By Prince Justice Banda

Lilongwe, August 20, Mana: The Japanese Government has shouldered the first contribution towards implementation of Malawi’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to mitigate the impact of climatic change in Malawi by pumping in $3.8 million (nearly K4 billion) through UNDP-Malawi.

The development was announced on Friday in Lilongwe during a double launch of ‘Malawi’s NDC Implementation Plan’ and ‘Japanese Supplementary Climate Change Budget’ to the tune of close to K4 billion.

The funds supplement the initial budget of $46.5 billion Malawi proposed towards strategic implementation of its NDC Plan to see through the mitigation and adaptation measures of impacts of climate change until 2040.

During the event, the Japanese Ambassador to Malawi, Satoshi Iwakiri said apart from promoting African Trade and economic prosperity, his government is also committed to supporting African initiatives in mitigating and adaptation to the impacts climate change.

“My government is always ready to help African countries, including Malawi in a number of issues such as trade, economic development and most importantly, in enhancing means to mitigate and adapt to climatic changes.

On his part, UN Resident Representative in Malawi, Shigeki Komatsubara said the funds provided by the Japanese Government will help improve Malawi’s access to clean and affordable energy, ecosystem, landscape restoration and climate resilient agriculture systems.

“This funding will help to facilitate zero emission of Green House Gas (GHG) on climate-resilient development in response to the climate emergency by improving access to clean and affordable energy, ecosystem, landscape restoration and climate resilient agriculture system,” Komatsubara said.

In a separate interview, Malawi’s Minister of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Honourable Eisenhower Mkaka commended the environmental-related initiatives Malawi is undertaking, saying they will not only facilitate the means in mitigating and adapting to climate change but also help in creating job opportunities to Malawians.

“Malawians should understand that despite its priority objective, Implementation Plan for NDC is capable of creating at least 216 thousand green jobs in the areas of irrigation farming, solar generated electricity, production of liquefied gas, production of briquettes and many more,” Mkaka said.

Meanwhile, Director of Environmental Affairs, Taonga Mbale-Luka has said incidents of droughts, flooding as well as cyclones remain the most dangerous forms of natural disasters Malawi is facing as a result of climatic change.

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