By A Correspondent- President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said he is eagerly looking forward to his first visit to the United Kingdom when he attends the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) scheduled for the 23rd and 24th of November in Glasgow, Scotland.
He revealed this in a twitter thread where he said that because Zimbabwe felt
I am eagerly looking forward to my first visit to the United Kingdom. @COP26 meeting of nations comes at an extraordinary time in world history. Many countries are still battling the pandemic whilst having to undertake immense changes to our economies to meet climate goals.
The discussions @COP26 are going to be an important step in agreeing to a collective way forward.
For Zimbabwe, we feel the impact of climate change more than others. Our temperatures have risen by approximately 2°C over the past century. Which has seen a significant increase in extreme weather. In the past two decades alone, we have had to deal with 10 droughts.
If the world doesn’t step up, we will see jobs lost, livelihoods destroyed, and people will lose their lives. That is something we must avoid and why Zimbabwe is coming to the table with ambitious plans to tackle climate change.
Zimbabwe has now committed to reducing emissions by 40% before 2030. The time for words is over – we must act now.
While we will offer to hasten our economic transformation, we do need to remain alive to the shocks of drought and the impact of climate change through necessary social safety nets. I will be appealing for multilateral support to supplement our efforts.
Zimbabwe has come a long way over the past three years, I hope our presence @COP26 and our commitment to the global fight against climate change will be recognised as part of our ongoing re-engagement campaign.
Meanwhile, ousted Ntabazinduna chief Nhlanhlayamangwe Ndiweni on Thursday last week led a group of demonstrators to the Zimbabwean embassy in the United Kingdom (UK) calling for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to be barred from participating at the event.