The country has been cyclically victim of the effects of climate change, which cause great damage, because of its vulnerabilitydue to its location. Since its occurrence cannot be prevented, the solution is to mitigate the country's risks.

According to the Minister of Land and Environment, Ivete Maibaze, the solution is to adopt strategies that allow contemporary and future generations to live with this phenomenon without it causing major damage and one of which was the approval in 2018 of an $11 billion budget.

"The country has been undertaking several actions under the Government's Five-Year Program 2020-2024, which highlights in its priority three - strengthening the sustainable management of natural resources and the environment whose strategic objective four is to reduce the vulnerability of communities, the economy and infrastructure to climate risks and natural and anthropogenic calamities," Maibaze said.

In parallel to these actions, Miabaze advanced that, at this moment, an action plan is being prepared that will be in force from 2022 to 2025; it is an instrument that serves for the prevention and mitigation of natural disasters.

The efforts are not only from the country and, according to the holder of the environment portfolio, the SADC approved the establishment of a Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Center, which will operate in the city of Nacala Port in Nampula.

"It is a unique initiative in Africa, which aims to bring greater meshing in the emergency operations of national disaster risk management entities and between them and the SADC disaster risk reduction unit," he said.

The pandemic of COVID-19, poverty, and the country's weak policy and technical capabilities are the main barriers that, on its own, the country may not be able to overcome, hence the support of international organizations.

The minister was speaking during the country's first national conference on climate change, which aims to discuss better ways to mitigate its effects.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator, Myrta Kaulard, reiterated her support for the country as, in her view, climate change has increased the incidence of extreme weather events and this imposes additional and aggravating costs on the country, which further reduces the Government's ability to meet development needs.

"Therefore, building environmental, social and economic resilience to climate change is an absolute imperative and sustainable management of the environment and mineral resources can lead to a gain of over 17% of annual GDP and this can help climate resilience enormously," Kaulard pointed out.

For its part, the private sector is talking about heavy losses because of the weather events that buffeted the country in 2019 with cyclones Idai and Kenneth, and the following year with cyclones Chalane and Eloise.

According to Vasco Manhiça, vice president of the CTA, because of the situation in 2019, in addition to the loss of life and destruction of infrastructure, the losses to the private sector cost about USD 550 million and in 2020 were about 60 million meticais.

The conference takes place under the theme "Mozambique for Climate Resilience and Sustainable Development".