Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Government has called for concerted efforts and increased international cooperation in addressing weather induced calamities and disasters.
Republican Vice President Mutale Nalumango says the need for international cooperation in addressing disasters in Zambia has never been greater than now when the country is experiencing floods and dry spells as was the case during the 2018/2019 rainy season when food insecurity affected over 2.4 million people due to floods.
Mrs Nalumango says the new dawn government has therefore placed a high premium on addressing weather induced calamities and environmental degradation by ensuring that the country benefits from the green economy associated with sustainable use of natural resources.
She has stressed the need for all citizens to place care for premium contribution to prevent calamities such as floods and droughts which are highly linked to over-exploitation of natural resources thereby causing deforestation,pollution as well as excessive land degradation.
The vice president said this in a speech read on her behalf by Minister of green economy and environment Collins Nzovu during the commemoration of the 2021 international day of risk reduction, under the global theme,” International Cooperation for developing countries to reduce their disaster risk and disaster losses, with the local theme being “ enhancing international cooperation for ZAMBIA TO REDUCE Disaster losses for sustainable development.
And speaking earlier, DMMU acting national coordinator , Joshua Kamanya said the frantic efforts that DMMU has made in the past years to combat all forms of disasters have been possible though the goodwill of cooperating partners.
And UN RESIDENT COORDINATOR, DR. COUMBA MAR GADIO said the UN in Zambia remains available to support the government in designing interventions to build resilience in communities to help them withstand the shocks arising from the persistent threats and hazards.
She added that the UN stands ready to support the Office of the Vice President through the DMMU as well as relevant Government line ministries and institutions to strengthen their capacity in Disaster Risk Reduction through the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) partnership.