By ALICE NACHILEMBE
Zambia’s’s High Commissioner to India Judith Kapijimpanga has urged investors to be environmentally sensitive as they invest in Zambia.
Ms Kapijimpanga said that there was no need to continue with a business-as-usual attitude but concerted effort by all stakeholders to play an active role in ecosystem restoration.
“We all know that the stakes are high, because damaged and destabilised ecosystems result in drought, famine, disease, and inevitable mass migrations and conflict that accompany such disasters if we neglect the environment,” she said.
She praised India for promoting ecosystem restoration through initiatives such as Green India, Clean Energy, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Clean Ganga Mission, National Air Quality Index (NAQI), Toilets Before Temples and Water Conservation.
Ms Kapijipanga was speaking in New Delhi, India, during the Indian Council for Human Relations (ICCR) Virtual celebration of the World Environment Day, the United Nations’ principal vehicle for encouraging awareness and action for the protection of the environment.
“Zambia believes that the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change are the most powerful manifestations yet, of the global recognition that economic growth and poverty reduction can no longer be achieved at the expense of environmental degradation,” she said.
Ms Kapijimpanga said the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) had adapted the ecosystem-based adaptation approaches that will complement solutions to address effects of climate change.
She said Zambia believes that without reviving ecosystems, the world could not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals or the Paris Climate Agreement.
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