Minister of Local Government Lingson Belekanyama has called for collaborative efforts in the fight against negative effects of climate change in the country.

Belekanyama made the appeal in Zomba during the launch of a four-year Building  Urban Climate Change Resilience in South-Eastern Africa project. 

Among others the project will construct evacuation centers, purchase waste management vehicles and forest restoration in Zomba city. 

Belekanyama therefore stressed the need for the communities to take ownership of the structures that will be built  through the project.

He also urged those implementing the project to corporate with the residents for the project to meet its intended purpose.

“The message that I can have is that they should cooperate so that the projects should realize the benefit out of it,” Belekanyama said.

Country Director for Oxfam Lingalireni Mihowa said as a grant holder they will make sure that all conditions that are involved are met.

Mihowa said the key issue of choosing Zomba was to meet the challenges that the city is facing due to effects of climate change.

“Zomba qualified because of the vulnerability as the city was affected by floods in 2015 and then it has also had some challenges in climate change issues and also on a basis of being a small city,” she said.

With K2 billion funding from UN-habitat, Building Urban Climate Change Resilience in South-Eastern Africa project among others aims at making sure that residents are resilient to climate shocks and their livelihoods are protected.

Four African eastern region cities in four countries namely Malawi, Mozambique, Comoros and Madagascar are expected to benefit from the project.