Nobel Laureate and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Delivers Keynote Address At COP31 — AL1F

[00:00:00] priorities and also solutions to take the center stage. [00:00:05] Your excellencies, on behalf of the COP32 presidency, [00:00:09] please welcome the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, His Excellency, Mr. Abiy Ahmed. [00:00:30] President Tayyip Erdogan, excellencies, heads of state and government, distinguished delegates, [00:00:47] I thank the government and people of Turkey for their warm welcome. [00:00:54] I also would like to thank Australia for leading the negotiations. [00:01:01] In Ethiopia, climate action is economic policy. [00:01:06] When El Nino returns, droughts and floods affect harvests and force families from their homes. [00:01:16] The rain come back, floods subside, but recovery takes much longer. [00:01:22] That's why we are working with communities and local government to act earlier and protect what families have built. [00:01:34] Our climate matters beyond our borders. [00:01:38] More than 90% of our electricity comes from water, including the power we supply to neighboring countries. [00:01:48] Rainfall also sustains the coffee. [00:01:52] Many of you begin your day with. [00:01:56] Ethiopia gave the world Arabica coffee. [00:02:00] But rising temperatures and changing rainfall threaten the forests and the farms where it grows. [00:02:10] Our philosophy of Madamer guides our response. [00:02:14] It brings people and institutions and resources around a common purpose. [00:02:22] Every year, millions of Ethiopians join in planting trees. [00:02:28] Together, we have planted over 56 billion seedlings, restoring degraded land and expanding our forests. [00:02:38] The initiative has created jobs and improved livelihoods. [00:02:46] Planting is now a family habit. [00:02:49] It is teaching us to honor the land we inherit, to live in harmony with nature and to care for what we live to our children. [00:03:00] We are extending that work into our cities, building flood fences, cleaning polluted rivers, and turning their banks into parks and walkways where families gather and children play. [00:03:15] We are also taking a long view with our energy supply, developing wind, solar, and geothermal power, while planning for nuclear, so a dry year does less harm to our economy. [00:03:34] Alongside these investments, we are helping communities to prepare for extreme weather. [00:03:41] We use satellite data to wash the land, and we are improving forecasts with artificial intelligence to give farmers earlier warning. [00:03:55] FIDA, our digital ID, helps us reach families who need support. [00:04:01] But the warning is only effective if people have the means to act on it. [00:04:08] Funding should be agreed in advance. [00:04:13] It can then move at the speed of our forecasts, while there is still time to save lives. [00:04:22] Dependable finance requires cooperation, even as competition between countries grows. [00:04:30] Yet, we discuss climate in one room, development in another, trade and finance in two more. [00:04:39] Many of us sit in all four. [00:04:42] In each of those rooms, we should ask how we will finance the future we have agreed to build. [00:04:53] Developing countries pay nearly one trillion dollars in interest on public debt. [00:05:00] In Sevilla, we recognized that high borrowing costs limit country's capacity to invest in resilience. [00:05:09] Lowering them is a test of our collective credibility. [00:05:14] That understanding now needs to guide the lending decisions of multilateral financial institutions. [00:05:23] To make the future affordable, we also need faster cuts and emissions. [00:05:30] The more we spend coping with climate damage, the less we have to invest in schools, healthcare, and opportunity for our young people. [00:05:42] Ethiopia is doing its part. [00:05:45] We have banned imports of petrol and diesel cars as we switch to EVs. [00:05:54] Those with the greatest responsibility and the means to act, must lead with deeper cuts this decade. [00:06:03] Ethiopia will host COP32. [00:06:07] We will put early action at the center. [00:06:10] Funding released when warning come. [00:06:13] That work should begin here with every pledge of finance, answering three questions. [00:06:24] How much? [00:06:26] By when? [00:06:27] On what terms? [00:06:29] The answers must be clear enough for a government to budget, an investor to commit, and a community to prepare. [00:06:39] Ethiopia will work closely with COP31 presidency for a successful outcome here. [00:06:47] We look forward to welcoming you for COP32 in the land of origins. [00:06:54] Dear friends, our farmers once trusted the seasons to arrive on time. [00:07:01] Let us make sure our support does. [00:07:04] I thank you. [00:07:13] Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. [00:07:19] Ladies and gentlemen, last year, the world gathered in Belem at the heart of the Amazon. [00:07:27] Our next speaker brought the climate conference to the rainforest, and today he brings the work of that COP to here to Antalya. [00:07:38] Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, His Excellency, Luis Inacio Lula de Silva. [00:07:49] Thank you. [00:08:19] Thank you.