6 December 2011
Excellencies Heads of
State and Government and leaders of delegations,
Honourable UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Distinguished negotiators,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is a great honour
and pleasure for me to welcome you to the
High Level Segment of COP 17/CMP 7 in Durban,
one of the holiday capitals of our country.
The past week has seen
extensive preparations, formal and informal
meetings, planning, negotiations and manoeuvring,
to ensure that the success of the High-
Level Segment.
I can safely assure
my colleagues the Heads of State and Government
as well as the UN Secretary General that
your delegations were definitely not on
holiday. They worked extremely hard to bring
us to this level.
As Parties, as we meet
in Durban, we are agreed on the facts and
impacts of climate change which are already
evident all around us. We are agreed that
this global challenge requires a global
solution.
However, different positions
still prevail on some critical points. However,
it is important that there is common ground
on the elements that will remain critical
in reaching any agreement.
These are multilateralism,
environmental integrity, common but differentiated
responsibility and respective capabilities,
equity, and honouring of all international
commitments and undertakings made in the
climate change process.
These principles have
formed the basis of climate change negotiations
over the years.
Only by remaining true
to them, through the Party-driven process,
will we be able to achieve a credible response
to this challenge.
I therefore encourage
the parties to continue to apply these principles
in the discussions and ensure that the final
outcome remains faithful to these principles.
We need to show the
world that Parties are ready to address
the problems in a practical manner, and
that they are willing to forgo the national
interest at times, for the interest of humanity,
no matter how difficult this may be.
As we begin the high
level segment, we need to re-build trust
and to re-assure one another of honest intent
and commitment to find solutions for the
problems caused by climate change.
By now all of us understand
that Durban is a decisive moment for the
future of the multilateral rules-based regime,
which has evolved over many years under
the Convention and its Kyoto Protocol.
The 1st Commitment Period
of the Kyoto Protocol is about to come to
an end.
The question that has
been left unanswered from Bali is the 2nd
Commitment period.
This has now become
dependent on the decision on the legal nature
of the outcome of the negotiations under
the Convention.
It is also clear that
if this question is not resolved, the outcome
on other matters will become extremely difficult.
In order to find a solution, Parties need
to be re-assured that should some of them
commit to a 2nd Commitment Period under
the Kyoto Protocol in a legally binding
manner; others would be ready to commit
to a legally binding regime in the near
future.
Underlying this request
for re-assurance is the insistence that
all Parties will implement the obligations
and commitments previously undertaken, and
that all will share the load to address
the problem.
Parties also need assurances
that adequate and sustainable long term
funding will be delivered, and that the
implementation of all agreements will continue
without an implementation gap occurring.
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
We need to make a decision here in Durban
that includes both the now and future aspects
of these re-assurances that are needed.
On the now and immediate,
we need to agree on the adoption of a 2nd
Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol,
as well as the possibility of enhanced mechanisms
and to decide on the eligibility for participation
in these enhanced mechanisms.
Such an agreement should
entail the adoption of an amendment of Annexure
B of the Kyoto Protocol with re-assurances
that Parties will implement the amendment
domestically by the end of 2012.
We must also agree on
the formalization and implementation of
the mitigation pledges of developed countries
and the rules of comparability between the
pledges of those Parties of the Kyoto Protocol
and those Parties outside the Kyoto Protocol.
Therefore, the rules
to assure comparability need to be finalized
as soon as possible.
An Agreement on adaptation,
the establishment of the Green Climate Fund,
finance, technology transfer and capacity
building must also be part of the agreement
in Durban.
For the future, Parties
need to pronounce on the legal nature of
the outcome of the future multilateral rules
based system.
This should be done
in a manner that would be equal in nature
to those decided on the 2nd Commitment Period.
In this future multilateral
rules’ based system, the level of ambition
and the fact that all Parties will collectively
have to do more, will have to be addressed.
We wish to underscore
the point that developed countries have
the responsibility to take the lead in addressing
the climate change challenge.
They must lead the global
efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
And they must also lead through providing
support to developing countries in their
mitigation actions and efforts to adapt
to the adverse impacts of climate change.
This is consistent with
the principle of common but differentiated
responsibility enshrined in the international
convention on climate change.
It is common knowledge
that developed countries benefitted from
a high level of emissions for their own
development.
It is therefore fair
that developing countries be provided developmental
space in a sustainable way so that they
too may develop and eradicate the poverty
that continues to afflict their people.
We must agree that all
Parties, will have to do more to reach the
agreed long-term global goal of limiting
average temperature increase to below 2
degrees Celsius.
We must agree as well,
that the international community must honour
the international commitments and undertakings
made under the climate change process and
not to shy away from these decisions.
Parties must secure
an enhanced multilateral rules-based response
to climate change that is equally binding
on all. Therefore, a process needs to be
established for which the 2013-2015 review
could provide valuable input.
This process should
also take into account what science prescribes,
as well as the outcome of the 5th Inter-Governmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and
other work that would have been done, under
the Ad Hoc Working Group on Longterm Cooperative
Action under the Convention and the Subsidiary
Bodies.
Parties have to consider
the type of process that will be required
and a specific timeframe to conclude the
work.
The objective would
be for the multilateral rules based system,
binding on all Parties, to be implemented
by no later than 2020.
Colleagues Heads of
States and Government and representatives,
Esteemed participants,
Let me briefly name
two other crucial elements, namely; adaptation
and finance.
Real action on adaptation
is an essential element of the outcome.
It is also a key priority for many developing
countries, particularly Small Island Developing
States, Least Developed Countries and the
African continent.
The time has come for
the world to move away from analysis, study
and research, to identifying practical adaptation
actions that can be implemented on the ground.
There can be no dispute
that research and analysis are important
aspects of adaptation actions. However,
we now need more practical action.
In this regard, the
Adaptation Committee must be constituted.
Its functions must be decided upon so that
it can begin its work.
The Adaptation Committee
should play an important role in bringing
into focus, in a coherent and holistic manner,
what needs to be done as far as adaptation
is concerned.
The committee must bring
an end to the current fragmented approach
to adaptation in the Convention.
The link with the funding,
technology transfer, mechanisms and networks
and capacity building for real and tangible
adaptation actions must be established.
This will give effect to the agreement that
equal priority must be given to adaptation
and mitigation.
And ladies and gentlemen,
The Green Climate Fund
(GCF) represents a centre piece for a broader
set of outcomes for Durban. Developing countries
demand a prompt start for the Fund through
its early and initial capitalization.
The early capitalization
of the Fund and the issue of long term funding
present a significant political challenge,
given the current economic situation in
many developed countries which, of course,
is fully appreciated.
Another challenge to
overcome is the lack of confidence from
developing countries in the delivery and
transparency of the pledged Fast Start Finance.
I am confident that
all Parties will make a special effort and
show the required leadership to creatively
provide these assurances that can lead to
consensus on all the outstanding issues.
There is a lot of work
to be done this week, to bring the work
of Durban to a fruitful and successful conclusion.
I wish the parties well
during this final push towards a meaningful
outcome in Durban.
It is only by working
together that we will be able to save tomorrow
today.
I Thank you
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SPEECH DELIVERED BY
THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL
AFFAIRS HONOURABLE REJOICE MABUDAFHASI ON
THE OCCASSION OF THE ECOSYSTEM-BASED ADAPTATION
SEMINAR AT THE SA CLIMATE CHANGE RESPONSE
EXPO, DURBAN.
02 DECEMBER 2011
Program director
Delegates from different countries
Officials from various departments and organisations
Members of the community
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
First and foremost, I would like to convey
my warm greetings to everyone gathered here
in Durban for the 17th Conference of the
Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). I
would like to congratulate the UNFCCC and
the Department of Environmental Affairs,
for their close collaboration in organizing
this session.
This meeting comes at
a critical time when the world’s biodiversity
is facing immense pressures from changing
climate and land-use. Our imminent challenge
is nothing less than to derive ways and
means to adapt to these changes, thereby
maintaining the ecosystem functioning, integrity
and services. The impacts of climate change
are already being felt by both people and
the environment around the world and they
are set to get a lot worse.
South Africa’s over-riding
priorities are poverty reduction, quality
health and natural resources provision,
and socio-economic development. In this
context, our immediate priorities include
the urgent delivery of basic human development
services to the poor and most vulnerable,
and this include ensuring access to housing,
water, sanitation, food security, energy,
transport, education and public health services.
However, it is becoming
increasingly clear that our ability to deliver
on these fundamental developmental priorities,
at all levels, is being persistently undermined
by short, medium and long term climate impacts.
Impacts are escalating as temperature and
precipitation patterns change and extreme
weather events and related conditions increase
in frequency and intensity. Climate change
directly threatens the services ecosystems
provide including food, clean water, coastal
protection, fuel-wood, soil stability, and
pollination. People who depend directly
on natural resources are affected most severely.
Climate and ecosystems
are strongly interactive, particularly at
the micro-scale, through water and energy
cycling. Regional climate is both a driver
and constraint of biodiversity and ecosystem
structure and functions. A key concern of
climate change is its potential impact on
the nature-society interface. Policy makers
and development practitioners are particularly
concerned about the trade-off between development
and economic growth and ecological balance,
socio-cultural dimensions. Ecosystems and
ecological goods and services are coming
under increasing pressure as demands for
social and economic development come into
tension with environmental sustainability.
Climate change is therefore expected to
further compound these trends.
While global efforts
to mitigate the causes of climate change
are currently under way, adaptation is about
“managing the unavoidable” – addressing
the impacts that are already being experienced
by people and ecosystems while mitigation
measures take effect, and building resilience
to future impacts. Many recent climate change
adaptation initiatives have focused on the
use of technologies and the design of climate
resilient infrastructure.
Ecosystem-based Adaptation
is both essential and urgently needed to
respond to climate change. Ecosystem-based
Adaptation provides cost effective strategy
and includes a range of local and landscape
scale strategies for managing ecosystems
to increase resilience and maintain essential
ecosystem services and reduce the vulnerability
of people, their livelihoods and nature
in the face of climate change. Ecosystem-based
Adaptation includes the sustainable management,
conservation and restoration of ecosystems
to provide services that help people adapt
to both current climate variability, and
climate change.
Ecosystem services are
divided into four broad categories: provisioning,
such as the production of food and water;
regulating, such as the control of climate
and disease; supporting, such as nutrient
cycles and crop pollination; and cultural,
such as spiritual and recreational benefits.
However, there is growing
recognition of the role healthy ecosystems
can play in helping people adapt to climate
change. Healthy ecosystems provide natural
resources such as drinking water, habitat,
shelter, food, raw materials, genetic materials,
a barrier against disasters, and many other
ecosystem services on which people depend
for their livelihoods. Healthy ecosystems
provide a range of other natural services
that people rely on, among them, the provision
of food, clean water, shelter, fire wood,
fibre and medicine. It is important for
people to sustainably manage, conserve and
restore ecosystems so that they continue
to provide the services that allow them
to adapt to climate change. Healthy ecosystems
play an important role in protecting infrastructure
and enhancing human security.
Protecting, restoring
and managing healthy ecosystems to be more
resilient to climate change impacts, helps
people and biodiversity to adapt to changing
climatic conditions. This also ensures continuous
availability and access to essential natural
resources so that communities can better
cope with current and future climate variability.
Ecosystem-based Adaptation strategies can
help to ensure continued availability and
access to essential natural resources so
that communities can better cope with current
climate variability and future climate change.
Ecosystem-based Adaptation can safeguard
and enhance protected areas and fragile
ecosystems. It can also involve restoration
of fragmented or degraded ecosystems, or
simulation of missing ecosystem processes
such as migration or pollination.
Protected areas are
an essential part of the global response
to climate change. In many parts of the
world, they are helping to address the underlying
cause of climate change by reducing greenhouse
gas emissions. They do this by preventing
the loss of carbon that is already present
in vegetation and soils and sequester further
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in natural
ecosystems. They are also helping societies
cope with climate change impacts by maintaining
essential ecosystem services upon which
people depend as well reducing risks and
impacts from extreme weather events such
as storms, droughts and sea level rise.
Protected areas have
the advantage that they are already established
as efficient, successful and cost-effective
tools for ecosystem management with associated
policies, management, and governance institutions,
knowledge, staff and capacity. They contain
the only remaining large natural habitats
in many areas. Opportunities exist to increase
their connectivity at landscape level and
their effective management so as to enhance
the resilience of ecosystems to climate
change and safeguard vital ecosystem services.
Without them, the challenges would even
be greater and their strengthening will
yield one of the most powerful natural solutions
to the climate crisis that is facing us.
Managing, restoring
and protecting ecosystems can also contribute
to sustainable water management and carbon
sequestration. For example, sustainable
management of catchments can improve water
quality, increase groundwater recharge and
reduce surface water run-off during storms.
While sustainable management of ecosystems
such as forest, peatlands, wetlands can
help to store and sequester carbon. Additional
mitigation efforts can be realized through
land and water management practices that
sustain essential natural resources while
minimizing additional greenhouse gas emissions.
Ladies and Gentleman;
the government of the Republic of South
Africa encourages decision makers and land
stewards to have a wide range of considerations
- including economics, policy and law, ethics,
self interest - in which climate information
forms only part of the decision making process.
Supporting and building capacity to adapt
to the impacts of climate change and manage
climate variability risks to society and
the economy at national, regional and global
levels, has become a high development priority.
This approach builds on traditional knowledge,
generates a range of social, economic and
cultural benefits and helps to conserve
biodiversity.
In conclusion, we aim
to raise the profile of both ecosystem management
and the associated climate information needed
within societal processes and systems (political,
economic, and legal) so that climate information
exists at the heart of the decision making
process. South Africa is working to promote
and implement Ecosystem-based Adaptation
on various levels of governance. We believe
that working together; we can save our tomorrow
today.
I thank you.
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ADDRESS BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT
KGALEMA MOTLANTHE AT THE LAND DAY 5 EVENT
OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION TO COMBAT
DESERTIFICATION, RIO PAVILION, UNFCCC COP17,
DURBAN
06 December 2011
Programme Director;
Executive Secretary of the UNCCD, Mr Luc
Gnacadja;
Ministers and Deputy Ministers;
Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Ms Christiana
Figueres;
Executive Secretary of the CBD, Dr Ahmed
Dhjoglaf;
Heads of delegations, Agencies and Governmental
Organisations;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for giving me the opportunity
to make a contribution to the discussions
on climate change and its co-attended effects
on desertification, land degradation and
drought (DLDD).
On its own, the fact that we are meeting
for the seventeenth time as the Conference
of Parties, and 19 years after the Earth
Summit, should shock us into the realisation
that the world can no longer afford to participate
in multilateral forums without taking the
steps to implement agreements reached at
such meetings.
We meet at a time when there is growing
despondence about the multilateral world
governance system, where the world community
has lost patience with too much talking
and no action.
The discord within the climate change negotiations
is a microcosm of the broader challenges
facing the multilateral system of global
governance.
Understanding that the stakes in this conference
are at an all time high, we must be alive
to the reality that failure to reach an
outcome one year before the Kyoto Protocol
is due to expire, will undermine various
agreements in a number of areas including
trade and sustainable development.
Drawn to its logical conclusion, failure
to succeed in reaching an agreement will
demonstrate little regard for our commitment
to the co-dependence of the three UN pillars
of Security, Development and Human Rights.
The intersection between these UN pillars
cannot be overemphasised.
The compounded effects of climate change,
not only compromise people’s livelihoods,
but also go to threaten the existence and
balance of the ecosystem itself.
The socio-economic impact of land degradation
is felt throughout Africa with indications
pointing to significant loss in opportunities
for sustainable development.
In a world experiencing food shortages and
rising food prices, where nearly a billion
people go to bed hungry, depleting our earth’s
basket of productive soil resources is a
luxury we cannot afford.
Left unmitigated, our ways of life not only
threaten our livelihoods, but also the future
that rightfully belongs to our children.
It is for this reason that we must highlight
the inextricable link between food security,
poverty, and climate change to other discussions
about sustainable development and our path
towards achieving the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs).
Doing so requires that all must recognise
the importance of the intersection between
mitigation of climate change on the one
hand and the goals for the attainment of
the MDGs on the other.
Thus the over-riding priority for developing
countries remains searching for socio-economic
development methods to reduce inequality
and eradicate poverty.
However, it is becoming increasingly clear
for Africa that our ability to deliver on
these fundamental developmental priorities,
at all levels, is being undermined by desertification,
land degradation and drought.
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is in this context that we welcome the
Rio Pavilion initiative that consists of
the Conventions on Biodiversity, Climate
Change and Desertification.
The Pavilion offers immense opportunities
to highlight a number of cross-cutting issues
relevant to the attainment of the MDGs.
It should be encouraged and supported by
all through fair and equitable treatment
of the three Conventions to ensure their
effective implementation.
As you are aware, embedded in the UNCCD
are vital issues of improved productivity
and sustainable management of land and water
resources.
With its focus on the land, the UNCCD complements
the sustainable development framework addressed
by its sister Rio Conventions.
The effective implementation of UNCCD thus
requires dedicated resources from the global
development funding mechanism.
We therefore seek to impress upon you that
the Land Day deliberations should continue
to build on the momentum of the global political
attention given to desertification, land
degradation, and drought.
In moving towards achieving zero net land
degradation, synergies need to be maximised
between agriculture, adaptation, sustainable
development, food security and poverty eradication
with integrated strategies at the national
level to address land degradation.
Another area that is fundamental is the
further development of institutions and
legislation for sustainable land-use management.
It is encouraging that legislation and policies
of many countries embrace the principle
of sustainable development particularly
in as far as matters of land-use management
are concerned.
It is also clear that while numerous best
practices exist, the need for large scale
support towards the implementation of these
three Rio Conventions is obviously a matter
of exceptions.
Drawing from our South African experience,
we submit that the attainment of the MDGs
is anchored on a number of factors and enabling
conditions such as:
• The fair and equal treatment of these
three Rio Conventions in terms of allocation
of resources; appropriate technology transfer
and incentives that are needed to manage
land sustainably such as payment for ecosystem
service;
• security of tenure and the integration
into decentralised planning and decision-making
processes; and
• legal frameworks that need to be made
conducive for investing in sustainable land-use
management.
For our part as Africa, ministers meeting
at the preparatory conference for Rio+20
unanimously agreed that the time has come
for the international community to commit
itself to zero degradation of land.
Achieving such targets will go a long way
in addressing climate change adaptation
and mitigation, thus building the resilience
of the populations and the ecosystems affected
by desertification and land degradation.
Such action will also support efforts at
preserving the resource base for food security
and accelerating poverty eradication.
In this regard, we are hopeful that Rio+20
to be held next year presents the opportunity
to canvass for structured and coordinated
national responses for the effective implementation
of the Rio Conventions.
We all need to enhance the implementation
of the UNCCD as a global policy and monitoring
framework to address issues of soil and
land degradation.
We also need to invest in infrastructure
and services that support sustainable land
use and management.
The actions that are required on the ground
to achieve a zero net rate of global land
degradation are in line with the Sustainable
Land Management (SLM) approach.
This approach could be effectively streamlined
into the Green Economy initiative and become
a tool for attaining sustainable development
in rural areas worldwide.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me to conclude by reminding this gathering
of the necessity to factor in the lived
experiences of the ordinary people, who
are often marginalised, into Climate Change
discussions.
I am encouraged that this Land Day, held
on the side-lines of COP 17, is but one
of the means of addressing this gap.
I would therefore like to urge you all as
participants in this session to be ambassadors
of all progressive measures aimed at mitigating
the effects of climate change.
You must at all times, starting here in
Durban, Rio+20 and beyond, advocate the
need for urgent agreement on action and
funding for sustainable development and
mitigating the effects of climate change.
I thank you for your kind attention and
wish you well in your further deliberations.
Issued by: The Presidency
