İtalya'dan Esvatini'ye 2,2 Milyon Euro'luk İklim Desteği

Two Italian-funded climate projects inaugurated in Eswatini

(ANSA) - MBABANE, 03 LUG - The “Greening the RFM Hospital” project, funded by the Italian government with 2.2 million euros and implemented through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), was inaugurated today at the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital in Manzini, Eswatini. The initiative, which stemmed from a memorandum of understanding signed in 2017 between the two countries’ ministries of the environment, has equipped the facility with a 1 MW photovoltaic system featuring battery storage and energy-efficient equipment, enabling the decommissioning of a coal-fired boiler. The project “has cut the hospital’s monthly energy costs in half”—the hospital serves as a healthcare hub for approximately 350,000 people in the Manzini region—and demonstrates that “climate action, healthcare delivery, and economic efficiency can advance together,” said Gabriele Annis, Italy’s ambassador to Maputo—who also has jurisdiction over Eswatini—in his remarks at the ceremony, attended by Deputy Prime Minister Thulisile Dladla. Also celebrated at the event was the project to strengthen early warning systems and climate services—also funded by Italy—which led to the installation of ten automatic weather stations and eight river flow monitoring stations. According to Jacopo Betti of the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, following the new memorandum signed in October 2025 and the first joint committee meeting in January, the inauguration “is not the end of a journey, but the beginning of a new chapter in the partnership between Italy and Eswatini.” Read article...