Sahrawi President: Morocco’s practices in the occupied territories exacerbate the effects of climate change

The Sahrawi President and Secretary-General of the Polisario Front, Ibrahim Ghali, presented today, Tuesday, to the participants in the works of the African Climate Summit held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, his country’s contributions to preserving the environment, warning at the same time that the practices of the Moroccan occupation in the occupied Saharan lands, which are carried out outside the law international, exacerbating the effects of climate change.
In his speech, President Ghali touched on the Sahrawi Republic’s policy on the green economy and the approach adopted to combat climate change, as he stressed that his country, “which is facing those challenges related to climate change, is at the same time engaged in a valiant struggle for decolonization of its lands, which are linked and overlapping challenges.” .
In this context, he explained that “the practices of the Moroccan occupation in the occupied territories of the Sahrawi Republic, which are carried out outside international law, without accountability or control, exacerbate the effects of climate change, such as settlement, industrialization, the development of plundering mechanisms in the field of marine fishing, and the depletion of water and agricultural resources.” for the purpose of export.”
The wall of military occupation, which divides the Western Sahara into two parts, deprives the lands liberated from the Sahrawi Republic of water, “which constitutes a serious environmental deterioration that increases the effects of the drought in the region, as it led to profound changes in the surface of the earth, which became more vulnerable to wind erosion and water stagnation,” the Sahrawi president emphasized.
With regard to the areas mined by the occupation, adjacent to the wall, they have become uninhabitable and have limited economic productivity. All these enormous challenges – adds President Ibrahim Ghali – “required us to take practical measures that are appropriate to the existing situation,” referring in the context to the development of the Sahrawi Republic for its nationally determined contribution, which identifies urgent measures to adapt to climate change and mitigate its severity by promoting development based on Renewable energy, rather than fossil energy.
Also, Mr. Ghali says, the experience of projects to extend rural areas to liberated lands with electricity has been approved, depending on solar energy and wind energy, including solar water pumps, in support of livestock and agricultural wealth, noting that his country has established solar energy systems to support medical facilities in the regions. remote and isolated.
President Ghali stressed that the United Nations’ delay in completing the process of decolonization of Western Sahara, the last colony in Africa, “cannot be a justification for the Sahrawi Republic’s failure to fully engage in the global effort to address climate change and its devastating effects,” considering that his country was deprived of access to funds. Allocated to address the climate change crisis and from technical support, through the climate financing mechanisms of the United Nations and others, “is unreasonable.”
The Sahrawi president pleaded before the summit for his country’s right and duty to contribute with Africa and the world in this existential battle, and to share its experience gained through decades of coexistence with harsh climatic conditions, with other peoples and nations.