UN Resident Coordinator | Video Message on UN Day
UN For a Resilient Zimbabwe
Warm greetings from the UN family in Zimbabwe and a big thank you to all for joining us in celebrating the 76th anniversary of the United Nations organization.
Established at the end of World War II, the UN has grown from the original 51 Member States in 1945 to the current 193 Member States. A truly global force for peace.
This year, we dedicated the UN day in Zimbabwe to focus on youth and innovation for SDGs: “For a resilient Zimbabwe”.
It is a call for the active participation of Zimbabwean youth to drive forward the SDGs agenda and to ensure that Zimbabwe emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic building forward a stronger and resilient Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is a country of young people: with around 63% under the age of 24.
Investing in education, job creation and ensuring an enabling environment for young people results in the demographic dividend of prosperity.
The sustainable use of a country’s natural endowments-of land, energy and water is an essential part of the equation.
Moving towards a more sustainable growth path, that is low carbon and climate resilient with youth innovators will enable Zimbabwe to build on and conserve its natural resource base.
That is why Investing in young people is one of the smartest investments that any country can make.
Around the planet, youth of today are showing impressive leadership on climate change, which remains the defining existential challenge of the modern era.
In preparation for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change otherwise known as COP26 taking place in Glasgow in a few days’ time, a youth-for-climate-pre- summit was convened in Italy from 28 to 30 September 2021.
Zimbabwe was well represented by three young people, whom I was lucky to meet. I got a sense of their enthusiasm, energy, and determination to do what it takes to strengthen their communities and the planet.
The COP 26 was also preceded by a high-level UN dialogue on energy held at the end of September 2021 in New York.
At this important meeting, governments committed to provide electricity to over 166 million people worldwide. The private sector also pledged to reach over 200 million people with renewable energy.
These initiatives put green economy at the center of renewed global efforts to integrate environmental and social considerations with mainstream economic decision-making.
COP 26 is an urgent and determining chance for the World and Zimbabwe to rebalance so that wealth and progress are not attained at the expense of growing environmental risks, ecological scarcities, and social disparities.
Recently, the Government of Zimbabwe approved the revised National Determined Contributions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60%.
This is also in line with the Paris Agreement and other enabling frameworks such as Environment Management Act, national Environment Policy and Climate Change Strategy, and important institutions such as the Environment Management Agency.
But making a concrete reality of these ambitious and important policies needs the action of all – government, civil society, private sector, and at the center young people.
Climate change and sustainable land-use, natural resources are at the heart of the SDGs and thus a priority for the UN in Zimbabwe as exemplified in the Zimbabwe UN Sustainable Cooperation Framework 2022-2026.
This is not new for the United Nations system in Zimbabwe and just to give some examples:
- Over one million people in 23 vulnerable districts have been supported through the resilience building fund to respond to and recover from climate change shocks.
- Rolled out Green Climate Fund project in 15 Districts across three provinces of Manicaland, Masvingo and Matabeleland South to strengthen vulnerable smallholder farmers, especially women, to adapt to climate change.
- Implementation of Zimbabwe’s Nationally Determined Contributions and youth engagement under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
With these remarks, allow me to conclude by saying that achieving the transition to a green economy is not the preserve of government, international development agencies or the private sector.
We all have a role to play, and we count on our youth to bring their innovative perspective to table for a green, and climate-smart economy.
As the UN Secretary General, Mr. Antonio Guterres said, “The values that have powered the UN Charter for the last 76 years — peace, development, human rights, and opportunity for all — have no expiry date”.
The UN in Zimbabwe remains committed in this journey.
Happy United Nations Day and thank you for your attention.
Goals we are supporting through this initiative
