Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu T. C. Skelemani speaks during the general debate of the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at the UN headquarters in New York, on Oct. 1, 2013. (Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)

Botswana on Tuesday called for more support for vulnerable countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, to deal with effects of climate change.

Phandu Skelemani, Botswana's minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, made the statement when he spoke at the General Debate of the UN General Assembly, a week-long event which is scheduled to conclude here Tuesday.

"More needs to be done particularly to assist vulnerable countries in semi-arid and arid areas and landlocked and transit countries such as my own which are susceptible to drought and desertification," said Phandu.

He said some of the notable manifestations of climate change are extreme temperatures, shortage of water, land degradation, desertification and persistent drought.

"Climate change also adversely impacts on health and food security," he said.

"Financial support, technology transfer and capacity building need to be generously extended to this special category of countries in order to assist them with adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change," he added.

In addition to climate change, Skelemani said Botswana remains committed to making progress on the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to contributing to a sustainable development agenda beyond 2015.

"In this regards, utmost priority is given to the implementation of poverty eradication programs," the minister said, focusing particularly on vulnerable communities and groups, such as women, youth, the elderly and people with disabilities.