AU Chairman urges rich countries to concretise aid pledges to support conservation
Gaborone, Botswana (PANA) - Angolan President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco has called on the rich countries to make good on their pledge to support environmental conservation.
“There can be no lasting development without a balance between economic growth and preservation of natural resources,” the Angolan President, the Chairman of the African Union, said in a speech delivered for him at the First African Biodiversity Summit in Gaborone.
Emphasising Africa’s rich biodiversity, including natural resources, wildlife, floura and fauna, was under threat unless urgently saved from destruction, the Angolan leader said African countries should also take the challenge of mobilising sustainable and predictable finance.
“International commitments must translate into concrete support for African countries,” President Lourenco said in the speech delivered for him by the Angolan Environment Minister Ana Paula Chantre de Calvalho Pereira.
The just-ended Africa Biodiversity Summit discussed the financial challenges facing countries in supporting the conservation of biodiversity, which is a critical component for Africa’s economic prosperity, given the contribution of trees, wildlife and rivers to economic well-being.
Angola proposed the AU members should promote domestic financing for conservation, focusing on green investments, which recognise nature as a form of natural capital to be prioritised in biodiversity conservation.
“The conservation of biodiversity is more than an environmental duty. It is a matter of sovereignty, dignity and climate justice,” the Angolan President said.
The Biodiversity Summit was addressed by the President of Botswana, Duma Boko, who emphasised the need for cross-border collaboration in the management of the resource.
Botswana is working on a request by Angola to obtain some of its vast wildlife resources. President Boko said although the request was made by the Angolan President directly, it had not been discussed by the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Wynter Mmolotsi, although the two heads of state agreed.
Botswana is facing an elephant population explosion, thanks to stringent preservation of wildlife.
The elephant population is growing and the country is proposing to send some to neighbouring Namibia and Angola.
“It is urgent to strengthen environmental governance and to integrate biodiversity into public policies. We need strong institutions, science-based policies and participatory management that involves local communities,” the Chairman of the Union told the Summit.
At the Summit, communities living in wildlife zones, scientists, conservations and mobilisers of climate finance, met at parallel sessions to debate the efficiency of the wildlife protection and conservation policies, amid complaints that community conservancies, were less transparent in their management of financial resources meant for conservation.
-0- PANA AO/MA 6Nov2025
