Africa Needs to “take action from within” in Fighting Climate Change: Bishop in Angola

The response the challenge of climate change, the Local Ordinary of Namibe said, “depends on the politicians because they are the ones who determine and order social or climate policies.”

“But the community as a whole, we the faithful and all the people, each of us must do our part,” he went on to say, adding that taking action is urgent because “we Africans are the ones to suffer more from climate change than those countries that pollute, or produce a lot of rubbish or have factories that destroy the ozone layer.”

He further lamented, “As some technicians, experts, say, Africa contributes almost nothing to the greenhouse gases, but is the one that suffers the consequences.”

Reflecting on the case of Angola, Bishop Hisiilenapo said the Southern African nation is already suffering from the consequences of climate change, starting with the unusual rains in November. 

“It means that something is actually abounding, and you know the real consequences, the flooding in the end, so Angola also has to prepare itself, in terms of the desert, in terms of its cities, the pollution,” he said.

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The 57-year-old Angolan Bishop who has been at the helm of Namibe Diocese since his Episcopal Consecration in September 2011 further decried infrastructural limitations in the country, saying, “The problem is also that our physical structures aren't prepared for the rains and don't have maintenance rehabilitation.”

“I think another big problem is the maintenance of our bridges and our roads,” Bishop Hisiilenapo said, and continued, “Angola's problem is a problem of conscience and of thinking about the future generations.”

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate.