Geneva, 21 December
2011 – The first official session of the
Steering Committee of a multi-donor technical
trust fund for the implementation of an
African Elephant Action Plan was held in
Kruger National Park, South Africa, from
12 to 14 December to allocate available
financial resources to the first set of
eligible projects.
The African Elephant
Action Plan and the African Elephant Fund
were created under the auspices of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) with the
clear understanding that they should be
developed by and for the 38 countries where
African elephants occur. The Fund was launched
last August at the 61st meeting of the CITES
Standing Committee and has collected in
these first months some 250,000 USD. Contributions
were received from Germany, France and the
Netherlands. Additional contributions from
the United Kingdom and South Africa should
be received soon.
John Scanlon, Secretary-General
of the CITES Secretariat, stated: “This
new and innovative initiative to conserve
elephants in Africa has enormous potential.
I am particularly pleased to see that African
elephant range States, together with donor
States, have now agreed on very practical
ways to move ahead and make this Fund work”.
“The Fund is now up and running and we call
upon all donors - governments, the Global
Environment Facility, the World Bank, intergovernmental
organizations, non-governmental organizations,
private business or individuals – to help
conserve the elephants of Africa by contributing
to the African Elephant Fund.”
During the three-day
meeting, the participating members of the
Committee - Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon,
Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and
Sudan representing the range States, and
Germany and the Netherlands on behalf of
the donor countries - allocated USD 150,000
to six elephant conservation projects, regionally
balanced over the continent’s four sub-regions..
The selected activities ranged from investigating
regional illegal ivory markets to mitigating
local human-elephant conflicts, providing
equipment to rangers and strengthening the
management of key protected areas.
South Africa, as Chair
of the African Elephant Steering Committee,
stated: “The positive outcomes of the 1st
African Elephant Fund Steering Committee
meeting is an indication of the commitment
of African elephant range States to collaborate
to ensure the conservation of the African
elephant across the continent.” “The project
proposals considered by the committee reflected
key challenges that range States experience
in managing their elephant populations,
and it is clear that the implementation
of the African Elephant Action Plan will
assist us all to address these challenges
in a coordinated, constructive manner.”
The African Elephant
Action Plan aims to secure and restore,
where possible, sustainable elephant populations
throughout their present and potential range
in Africa, recognising their potential to
provide ecological, socio, cultural and
economic benefits. It also aims to ensure
a secure future for African elephants and
their habitats, to realise their full potential
as a component of land use for the benefit
of the human kind. The main strategic objectives
of the Action Plan are to:
Reduce illegal killing
of elephants and illegal trade in elephant
products;
Maintain elephant habitats and restore connectivity;
Reduce human-elephant conflicts (HEC);
Increase awareness on elephant conservation
and management of key stakeholders that
include policy makers and local communities
among other interest groups;
Strengthen range States’ knowledge on African
elephant management;
Strengthen cooperation and understanding
among African elephant range States;
Improve local communities’ cooperation and
collaboration in conserving African elephants;
and
Ensure the African Elephant Fund Action
Plan is effectively implemented.
All sub-Saharan regions
of the African continent where elephants
occur are affected by poaching and illegal
ivory trade. Illegal ivory seized overseas
– mainly in Asia - has been found to originate
from countries from East, West, Central
and Southern Africa. Other than ivory trade
and illegal killing, African elephants also
phase threats from local over abundance,
habitat loss and fragmentation and human-elephant
conflict. Therefore, a national, regional
and international approach to manage and
conserve elephants is essential.
The Fund was created
in response to a decision of the Conference
of the Parties to CITES, and is hosted by
the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP). Its function is to support the implementation
of an ambitious, overarching African Elephant
Action Plan that was adopted in 2010 by
all 38 African elephant range States.
The meeting was made
possible through financial support from
Germany, and financial and logistical support
from South Africa.
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OUTCOMES OF THE INTERNATIONAL
NEGOTIATIONS UNDER THE UN FRAMEWORK CONVENTION
ON CLIMATE CHANGE (COP 17) AND ITS’ KYOTO
PROTOCOL (CMP 7) - THE DURBAN PLATFORM TO
STRENGTHEN THE INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE
REGIME – STATEMENT BY MINISTER EDNA MOLEWA
For the past 2 weeks
the eyes of the world have been focused
on the United Nations Climate Change Conference
(COP 17/CMP 7) being held in Durban where
international community of nations were
negotiating the next steps that need to
be taken to ensure an effective global response
to the global challenge of climate change.
We must realise that
an effective and truly global solution to
the climate change crisis involves the negotiation
of delicate balances between a wide range
of extremely complex, highly political and
sometimes conflicting set of social, economic
and environmental development issues.
The global climate change
response is a sustainable development issue
not a purely environmental issue and as
such builds an foundational platform for
the global Rio+20 summit on sustainable
development to take place next year.
Due to the complex political
nature of these negotiations, which took
place against the back-drop of the prospect
of a global economic melt-down with the
looming Euro-zone debt crisis and the alarming
slow-down in global economic growth, it
is not surprising therefore, that the Durban
climate change conference over ran by a
day and a half and was only able to successfully
conclude yesterday morning (Sunday) at about
7am.
When South Africa first
agreed to host this global climate change
and developmental conference we set ourselves
the goal of helping the international community
in their efforts to develop an inclusive,
environmentally effective, balanced, equitable
and binding agreement that actually reduces
global emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHG)
that takes into account the need to balance
climate and developmental imperatives, while
at the same time enabling and supporting
developing countries to respond to the inevitable
impacts of climate change.
To achieve this goal
SA, in its capacity of host and President
of the Conference, endeavoured to ensure
that the process throughout the year and
at the Durban Conference was transparent,
inclusive, Party driven and people oriented.
After a year of intensive
negotiation the final outcome of Durban
is historic and precedent setting, ranking
with the 1997 conference where the Kyoto
Protocol was adopted. In the dying hours
of this watershed conference we were able
to agree on a comprehensive deal.
This agreement not only
significantly advances the global effort
needed now to address the global climate
change crisis; but also sets a new long-term
pathway for the development of a fair, ambitious
and legally binding future multi-lateral
and rules-based global climate change system
which can balance climate and development
imperatives. It ensures the fair participation
of all countries (both developed and developing)
in the global effort to reduce greenhouse
gas emissions, both now and in the future.
Overall this climate
change conference has been characterised
by a new willingness on the part of all
parties to move beyond entrenched negotiating
positions and unconstructive rhetoric and
engage with the challenges of achieving
economic development in an increasingly
carbon constrained world. This represents
a significant and hopeful step forward.
In order to address
what needs to be done now, Durban ensured
the preservation of the Kyoto Protocol through
its decision on the adoption of the 2nd
commitment period capturing legally binding
commitments of developed countries beyond
the expiration date of the 1st commitment
period in 2012. Under the Convention we
anchored emission reduction targets for
developed countries that are not willing
to be part of the Kyoto 2nd commitment period,
as well as emission mitigation actions of
developing countries and were able to elaborate
the transparency and accountability framework
for both developed and developing countries.
We also fully operationalised
a number of international mechanisms to
enable and support mitigation and adaptation
efforts in developing countries, particularly
for adaptation efforts needed in least developed,
African and Small Island countries that
are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate
change but who have contributed least to
the problem.
Crucially, we have been
able to preserve the multilateral rules
based system underpinning the mitigation
regime by agreeing on a second commitment
period under the Kyoto protocol, through
agreement to amend the Protocol, setting
up a five year 2nd commitment period from
2013 to 2018. The pledged economy-wide targets
of developed countries are inscribed in
the decision. These will be further converted
into legally binding Quantified Emission
Limitation and Reduction Objectives (QELRO’s)
at COP 18 / CMP8 in Qatar.
However, that fact the
USA has not joined the Kyoto Protocol and
the fact that not all developed countries
were willing to place their commitments
under the Kyoto was recognised. To address
this gap, we have established a process
to increase the transparency of the mitigation
efforts of both developed and developing
countries.
In order to ensure the
full participation of those developed countries
that have indicated that they will not enter
into a 2nd commitment period under Kyoto
as well as large developing country emerging
economies, these commitments under Kyoto
are balanced with a mechanism to capture,
under the Convention, the economy wide emission
reduction targets of these developed countries
and subject them to the International Assessment
and Reporting transparency and accountability
procedures while simultaneously capturing
the commitments of developing countries
to take action and subjecting these actions
to a less stringent and necessarily different
International Consultation and Analysis
transparency procedure.
In the case of developed
countries we will review and assess their
economy wide emission reduction targets
and commitments. In the case of developing
countries we will increase the transparency
of their nationally appropriate mitigation
actions (NAMAs) of developing countries.
At this COP/CMP we have
also succeeded in bringing into operation
the outcomes that were successfully negotiated
in Cancun last year. On finance, there is
agreement on the detailed design of the
Green Climate Fund, which Minister Trevor
Manuel successfully steered through a year
of difficult negotiations. The design of
the fund includes innovative mechanisms
for bringing private sector and market mechanisms
into play, so as to increase the potential
flow of funding into climate change responses.
In holding this COP
on African soil we were able to put Africa’s
priority of adapting to the impacts of climate
change firmly on the global agenda. We have
significantly strengthened the international
adaptation agenda by consolidating adaptation
programs under the Adaptation Framework
and operationalising the Adaptation Committee
that will spearhead global work on adaptation.
We have also operationalised
the Climate Technology Centre and Network,
launched a selection process for the host
of the Climate Technology Centre and fine-tuned
the procedures and modalities for the TEC.
This will substantially strengthen the UNFCCC’s
operational arm on technology and will assist
developing countries in the negotiation
of technology partnerships and transfer
agreements, and in adapting these technologies
to country purposes. It will also assist
with license negotiations, and the establishment
of national innovation systems for a low
carbon and climate resilient future
In addressing the question
of what needs to be done in future, this
COP has reaffirmed a common vision for global
cooperation on climate change to hold the
increase in global average temperature below
2 degrees or 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial
levels and to review progress towards achieving
it, in accordance with the objectives and
principles of the Convention.
We recognises that the
ambition and scope of current commitments
are inadequate. Even if the most ambitious
current emissions targets are met, emissions
will exceed what science requires by an
estimated 5 gigaton (Gt) of CO2 equivalent
emissions, according to the UN Environment
Programme’s Emissions Gap Report. The question
that we face is how best to address this
gap recognising that it is more than just
an ‘ambition gap’; it is also an ‘implementation
gap’; a ‘financial and technology gap’;
a ‘capacity gap’ and a ‘legal gap’.
We realised in Durban
that given the current social, developmental,
economic and political context, trying to
force countries to do more than they are
willing and able to contribute is a recipe
for the complete failure of the international
effort to genuinely address the climate
crisis and would have resulted in a ‘no
deal’ in Durban; not only killing the Kyoto
Protocol but possibly even the UN Convention
on climate change itself.
The solution is to build
a system that gradually transitions to a
low carbon future that at the same time
creates jobs, reduces poverty and improve
the quality of life for all. This is a true
sustainable development solution to the
climate change crisis.
Therefore, under the
Convention, agreement was reached on the
Durban platform, which initiates negotiations
next year, leading to a legal instrument,
protocol or agreed outcome with legal force
applicable to all countries, that will be
adopted by 2015 and be fully operational
no later than 2020.
We must recognise that
this outstanding success was achieved through
the efforts of TEAM SOUTH AFRICA, which
involved herculean efforts of not only national,
provincial and local governments but dedicated
efforts of our civil society, labour and
business sectors who not only mobilised
their international counterparts but demonstrated
the warm welcoming spirit and culture of
our wonderful country.
To name but a few, these
outstanding contributions ranged from the
climate rally organised by the faith community
on the first Sunday to the contributions
by all to the Climate Change Response EXPO
and intellectual debates in the side line
event.
An additional spin off
from the COP has been the unprecedented
level of domestic mobilisation around climate
issues. Team South Africa has succeeded
in bringing NGOs, labour, business and civil
society closer to the negotiations process.
Last Saturday saw a
day of action by civil society, with a multitude
of communities and NGOs marching under the
banner of climate action.
The Durban Mayor’s Summit
brought over 100 Mayors from cities around
the world together to adopt the Durban Adaptation
Charter. The business community held the
largest number of side events and activities
ever associated with a COP, and it is encouraging
to see the extent to which investment in
new green technologies and jobs is paving
the path to a low carbon economy.
These actions by civil
society groups outside of the negotiations
have helped put the importance of an ambitious
climate regime firmly on the agenda, and
have increased pressure on negotiators for
a binding legal agreement.
The challenge is to
maintain the momentum of Team South Africa,
to take advantage of the benefits that our
victory in Durban can bring with international
support for real and job creating adaptation
and mitigation programmes at community level.
In all, South Africa
can be extremely proud of our collective
efforts to host this COP. We have produced
a world standard event that has been complemented
by visitors and negotiators from across
the spectrum, and successfully steered a
complex negotiations process towards a successful
conclusion. The outcome of Durban is a historical
achievement and will substantially advance
the global climate agenda.
