Government Hails World Bank’s Financial Support in Various Fields

Minister of Green Economy and Environment says Government is grateful to the World Bank for the financial and technical support that the institution continues to provide in various fields.

Speaking during a courtesy call by World Bank Inception Mission on Zambia’s Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), Mike Mposha said Government appreciates the Bank’s on-going support to the Ministry through the Transforming Landscapes for Resilience and Development (TRALARD).

Mr. Mposha noted that these and other projects have contributed significantly in improving people’s lives, meeting the country’s development aspirations.

He stated that Zambia needs all the empirical information to understand the vulnerabilities and be better prepared to respond to the challenges the country is facing.

Mr. Mposha pointed out that Zambia is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as droughts and floods which pose a major threat to the sustainable development aspirations of our country outlined in the vision 2030 and national development plans.

He said this is evidenced by the devastating drought experienced by the country this year which has affected water, food and energy security, and the livelihoods of millions of people.

“I am aware that on this mission, you are focusing on gathering information to feed into the preparation of Zambia’s Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR). This is very useful, especially with the challenges that we are experiencing as a country, we need all the empirical information we can lay our hands on to understand our vulnerabilities and be better prepared to respond to these challenges,” Mr. Mposha stated.

He assured that Government is doing everything possible in implementing immediate, medium- and long-term measures as a response to this challenge.

“I have no doubt that this Report you are working on would fall in one of these categories and would contribute to deepen our understanding,” he added.

And World Bank Senior Economist Dominick De Waal said one way to deal with these challenges is to determine where the country is today and redefine where it should get to.

Mr. De Waal commended Zambia for the work done to mitigate the impact of Climate Change.
“One of the best ways to deal with Climate Change is to link it to development,” he said.