Ethiopia Remains Committed in Advancing Africa’s Common Positions on Environment

Ethiopia has reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to advancing Africa's common position on the environmental related affairs, according to the Ministry of Planning and Development.As the current chair of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN), the East African nation shared its strategic approaches in addressing the issue of climate change in the 10th Special Session of AMCEN was held in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.The session was conducted from 30 August to 6 September 2024 under the theme 'Raising Africa's Ambition to Reduce Land Degradation, Desertification, and Drought,' it was learned.Briefing journalists today, Environment and Climate Change Agreement Strategic Partnership Head at the Ministry of Planning and Development Mensur Dessie said Ethiopia will work towards advancing the common environmental issues of the African continent.Ministers have endorsed an Omnibus decision on advancing Africa's common positions at Conferences of the parties and other meetings, the head stated.Mensur underscored that Ethiopia has been doing utmost effort towards realizing the stands of the continent on environment .He added that the adoption of the Abidjan Declaration on raising Africa's ambition to reduce desertification, land degradation and drought was a pivotal achievement of the conference.Ethiopia will play its role in order to maintain a unified voice and common positions to address common challenges of Africa in this regard, Mensur affirmed.The head also renewed Ethiopia's firm stand to intensify its critical role in the priorities of the continent.According to the Africa Natural Capital Atlas, Africa holds 8 percent of the world's natural gas, 12 percent of its oil reserves, and 30 percent of global mineral deposits while its fisheries are valued at over 24 billion USD, and it contains more than 60 percent of the world's undeveloped arable land.However, Mensur emphasized that having a unified and common position to the environmental challenges that the continent is facing is of p aramount importance.Source: Ethiopian News Agency