new campaign logo is displayed at the podium before Democratic
presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden and his
running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) arrive to deliver remarks at
the Alexis Dupont High School on August 12, 2020 in Wilmington,
Delaware. Harris is the first Black woman and first person of
Indian descent to be a presumptive nominee on a presidential ticket
by a major party in U.S. history. Drew Angerer/Getty
Images/AFP
Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden and his vice
presidential pick Kamala Harris — the first black woman tapped by a
major party for the post — rolled out their campaign Wednesday with
a call to restore a broken nation.
Biden, speaking alongside Harris in his Delaware hometown of
Wilmington, said it was time after one term of President Donald
Trump to “rebuild this country.”
“Everything we care about,” Harris said, “it’s all on the
line.”
Harris — a 55-year-old senator who would also be the first woman
elected to the White House if the Democratic duo wins — pummeled
the Republican president, saying he “just isn’t up for the
job.”
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden’s
running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) listens to Biden make
remarks at the Alexis Dupont High School on August 12, 2020 in
Wilmington, Delaware. Harris is the first Black woman and first
person of Indian descent to be a presumptive nominee on a
presidential ticket by a major party in U.S. history. Drew
Angerer/Getty Images/AFP
Harris, the daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrants to the
United States, also sought to tap into the nationwide upheaval over
police violence and racial disparities.
“We’re experiencing a moral reckoning with racism and systemic
injustice that has brought a new coalition of conscience to the
streets of our country demanding change,” she said.
And referring to her courtroom experience as a veteran
prosecutor and California attorney general, Harris said of the
president and his vice president: “The case against Donald Trump
and Mike Pence is open and shut.”
Trump and Pence have left the country “in tatters,” she
said.
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Biden, who leads in polls against Trump despite running his
campaign almost entirely from his Delaware home due to the
coronavirus shutdown, said the president had failed to lead through
the crisis.
But the 77-year-old promised that he and Harris, who had sought
the Democratic presidential nomination herself before rallying to
his side, would fix “the mess that President Trump and Vice
President Pence have created at home and abroad.”
And he said that Harris’ story as the child of immigrants and a
person of color who fought her way to the top ranks of US legal and
government circles would inspire the country.
“Her story’s America’s story,” he said. “She’s worked hard,
she’s never backed down from a challenge and she has earned each
and every of the accolades,” he said.
“All across America, little girls woke up” with new hope, Biden
said. “Today, just maybe they’re seeing themselves for the first
time in a new way as the stuff of presidents and vice
presidents.”
Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden
and his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) arrive to deliver
remarks at the Alexis Dupont High School on August 12, 2020 in
Wilmington, Delaware. Harris is the first Black woman and first
person of Indian descent to be a presumptive nominee on a
presidential ticket by a major party in U.S. history. Drew
Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)
Biden sniped at Trump, who has called Harris “nasty” for her
combative questioning of Supreme Court justice nominee Brett
Kavanaugh during Senate hearings in 2018.
“Whining is what Donald Trump does best,” Biden said, asking if
anyone was “surprised Donald Trump has a problem with a strong
woman?”
FEC approves Gender Action Plan on Climate
Change
Nigeria on Wednesday made history as the Federal Executive
Council (FEC) approved the first ever National Action Plan on
Gender and Climate Change as a road map to mainstream gender into
the Nationally Determined Contributions and incorporate gender
equality and women’s empowerment into Climate Change discourse and
actions.
Speaking after the FEC meeting, the Minister of Environment, Dr.
Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar said that, “the approval today reaffirmed
Nigeria’s commitments as a party to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement which
President Buhari signed to domesticate the International Gender
Action Plan among member countries to bolster the role of women in
climate action”.
The Action Plan, according to the Minister, presents milestones
for ensuring that in building a climate-resilient Nigeria, the
important and critical roles of women, youth and other vulnerable
groups are carried along in the implementation of relevant national
policies and strategies, including the NDC and the Paris
Agreement.
The priority sectors covered by the plan include Agriculture;
forestry and Land Use; Food Security and Health, Energy and
Transport; Waste Management, Water and Sanitation and covers the
period from 2020-2025 with a midterm review by 2022.
Speaking further, the Minister of State for the Environment,
Chief Sharon Ikeazor said that, “the Federal Ministry of
Environment, through the department of Climate Change, developed
the National Action Plan on Gender and Climate Change that focuses
on effective strategies for integrating gender into the
implementation of the national climate change initiatives,
including the Paris Agreement, the Nationally Determined
Contributions and the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) in
Nigeria”, she stated.
According to ikeazor, Women commonly face higher risks in
responding to natural hazards and greater burden from the impacts
of climate change.
“Although they have intimate local knowledge and are managers of
common natural resources, they are often left out of the picture
when decisions on climate action are made”, she stated.
It is pertinent to mention that Nigeria is one of the few
countries in Africa (including Mozambique, Egypt) that have
developed the Gender Action Plan since it was adopted by COP23 in
Bonn, Germany.
It is expected that the newly approved plan will pave way for
the effective implementation of gender-responsive climate change
initiatives based on an inclusive approach, taking into account the
needs, interests and vulnerabilities of women, men, and youth from
the conceptual phase, through to program design, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.
Ikeazor applauds the support of Women Environmental Programme
(WEP) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) who led
the process of developing the action plan; Climate Change
Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the International Livestock
Research Institute (ILRI) and the Global Alliance for Green and
Gender Action (GAGGA) for their technical and financial support.
(END)
Saghir el Mohammed
Director Press
Federal Ministry of Environment