SPEECH BY
MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK, SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER
OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, DURING
A CLIMATE CHANGE ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION
AT KIRSTENBOSCH NATIONAL BOTANICAL GARDENS,
CAPE TOWN 18 JANUARY 2008
Prime Minister Jens
Stoltenberg
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a great pleasure
once again to find myself in the wonderful
environment that is the Kirstenbosch Botanical
Garden. I am also delighted about the presence
of Prime Minister Stoltenberg who offered
to participate in this event on his way
through the port of Cape Town to view first
hand the situation in the Antarctic region.
I would also like to thank the organizers
of this event for inviting me to address
you.
January 2008 is indeed
an opportune moment to reflect on the international
response to climate change. Last month we
adopted the Bali Roadmap for negotiations
on the future of the climate regime beyond
2012. I will return to this later. This
month is also the beginning of the first
commitment period of 5 years for emission
reductions by countries that have targets
under the Kyoto Protocol. As we enter this
year, we also recognize that the milestone
for the 100 millionth certified emission
reduction credit under the Kyoto Protocol’s
Clean Development Mechanism was passed by
late December. Under this Kyoto mechanism,
projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and contribute to sustainable development
earn saleable credits, each equivalent to
one tonne of carbon dioxide. There are currently
more than 860 registered CDM projects in
49 developing countries, with another 2000
projects in the pipeline. This demonstrates
that action on mitigation is taking place
in developing countries at increasing scale.
Of course we will need to scale up further,
and particular action is needed to ensure
that a much greater percentage of these
projects take place in Africa.
Today the focus is on
the results of the work of the IPCC, which
emerged after many years of hard work, and
a very busy year in 2007. The IPCC is tasked
with assessing the state of scientific knowledge
with regard to climate change, its causes,
potential impacts, and the human societal
responses that are relevant to this monumental
environmental challenge. A body that carries
out review work of such high relevance is
bound to be scrutinized and criticized,
and rightly so, but in the process may also
find itself and its findings to be misrepresented.
Therefore, it is events such as this that
help to illuminate the results to a wider
audience, and allow a broader cross-section
of society further insights into the findings
that have emerged since the early 11000’s,
when the IPCC was established.
The work of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, the IPCC, has shown
unequivocally that climate change is happening
now and will get far worse with dramatic
and even catastrophic and irreversible impacts
unless we substantially reduce our greenhouse
gas emissions and start doing it now. Their
work has raised awareness of the climate
issue and is crucial to international cooperation
to face the climate challenge.
A number of South African
scientists have participated extensively
in the Panel’s work, and our Government
has engaged actively in the negotiating
fora that arrived at consensus on the wide-ranging
findings of this body. We believe that our
inputs were useful to the process, and especially
to ourselves, as we gained further insights
into the challenges, and its possible solutions.
The IPCC reports have
been pivotal in informing the international
policy developments on climate change, and
especially in kick-starting the new political
momentum that emerged in the climate negotiations
in Bali at the end of last year. The IPCC
provides the basis of scientific knowledge
on which we do our work. It is important
that this role is continued into the future,
both through full assessments as well as
special reports, and that new findings are
assessed every 5 to 6 years. Given the urgency
indicated by science, there is no longer
a plausible excuse for inaction by any country.
Our domestic process
of policy making interacts closely with
the latest science and the international
negotiations. Clearly, it would not be economically,
socially, environmentally or politically
sustainable for South Africa to continue
to grow along a “business-as-usual” path,
without a carbon constraint. Therefore,
in March 2006 Cabinet commissioned a process
to examine the options available to mitigate
our greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of
this 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 our adaptation planning, will
inform our deliberations towards a legislative
package which will give effect to our policy
at a mandatory level.
On the international
front, it is important for us all to realize
that the global negotiations are part of
a long process that began in 1992, and that
have been marked by progress in some areas
and setbacks in others.
In 1992, when the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change was
negotiated, there was some scientific uncertainty
about the link between climate change and
human activity. In 1995, when the 2nd IPCC
Assessment Report gave us more scientific
certainty, the international community responded
and developed a new legal instrument, the
Kyoto Protocol, under this framework agreement.
Today, some 12 years later, we are faced
with alarming and overwhelming scientific
findings from the IPCC’s 4 th Assessment
Report. As in 1995, we now, once again,
have to take bold steps as we face up to
our common challenges.
After a long period of despondency there
is a new spirit of optimism and cooperation
following the Bali meeting and the launching
of a new round of negotiations to strengthen
the climate regime after 2012. In this new
round, adaptation finally has equal place
alongside mitigation. And we are talking
about mitigation for all - including the
US. In addition, developing countries have
agreed to start negotiations on mitigation
action that is measurable, reportable and
verifiable.
In the Bali Roadmap,
a firm end date of 2009, by when we should
agree on the details of a more effective
and inclusive climate regime, has been set
for what can be expected to be two years
of intense negotiations. And most importantly,
the Bali Roadmap also sets the agenda for
negotiations for the next two years. This
agenda will evolve around four building
blocks, namely: adaptation (to the unavoidable
impacts of climate change), mitigation (reducing
or avoiding emissions), financing and technology.
On mitigation, which
was the most difficult area of the negotiations,
the Bali Roadmap strikes a core balance
between the respective contributions by
developed and developing countries. South
Africa, joined by many of our partners on
the developing world, committed to doing
much more to combat climate change and to
taking ambitious mitigation action.
Deeper emission cuts
(more stringent targets) for developed countries
that have signed the Kyoto Protocol are
also on the cards, within the emission reduction
range of between 25% and 40% of 11000 emission
levels by 2020. The USA, who is not currently
engaged in the full multilateral process,
committed to joining the next 2 years of
negotiations with a view to taking on measurable,
reportable and verifiable emission reduction
commitments and actions, including quantified
emission limitation and reduction objectives,
that are comparable to the efforts of other
developed countries.
The United States’ commitment
to join negotiations is an important step
forward. But it remains a first step - an
infant step. What we expect from them is
a quantum leap. We need to build a bridge
from the fragmented and inadequate status
quo to a climate regime where the USA also
accepts internationally agreed and binding
targets. It is critical that “comparable
effort” leads to US commitments to absolute
reductions of GHG emissions. Developing
countries demonstrated real leadership in
Bali. It is now over to the US to demonstrate
leadership and take their fair share of
responsibility.
This will also be my
message when we meet with the United States
in 10 days time at the second US-hosted
Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security
and Climate Change. This meeting will follow
two days after President Bush’s State of
the Union address on 28 January. If the
USA is really committed to addressing this
issue, 28 January will be a golden opportunity
for President Bush to signal that turning
point for real action and commitment on
climate change.
In conclusion, achieving
climate stability and sustainable development
in an equitable way requires individual
nations to rise above short term self-interest
for the benefit of the long term global
public good. We must all act with a greater
sense of urgency. Though we have different
responsibilities for the past; and we should
all take common responsibility for the future.
South Africa stands ready to take ambitious
mitigation action. We will contribute our
fair share towards our common responsibility
for the future.
Riaan Aucamp
