of Parliament in Gaborone on November 1, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Dr Balazs Horvath implored the legislators to act now for the future.

“As legislators, you have a key role to play in the fight against climate change because you are the ones at the helm of making and influencing policies. You have to act through relevant and honest policies now to avert future disasters,” he said.

He also cautioned that any delays in climate change action were likely to increase the costs and risks of dealing with climate adaptation and that it would also likely reverse all the developmental achievements.

Dr Horvath advised that in policy formulation, the costs and benefits to every member of the society had to be considered and that basic issues such as adaptive measures had to be in-built in the society.

He said Botswana was highly exposed to climate change and its associated risks and that the projected temperatures locally were rising much more than the global average.

“There are likely to be frequent and increasingly severe meteorological hazards, declining water supply and this is coupled with a low productive capacity in agriculture, which can lead to food insecurity and leave the population vulnerable,” he said.

Dr Horvath said climate change would lead to pressure on natural resources and ecosystems in the foreseeable future.

These effects, he said, would be felt much more by countries such as Botswana that have rich bio-diversities.

He said other risks included disease burden.

For his part, the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Wildlife, Tourism, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi appreciated UNDP for its global support on issues of climate change

He said the fact that UNDP had so far assisted about 118 countries was commendable.

He however, raised concern that Botswana was not pursuing such assistance like other African countries.  “Other countries benefit immensely from such assistance from development partners like UNDP. This also helps in sustainable development,” he said.

Member of Parliament for Nkange, Dr Never Tshabang called on the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to increase outreach activities on climate change in the community.

He also implored the ministry to work more with scientists on issues of climate change. ENDS