Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez announced the creation of “Plan Venezuela Vive” on Thursday at the COP31 climate summit in the southern Turkish coastal city of Antalya, establishing a national framework to coordinate forest, water and ocean conservation.
“One country, one nature, one future,” Rodriguez told world leaders, stressing that uniting national environmental programs is critical because “either we all act together, or life goes out.”
She warned that humanity faces a “decisive civilizational juncture,” noting that Venezuela is losing its glaciers and recently experienced its most severe weather event in more than 70 years.
Highlighting a “cruel paradox,” Rodriguez noted that Venezuela accounts for only 0.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions while acting as a net carbon sink that absorbs 1.8 tons of carbon for every ton emitted.
Addressing ocean degradation, Rodriguez warned that seas absorb 90% of excess planetary heat and suffer from suffocating plastic pollution.
She added that Venezuela has been legally protecting more than 64% of its territory and has reforested nearly 70,000 hectares (172,974 acres) since 2008.
Rodriguez noted that Venezuela relies on hydropower for 80% of its electricity and has cut gas flaring intensity per barrel for four consecutive years.
Arguing that a just energy transition “does not shut down economies, it transforms them,” she defended Caracas’ sovereign right to “responsibly strengthen” its oil and energy industry “as a major engine for national development.”
She concluded by invoking renowned Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet on humanity’s fundamental need for a piece of soil and a piece of sky, urging delegates not to let either be extinguished.
By Yasin Gungor
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
