Introduction
20/06/2005 - In December 1968 three men gave
to humanity a gift unique in all recorded
history. They provided us with the first real
glimpse of how fragile and incredibly precious
life on Earth remains. Commander Frank Borman,
Command Module Pilot Jim Lovell, and Lunar
Module Pilot William Anders were the crew
of Apollo 8 the first manned spacecraft
to escape Earth's gravity and to reach the
moon. The video footage that they recorded,
of a small blue sphere hanging in the void,
was the first time that we saw our home from
afar, and their words captured a turning point
in our shared understanding of our place in
the universe. The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring,
they said,And it makes you realise just what
you have back there on Earth.
The message of sustainable development is
too often clouded by academic discussions,
technical jargon, and cryptic acronyms. The
reality is much simpler. It is about ensuring
the future of our people and our planet. It
is the balancing act between growth and development
today, and the health and well-being of our
children tomorrow.
It is also of burning importance to all South
Africans. Our county has incredible natural
resources magnificent landscapes, mineral
riches, and plant and animal diversity. But
ours is also a semi-arid, water-scarce country
in which people and the environment balance
on a very fine edge. For us, sustainable development
is about hard-hitting questions like will
we have enough clean water to drink in ten
or fifteen or twenty years? Will we find by
2020 that our children even know what fynbos
is, or will it be the stuff of history textbooks
alone? Will there be enough soil in our third
and fourth decades of freedom to grow the
food to feed our people? For us, sustainable
development is about survival.
Western Cape Conference & the NSSD
This is why, Programme Director, the Western
Cape Sustainable Development Conference is
so important. This is the first time that
the global message of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development (WSSD) has been translated
into a programme of action on provincial level
in South Africa . I would like to take this
opportunity to thank and congratulate Premier
Ebrahim Rasool and MEC Tasneem Essop for their
leadership and vision in this regard we
can only hope that this conference will provide
a model to be applied in other provinces and
ultimately at the level of local government
as well.
Earlier this year, Cabinet approved the framework
for the development of one of our key objectives
in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation.
It is the National Sustainable Development
Strategy (NPO) that must combine all the programs
such as the Integrated Sustainable Local Development
Program, the Urban Renewal Program as well
as the Provincial Growth and Development Strategies.
We believe that the outcome of this conference
will make an important contribution to the
development of the NSVO, which we aim to complete
by March 2006.
To be successful we must help everyone, in
every community in the Western Cape. That
is why we work together as Government. Creation
is for everyone. We will build this future,
only when we are together.
[Earlier this year Cabinet also approved
a framework for the development of one of
the most important targets in the Johannesburg
Plan of Implementation a National Strategy
for Sustainable Development (NSSD) which will
bring together programmes like the Integrated
Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP),
the Urban Renewal Programme (URP), and the
Provincial Growth and Development Strategies
(PGDS). The outcomes of this conference will,
we believe, feed directly into the NSSD development
process, which we aim to complete by March
next year. For us to succeed we need the help
of every person in every Western Cape community.
This is why we work together in Government.The
environment belongs to all our people. It
is only together that we can build our future]
Protecting the Web of Life Targeting SA's
Top 50 Air Polluters
Programme Director, the one undeniable truth
about the environment is that every living
thing is connected. The web of life is more
than just a poetic idea, it is a reality that
defines our biggest social, economic and developmental
challenges. As industry and communities pump
greenhouse gasses like Carbon Dioxide into
the air, the planet is getting warmer, our
rainfall patterns are changing and our plant
and animal species are increasingly under
threat.
What this means is that nothing we do happens
in isolation. The massive factory in Gauteng
that pollutes the skies over Soweto is also
partly responsible for the hunger in Mossel
Bay when the fishermen find themselves catching
less fish every season. The poor family in
Mitchell's Plain that has no choice but to
burn charcoal and wood for heat and to cook
is also partly responsible for the climate
change that has been predicted to wipe out
more than a million species of plants and
animals by 2050. Farms, industries, homes
and lifestyles must become more sustainable
in every community to protect the web of life.
I am therefore pleased to announce today
that our Department will, by the end of July,
appoint a service provider to identify the
Top 50 air polluting industries or sectors
in South Africa . Once identified we will,
in partnership with provinces and local councils,
target these industries to completely review
their air pollution permit conditions. The
review of permit conditions will be an interim
measure to address existing air quality problems
in the short-term, and under the older laws,
whilst the capacity is being created in provincial
and local authorities to implement and enforce
the provisions and standards of the our Air
Quality Act.
This review process will be a win-win initiative.
We will aim to train and make use of at least
30 air quality licensing officers in each
province which will build the skills needed
to apply the new Act. We will be helping industry
to prepare for and phase in the much stricter
standards of the new law, and perhaps most
importantly we will be improving air quality
sooner rather than later for our communities.
Sustainable Western Cape Coastal Communities
Programme Director, it would be wrong to
address a conference on sustainable development
in the Western Cape and not to directly address
the issue of coastal communities. We know
now that there are simply not enough fish
in the sea to sustain these communities through
fishing alone, without also destroying the
future stocks of fish. This is why we must
look at the sustainable development of coastal
communities holistically.
Our big challenge is to engage strategically
with all of our partners in provincial and
local government, ensuring that Integrated
Development Plans build the capacity especially
in local government to sustain development,
growth and job creation.
It is for this reason that our Department
has driven the R136 million Repair and Maintenance
Programme in South Africa 's 12 proclaimed
fishing harbours. We are now developing plans
and detailed studies to unlock the development
and tourism potential of these harbours, giving
special attention to areas with high unemployment.
We need to ensure that the focus of development
is not restricted to elite projects alone.
Golfing estates and polo fields must not be
the be-all and end-all of coastal development,
and those which are developed must meet the
criteria for sustainability.
The development of eco-tourism through sustainable
ventures like boat-based whale watching will
help us to build sustainable tourism companies,
train new tourist guides, and uplift these
communities. Through our R12 million sustainable
livelihoods programme, which has developed
alternative income sources like kelp harvesting,
craft projects, hiking trails, and support
for guests houses, we have also created about
3400 new jobs since 2001 in these communities.
We also know that it is not enough to look
to the fishing harbours alone. Through our
poverty relief initiatives and the Expanded
Public Works Programme our Department will
be investing more than R158 million in communities
across the Western Cape over the next three
years, aiming to create more than 732 000
job days of employment in projects that combine
environmental protection with economic growth.
A good example is the project in Clanwilliam
which will see 400 hectares of land rehabilitated
to form a rock-art heritage site and tourist
attraction.
Conclusion
Programme Director, it remains our shared
responsibility to make certain that we do
not mortgage our future to sustain our present.
This Western Cape Sustainable Development
Conference will make a very real contribution
to this effort, and I wish you all the very
best for your deliberations. Let us together
work to ensure that when generations to come
look back on the Earth from space they too
see a beautiful blue planet, rather than the
scars and smoke of rampant and short-sighted
greed.
