Angola

Located in the southwest of Africa, the Republic of Angola gained its independence from the Portuguese in 1975 with a civil war that lasted until 1991. The country covers 481,354 sq. mi. (1.24 million sq. km), with a population of 14.5 million (2009 est.) and a population density of 38.4 people per sq. mi. (14.8 per sq. km). The largest concentration of people remains in Luanda, the capital, which has nearly a quarter of the entire country's population. The soil in Angola has always been poor, with only 2 percent of the land arable, and there are no permanent cultivated crops. Some 23 percent of the land is used as meadows or pasture, with large cattle herds adding to the increasing desertification of the country. There have also been problems associated with plans by the Portuguese to grow cotton in Angola from the 1930s. This used a great deal of water and has been responsible for further difficulties in the country's agricultural program.

The result has been that the economy heavily relies on the sale of petroleum, which contributes about 40 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. This reliance on oil contributes to the high use of fossil fuels for electricity production, with about 25 percent of Angola's electricity coming from fossil fuels (down from 40 percent 10 years earlier) and 75 percent from hydropower (up from 60 percent). The bulk of the country's hydroelectric electricity generation takes place at the Cambambe (Capanda) dam located on the Cuanza River, with further production at the Biopio and Lomaum dams located along the Catumbela River. In addition, there are other hydroelectric power generation plants such as that at Luachimo, used by the diamond mining works, but the war led to the damage of areas such as the Ruacaná Falls dam, which was out of action for a long period. The latter is now used to generate power for both Angola and Namibia. To assist in the increase in hydropower production, from 1998 until 2002, the government invested $200 million in its National Dam Rehabilitation Program and has earmarked $800 million to spend over the next 20 years to keep pace with the expected increase in demand for electricity. It is expected that this increased use of hydropower generation might also help provide power for neighboring countries. Joao Borges, the secretary of state for energy, claimed in September 2010 that Angola was only using 4.4 percent of its total hydropower capacity.

All these factors have helped reduce carbon dioxide emissions from Angola, which are only 0.4 metric tons per capita, although it rose to 0.9 metric tons in 1995 from 0.57 metric tons per person in 1993. The government has also tried to deal with the already relatively low level of emissions from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide.

The Angolan government of José Eduardo dos Santos took part in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) signed in Rio de Janeiro in May 1992, and the government also accepted the Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC on May 8, 2007, the 171st country to do so. The Angolan government has argued that the emphasis on dealing with climate change should go alongside a global political framework for the alleviation of world poverty.

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