Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, during a visit in Pretoria, South Africa. Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, right, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, left, talk during their meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, front right, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, front left, shake hands during their meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)
Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, during a visit in Pretoria, South Africa. Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)
DF
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, right, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, left, talk during their meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)
DF
South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, front right, and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, front left, shake hands during their meeting in Pretoria, South Africa. Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Shiraaz Mohamed)
MASERU, Lesotho (AP) — United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday urged rich nations to honor their commitments to help the world's poor countries fight climate change in a speech to Lesotho's Parliament and repeated his hope that Africa would soon have permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council.
Guterres is on a three-day visit to southern Africa and was in South Africa on Wednesday. His two-day trip to neighboring Lesotho, a small landlocked mountainous kingdom, will also see him visit the Katse Dam, an integral part of the country's plans to harness its water reserves.
A focus of Guterres' visit has been poor nations in Africa and elsewhere need to deal with the impact of a warming planet. While Africa contributes a tiny amount to global warming, it is one of the worst affected continents.
Countries in Azerbaijan last month to inject at least $300 billion a year with global warming. It was far short of the more than $1 trillion developing countries were calling for.
"Developed countries must meet their commitments ... and deliver the promised $300 billion annually for climate finance," Gutteres said to Lesotho's lawmakers. “Landlocked and least developed countries like yours are especially vulnerable.â€
He also said the that was created to compensate poor countries for natural disasters caused by climate change “must be operationalized swiftly and funded generously by those most responsible for climate destruction.â€
Southern Africa is in the grip of , triggering a hunger crisis that has affected more than 27 million people, according to the U.N. Lesotho is one of several countries to declare national disasters because of the drought's devastating impact on crops.
The drought has been blamed on the naturally occurring El Niño weather phenomenon, but other crises like recent deadly cholera outbreaks and have been attributed to climate change.
by the World Meteorological Organization said African nations are losing up to 5% of their gross domestic product every year and bearing a heavier burden than others from climate change.
Guterres said in South Africa on Wednesday that he hoped that Africa would have at least by the time his term ends in December 2026, although he acknowledged it would be difficult. In Lesotho, he said it was another “injustice†against Africa that a continent of more than 1.4 billion still had no permanent representation on that body.
“When a continent that is home to nearly a fifth of humanity remains systematically excluded from global decision-making, we must call this what it is, a relic of colonialism that has no place in today’s world,†Guterres said.
On Friday, Guterres is due to visit the Katse Dam, which is part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. The project aims to build a series of dams and tunnels to redirect some of Lesotho's water into South Africa's river system to help ease .
