06 November 2007 – Speech
- SPEECH BY MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, MINISTER
OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, AT
THE CAPE TIMES ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS, 6 NOVEMBER
2007
Thank you for the opportunity to address
you at this prestigious event. The Cape
Times Environmental Awards ceremony has
become a marker in our diaries. It makes
a significant contribution, not only by
recognizing outstanding contributions to
conserving our environment for future generations,
but also by raising awareness in a field
that has historically been under-appreciated,
but is day by day moving up on the national
and international agenda.
It is daunting to consider the range of
threats facing the environment on which
we depend. Daunting, but not overwhelming,
if we are able to draw on expertise available,
common sense, and flexibility, as we consider
solutions. Tonight we are gathering in a
region of the country where we are acutely
aware of our vulnerability to the impacts
of climate change. The current and projected
impacts on agriculture, biodiversity, water
resources and fisheries, to name but a few,
are becoming increasingly well known..
In two weeks time the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, will
finalize the overall synthesis of its Fourth
Assessment Report, and in four weeks time
we hope to achieve a breakthrough in climate
negotiations when 10 000 delegates from
more than 180 countries meet in Bali for
the critical next round of talks under the
UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol.
The rigorous scientific evaluations of
the IPCC have already confirmed that climate
change is part of our changing reality and
that it is almost without doubt caused by
human activities. The impacts and risks
of climate change are more imminent and
severe than previously thought – a message
from the IPCC which has been confirmed by
new science ever since their scientific
reports were finalized about a year ago.
Thus we have heard that greenhouse gas emissions
are growing rapidly, they are currently
above even the highest IPCC projections,
and they will continue to grow unless we
decisively change course. If we do not tackle
the root causes of the problem – that is
increasing emissions - a time will come
when we will no longer be able to adapt
our way out of the problem. That is the
bad news.
The good news from the IPCC is that we
have the tools to address the problem in
a way that will both reduce some impacts,
and avoid others that may be more extreme.
But then we must choose to act. A broad
portfolio of technologies and policies does
exist and can be applied at a cost that
is affordable. Failing to adopt these win-win
technologies and approaches is simply inexcusable,
but it is the role of strong leadership
in government and business to facilitate
this process.
With the scientific and economic cases
so clear, it is now up to policy-makers
world-wide to respond. Together, we must
address the huge disjuncture between the
pace of negotiations and the urgency of
action required by science.
Fortunately, over the past year and more,
the climate change issue has moved to the
top of the international agenda. Climate
change has been elevated to the Heads of
State level in the United Nations General
Assembly and at the G8 Summit. The UN Secretary
General has drawn the climate change issue
into his personal sphere of diplomacy, it
was introduced in the UN Security Council
earlier this year and it is now also on
the agenda of G20 Finance Ministers.
This high level political activity gives
new momentum to the process of negotiating
a more effective and inclusive multilateral
framework for climate change.
I recall merely two years ago, when I referred
in a speech at our National Climate Change
Conference in Midrand, to the implications
of the decline of sea ice in the Arctic,
how many delegates frowned and chuckled.
Today hardly a week goes by without new
reports on threatening disputes between
the USA and Canada over parts of the North-West
Passage and the fossil fuel deposits hitherto
covered by ice, or about Russia staking
its claim to the North Pole, or about the
new aspirations of Denmark and Norway. The
link between climate stability and geopolitical
stability is becoming ever more clear,as
the global battle over these valuable trade
routes and unextracted oil and gas reserves,
reported to represent about a quarter of
the world’s undiscovered reserves, will
continue to be a key driver of geopolitics
in that region, and beyond. Ships traveling
between Copenhagen and Yokohama could in
future cut their traveling distance in half
if they go along the north Siberian coast
rather than through the Suez Canal. The
effects on shipping will be felt all the
way down to our own harbours here in South
Africa.reported to represent about a quarter
of the world’s undiscovered reserves, will
continue to be a key driver of geopolitics
in that region, and beyond. Ships traveling
between Copenhagen and Yokohama could in
future cut their traveling distance in half
if they go along the north Siberian coast
rather than through the Suez Canal. The
effects on shipping will be felt all the
way down to our own harbours here in South
Africa.reported to represent about a quarter
of the world’s undiscovered reserves, will
continue to be a key driver of geopolitics
in that region, and beyond. Ships traveling
between Copenhagen and Yokohama could in
future cut their traveling distance in half
if they go along the north Siberian coast
rather than through the Suez Canal. The
effects on shipping will be felt all the
way down to our own harbours here in South
Africa.Ships traveling between Copenhagen
and Yokohama could in future cut their traveling
distance in half if they go along the north
Siberian coast rather than through the Suez
Canal. The effects on shipping will be felt
all the way down to our own harbours here
in South Africa.Ships traveling between
Copenhagen and Yokohama could in future
cut their traveling distance in half if
they go along the north Siberian coast rather
than through the Suez Canal. The effects
on shipping will be felt all the way down
to our own harbours here in South Africa.
Programme Director, in South Africa the
climate change issue has also moved to the
top of our agenda. Three to four years ago
it was hardly on the radar screen. When
we received one of our first briefings on
the latest science and it implications in
Cabinet three years ago, it was met with
a sense of disbelief. Today it is a key
priority. It is a key issue for a range
of Departments who are actively working
on their sectoral response strategies and
who are integrating it with their day-to-day
decision-making.
In March 2006 Cabinet commissioned a process
to examine the options available to mitigate
our greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of
the Long Term Mitigation Scenario (LTMS)
study is to contribute to setting the pathway
for long-term climate policy for the country.
Ultimately this groundbreaking work – which
is now in its final stretch – together with
our work on sectoral strategies, the Greenhouse
Gas Inventory, our National Communications
to the UN and adaptation planning, will
inform our deliberations towards a legislative
and policy package which will give effect
to our policy at a mandatory level.
This domestic process of policy making
will also closely interact with the international
negotiations over the next two years. We
are likely to decide in December this year
in Bali – and that is our mandate from Cabinet
- to accelerate negotiations with a view
to agreeing a strengthened framework for
climate protection by 2009, at the latest.
Under the Kyoto Protocol, carbon constraints,
or caps, have thus far only been placed
on industrialized, or so-called Annex I
countries. South Africa, together with the
developing or so-called non-Annex I nations
of the world, has been exempt from taking
mandatory action to reduce our high level
of relative emissions. South Africa has
a commitment to mitigate emissions within
our means under the Convention, but there
is no legally binding, quantified target.
The current regime allows South Africa along
with others such as Brazil, China and India
to continue to grow without a cap on emissions.
However, increasingly, developing countries
like ourselves will be expected, and should
be expected, to take our fair share of responsibility
and demonstrate our plans to contribute
to the global response, albeit in a differentiated
way that recognizes our growth imperative
and our small contribution thus far to the
current crisis. The concession to non-Annex
I nations has seemingly prevented the biggest
emitter on the world stage, the USA, from
agreeing to targets. This deadlock must
be broken, and thus it can be expected that
we will have greater responsibilities, but
still of a different kind than developed
countries, after 2012.
In moving forward we will face some tough
decisions in South Africa. Continuing to
grow without a carbon constraint will not
be sustainable over the long term. It would
also be a high-risk approach in the face
of rising oil prices and the threat that
carbon constraints could be introduced in
international trade.
A massive effort by South Africa to achieve
emissions reductions and “de-carbonize”
growth would therefore be required. Given
that the energy sector is the single largest
source of emissions in South Africa, interventions
will have to be aimed in the short term
at improving energy efficiency, and over
the longer haul diversifying energy sources
away from coal, promoting energy security
and also research and development of new
technologies that will lead to a cleaner,
low carbon energy future.
Key to success will be strong, committed
and engaged South African leadership in
government, business and civil society,
coupled with international support. I can
assure you tonight that the political will
is there and that South Africa will not
stand back in the face of these challenges.
The world is changing, and we will respond
to these new challenges.
Programme Director, the negotiations in
Bali in December will be a key point in
the increasingly urgent task facing us.
If we want to reach agreement by the end
of 2009 on a strengthened climate regime,
we must agree to a Bali Roadmap for negotiations
for the next 2 years.
Looking to the future, the message from
a developing country perspective is clear:
We take our responsibilities seriously.
We are already making a meaningful contribution
within our respective capabilities. We are
willing to do more. But the trigger to strengthen
the regime must come from the North. It
is a two-part trigger: firstly, the full
participation by the world’s largest historical
and current emitter, the United States,
is a requirement; and secondly, a more empowering
technology and financing framework for adaptation
and mitigation is a precondition.
The full engagement of the US in the multilateral
process and binding emission reductions
is not negotiable. The ‘road to nowhere’
approach of the current Administration in
the US remains disappointing, to say the
least. Yes, the US has signaled some flexibility,
and we are constructively participating
in engagements such as the US-initiated
Major Economies dialogue. But we need much
greater leadership and immediate action
from the US. The US has risen before to
seemingly impossible challenges and succeeded
even beyond their own dreams. The successes
of the US in the hostile reaches of space
are legendary – surely success in ensuring
a sustainable future on a supportive earth
is well within their grasp?
Programme Director, in conclusion, achieving
climate stability in an equitable way requires
individual nations to rise above short term
self-interest for the benefit of the long
term common good. In South Africa we have
demonstrated that this is possible for the
good of a nation. And though, when it comes
to climate change, we have responsibilities
and constraints unique to South Africa,
we all have a common responsibility to act
in accordance with our national capabilities.
South Africa realises that we must all act
with a greater sense of urgency. For our
part, we stand ready to take on our fair
share of responsibility.
Riaan Aucamp (Minister's Spokesperson)
