02 August 2007 - Media Statement
- Statement By the Office of Marthinus van
Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism, at the Official Opening of the
Environmental Education Centre in the Polokwane
Game Reserve, 2 August 2007
THURSDAY, 02 AUGUST 2007: “For a long period
of time in South Africa, conservation kept
people separated from our environment. We
saw fences and armed patrols as the key to
protecting our natural heritage. That has
all changed, and this environmental education
centre and our Kids in Parks programme embody
that change. We know now that people and communities
are critical partners in the success of conservation
- especially in our parks. What better way
to ensure sustainability of our environment
and our parks than by introducing and demonstrating
their environmental value directly to South
Africa’s young citizens”, said Minister van
Schalkwyk.
After identifying the need in the Limpopo
Province for conservation and environmental
education, the Rotary Club and Municipality
of Polokwane partnered in establishing an
Environmental Education Centre in the Polokwane
Game Reserve.
Annually more than 12 000 children from mainly
disadvantaged schools in the Limpopo Province
visit the Polokwane Game Reserve. However,
until now there were no facilities for them
to be given formal training on conservation
and environmental issues. The old SABC transmitting
building in the Polokwane Game Reserve has
been converted and equipped into an environmental
centre to the value of R2.5 million.
The Minister added that “this initiative
builds on our successes of our Kids in Parks
programme. Kids in Parks is one of the flagship
environmental education programmes that enables
South African National Parks (SANParks) to
reach the children of South Africa.” The primary
objective of the programme is to ensure the
long-term sustainability of South Africa’s
National Heritage (natural and cultural),
while also enhancing access for learners from
disadvantaged backgrounds to our Parks.
The Programme provides learners and teachers
with the opportunity to expand their learning
environment in a National Park, which, for
many of our disadvantaged learners entails
a first-time point of access to some of our
most prized national assets. The Kids in Parks
programme further incorporates a three-day
field trip for fifty learners and three of
their teachers from a particular school to
one of our National Parks where participants
sleep over to experience the park.
“Ultimately, through the Kids in Parks Programme
we are making our remarkable cultural and
biodiversity assets more accessible to the
leaders of tomorrow. Over the past three years
approximately 8000 learners and 330 teachers
were introduced to fourteen of our National
Parks. These are: Golden Gate, West Coast,
Table Mountain, Kgalagadi, Knysna, Agulhas,
Wilderness, Namaqua, Tsitsikamma, Marakele,
Camdeboo, Augrabies, Addo and Kruger National
Parks. All the partners in this programme
are fully committed to extend this programme
so that learners and teachers living in close
proximity to our seven other National Parks
(Mapungubwe, Karoo, Mountain Zebra, Mokala,
Richtersveld, Bontebok and Tankwa) can also
participate in the programme,” the Minister
said.
Riaan Aucamp (Minister's Spokesperson)
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Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi Opens
New Environmental Knowledge and Learning Centre
02 August 2007 - Media Statement - Department
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism - THURSDAY,
02 AUGUST 2007: "We can now increase
the case of finding lasting solutions to environmental
problems. In your mission to spread knowledge,
ensure that all barriers are broken down in
order to bridge the gap between those who
are environmentally literate and other who
are illiterate. Only when knowledge has become
much more freely available and generally embraced,
is it then that our collective efforts will
drive us closer to achieving lasting solutions,"
said Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs
and Tourism, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi during
the official launch of the Environmental Resources
Centre (ERC) at Cape Peninsula University
of Technology (CPUT) this evening.
The launch of the learning centre coincides
with the Global Environment Facility’s' Fourth
Biennial International Waters Conference hosted
by South Africa and currently underway at
the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
During the Keynote address Mabudafhasi commented
on the current unprecedented environmental
challenges facing South Africans and the entire
planet due to unsustainable use of resources
by humankind. "Never before in our lifetime
or over the last number of millennia have
we have experienced the precarious situation
than we are now in," she said.
However she emphasized that there was hope
as we are making information and knowledge
more readily accessible and empowering the
multitude of people in the process.
The ERC is one such platform which focuses
on the impact of environmental degradation
on people, in particular marginalized communities,
as well as environmental degradation caused
by unsustainable human activities.
The approach of the ERC is to recognize and
respond to the interdisciplinary nature of
environmental problems, and the link between
local and global environmental issues. While
the ERC may be located at the CPUT, it is
envisaged that a community of practice that
spans South Africa as well as neighboring
African countries and beyond will be cultivated.
Several projects are in progress, including
the development and delivery of environmental
course modules, the collation of a library
of environmental information resources and
providing students with experiential training
and academic opportunities in the environmental
field. The ERC will also offer environmental
research and consulting services.
The Distant Learning and Information Sharing
Tool (DLIST), a web platform, which was launched
by Mabudafhasi in 2003, forms an integral
part of the ERC. DLIST facilitates distance
learning and provides a space for open debate
and discussions on environmental and development
matters. It further provides a networking
platform for role players in the sector ranging
from politicians, scientists, community leaders,
academic, NGO members to environmental students;
and facilitates the sharing of advice and
learning experiences. DLIST is currently funded
by the United Nations Development Funds' Global
Environment Facility.
The Deputy Minister highlighted the fragmented
distribution of knowledge, poor information
flow between sectors of society, spheres of
government and civil society as challenges
facing society. Mabudafhasi acknowledged that
DLIST has been instrumental in the drive to
bridge the gap between civil society and government
through the provision of open forums of discussion
and making information available in multiple
directions. She added that she envisaged that
this approach will be strengthened by the
newly launched centre through assisting people
to express their needs and views and thus
supporting government to meet the needs and
aspirations of the people.
The Deputy Minister also encouraged the development
of closer working relationship with key stakeholders
such as Cape Nature and the department to
enrich and update the centre.
Welcoming guest to the launch event Vice
Chancellor of CPUT Professor Prof Vuyisa Mazwi-Tanga
said the ERC’s goals are to raise environmental
awareness, and to contribute to a community
of practice of understanding, creating and
sharing knowledge on global and local environmental
issues but most of all to send out to the
world environmental professionals that will
have the requisite skills to address the 21st
century development challenges.
"It is now more prudent that South Africa,
the neighboring countries and indeed all developing
countries, respond to economic and human development
in a manner that addresses the needs of the
present generations, without burdening future
generations with a polluted environment and
an economy reliant on rapidly diminishing
energy resources. The ills of the past behaviour
by the now, so called developed countries
of the world, have proven very costly to the
world and to Africa in particular," Mazwi-Tanga
emphasized.
CPUT has 6 service centers which are strategically
positioned throughout the Western Cape Province.
These centers can come very handy to maximize
the impact of environmental education in partnership
with local communities, community based organizations,
schools and NGO's. While this exercise will
be raising awareness on best practice for
using natural resources sustainably, it would
simultaneously market academic disciplines
offered by this institution.
Moses Rannditsheni (Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi's
Spokesperson)
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Welcome Address by Marthinus van Schalkwyk,
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
at the Fourth Biennial International Waters
Conference in Cape Town
31 July 2007 - Speech - Department of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism - Honourable Ministers,
Representatives and Guests of the Global Environment
Facility,
We extend our warmest welcome to you albeit,
in the winter of our country. We are honoured
that the GEF and its implementing agencies,
the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),
the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)
and the World Bank chose South Africa as its
venue for the Fourth Biennial International
Waters Conference.
Glancing at the conference literature I note
that the express purpose of the conference
is to bring together International Waters
Projects to share experiences and innovative
practices. The conference objectives of promoting
learning and capacity building and developing
strategies to enhance stakeholder collaboration
are certainly supported as they are key in
the success of large multinational programmes.
The success of International Waters Programmes
and projects must lie in the ability of the
implementers to work across state boundaries
with various configurations of government
agencies and portfolios. The value of such
gatherings is that they allow the lessons
learned across continents to be crystallised
into basic universal good practice. We note
that the GEF has made efforts to engage in
Waters programmes across the globe including
the developing world. We in the developing
world, although having slightly more pristine
habitats and ecosystems, acknowledge that
the environment must be managed at the appropriate
scales if we are going to have a measure of
success that stands the test of time.
An aspect which is gaining importance and
is to be supported even further is the understanding
of socio-economic impacts in managing ecosystems.
The traditional uses of the oceans only to
harvest marine living resources must further
be diversified to include a wider range of
activities. In South Africa, marine ecotourism
is a growing industry especially with regard
to viewing our top marine predators such as
sharks, whales, seals and birds.
South Africa, like other countries that are
adjacent to large ocean spaces, is aware that
we should be doing more to understand the
impacts of large scale processes on our local
habitats, marine industries and communities.
Large scale and international waters programmes
can focus on regional and global issues and
will provide a basis to understand risk and
vulnerability to large ecosystem shifts, such
as climate change impacts.
With each coastal state exercising its right
to use the ocean services at its disposal,
we must acknowledge that there are threshold
limits that exist at the ecosystem scale.
The true value of International Waters Programmes,
like those facilitated through the GEF, is
that they engage management agencies on these
large scale limits. These programmes encourage
states to look at environmental impacts and
influences outside their jurisdictional boundaries
and across ecosystem scales.
The agenda of the conference is structured
towards interaction. I notice that large portions
of time are dedicated to focussed interactive
dialogue sessions. It is a bold and commendable
agenda that you have designed to maximise
opportunities to exchange experiences and
lessons from around the world and to move
away from the less interactive traditional
format of plenary sessions and presentations.
The discussion session on a range of topics
will also contribute to the overall objectives
of better constructing and implementing large
scale programmes. I note with particular interest
that you have sessions devoted to issues on
ground water, pollution, marine fisheries,
which are very close to South Africans in
general and to Cape Town in particular, and
finally assessing and valuing ecosystems.
This is an area where most of us can develop
expertise. Such valuations provide a sound
basis from which to make our management interventions
and facilitate the motivation for resources
to undertake such large scale work.
With such a learning orientated schedule
I am sure that your conference objectives
will be met. We hope you will take full advantage
of your visit here to savour much of what
Cape Town, the Western Cape and South Africa
have on show, both on land and in the oceans.
I thank you
