Lack of data hinders fight against environmental crimes in Angola, says environmentalist

Angola has signed onto the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment, committing to phase out HCFCs by 2030 and cut HFCs 80% by 2045, while droughts, floods, and soil degradation affect more than 2.2 million people. Érica Tavares, a 29-year-old co-founder of the NGO EcoAngola, told Mongabay Brazil that comparing the country's environmental state now to five years ago is nearly impossible because the underlying data on pollution, water reserves, and biodiversity simply doesn't exist in usable form.

Tavares said civil society activity and funding have grown, but oversight and accountability for environmental crimes remain minimal. She traced her own path to activism back to a childhood flood in her home and unanswered questions later resolved through an Environmental Biology degree at the University of Nottingham. She also contrasted Angolan youth activism, hampered by limited phone and internet access and personal risk, with the more institutionally supported advocacy she encountered from Nordic peers at a 2021 UN youth climate conference.

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