SPEAKER of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda has urged parliamentarians to play a key role in addressing global climate change challenges.
Mudenda said this at the International Day of Parliamentarism celebrations held in Portugal last week.
“We are celebrating the International Day of Parliamentarism amid a myriad of global challenges including inequalities, climate change horrific impacts, terrorism, war conflicts, and food insecurity,” he said.
Mudenda added: “Parliamentarism ought to address global challenges which require appropriate global solutions. Accordingly, the International Day of Parliamentarism entails us to embrace this responsibility with humility, unflinching dedication to duty, and a deep sense of purpose for democracy for everyone to thrive.
“Climate change is a phenomenal existential threat to humankind. Parliamentarism must focus on the ultimate goal of the IPU’s action on climate so that all people can live on a healthier planet with global warming limited to 1,5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels.”
He also said the youth should be given room to participate and contribute to the climate change discourse.
“Proposed solutions forwarded by young people should not only be listened to but actioned expeditiously. We owe it to the youth that we must bequeath to them a sustainable environmental ecosystem.
“The current older generation will be cursed by posterity for the dereliction of duty in the failure to preserve the environmental equilibrium,” Mudenda said.
