Download MEC speech at press brieifng in nasrec

Speech of Ms Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, Gauteng MEC for
Agriculture and Rural Development, during the media briefing at
Nasrec, 22 November 2011
MMCs present
CEO of Indalo Yethu
CEO of PRASA
HOD of GDARD
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
Officials present
Ladies and gentlemen
May I convey greetings from our Gauteng Provincial Government, led by the
honourable Premier Nomvula Mokonyane.
I would like to thank Indalo Yethu and PRASA for allowing me to have today’s
media briefing as part of this event which is 6 days before the COP 17 event
in Durban. I commend Indalo Yethu for their vision in initiating such a concept.
Of course, most of our gratitude goes to the leaders in the environment - the
Minister and the MINMEC - who approved the Climate Train concept and
ensured that it really became a reality so that the people of South Africa know
what climate change is and how can they participate in overcoming the
challenges that come with climate change.
The Climate Train plays an important role in creating awareness around and
educating our people about the need to mitigate against and adapt to climate
change so our environment is protected. After all, it is not ours - we have
borrowed it from our children, the future generation.
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Today we will send the Climate Train to the historic UN conference called
COP17. The COP 17 is an international conference where the intention is to
forge an “international agreement”. Such an agreement is not an event but
rather a long and ongoing process deriving from the results of past COPs and
negotiations in between the COPs. In this regard, there are defined South
African Negotiators who have, during the course of the year, criss-crossed the
globe to engage with both like-minded and unlike-minded nations around the
possible outcome to come out of the conference in Durban.
Attendance at COP 17 does not necessarily translate into opportunities to
negotiate on behalf of the country. In fact, by the time COP 17 starts, country
and regional positions will already have been formed and agreed to. In the
case of South Africa, a high-level meeting, to which Premiers were invited,
was held on 7 November 2011 to firm this position.
As a long-term contribution to caring for the environment, the Gauteng
Provincial Government developed the Gauteng Climate Change Response
Strategy (GCCRS) and Action Plan. An intense consultative process to get
input from different stakeholders assisted us in drafting the strategy. The
consultative process included the following:
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The Gauteng Province Consultation Workshop on the National Climate
Change Response Strategy (NCCRS) Green Paper, held 4 February
2011 (organized by DEA).
The Gauteng Department of Economic Development (GDED) Green
Strategic Programme – Local and Provincial Government Workshops,
held 17 February 2011 and 20 May 2011 (organized by GDED and
GCRO).
The Gauteng Climate Change Response Indaba, held 15 March 2011
(organized by GDARD and UJ).
Communications and interactions with various personnel from the
Gauteng provincial and municipal governments and other stakeholders,
inter alia, PMC and PSC meetings.
The GDARD Climate Change Conference that took place at the end of
September 2011.
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In addition, the province has finalized its Green Economic Programme to
guide development in the province. Other strategies that have relevancy to
climate change have also been developed:
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Gauteng Provincial Air Quality Management Plan
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State of the Environment Reports
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Gauteng Integrated Energy Strategy
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Water for Growth
Strategic Environmental Assessment for the Vaal Triangle and
Highveld
The GCCRS addresses the problem of climate change in two ways.
First, Gauteng recognizes that climate change is real and that it poses a
significant threat to the development of the province. It is acknowledged that
human activities have contributed a great deal in the release of greenhouse
gases (GHG) into the atmosphere, and that climate change is already evident
through the change of weather patterns over the years. This calls for the need
to reduce the amount of GHG released into the atmosphere, through
mitigation strategies.
Gauteng province is the economic hub of South Africa and the economy is
based on fossil-fuel energy sources; hence, it is highly vulnerable to the
impact of climate variability and change. Climate change poses a risk of
undermining the sustainable development initiatives in South Africa and
Gauteng Province.
Second, the need to adapt to the impacts of climate change by means of
assessing the vulnerability of Gauteng Province to climate change and
subsequently developing an adaptation strategy and action plan is now
universally recognized. This is in view of the long lifetimes GHGs have in the
atmosphere and their accumulated impacts on local environment.
Climate change response is one of the pillars that contribute to sustainable
development. In this regard, climate change response requires radical and
strong political commitments and administrative action to affect the bold
decisions that will be necessary to implement both mitigation and adaptation
interventions founded in research and development. Gauteng is addressing
this by implementing energy efficiency measures in existing industrial,
commercial and mining operations and buildings, through monitoring,
regulation, incentives and technology demonstration. The building of an
energy efficient hospital in Germiston and RDP houses in the province show
that we have already done something on energy efficiency projects.
Climate change is everyone’s business. Therefore, we urgently need to further
promote public education and awareness on climate change. GDARD has
been doing this for years, through the recently introduced Gauteng Clean and
Green Campaign and the Bontle Ke Botho (BKB) Campaign that has been
running for the past eight years,
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The Gauteng Province together with industry have over the past year come up
with ways of mitigating against climate change. Among the things that have
been done are:
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The building of air quality stations,
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The commissioning of routine energy audits by industry,
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Monitoring energy consumption continually,
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Retrofitting insulation and solar shielding of buildings to enhance
the use of daylight.
Although we are far from totally ridding ourselves of litter in Gauteng, there is
no community in Gauteng that does not know and has not taken part in the
Clean and Green Campaign.
This campaign educates communities on managing waste, including a plea
not to burn litter as this contributes to climate change. Through the Gauteng
Clean and Green Campaign GDARD has donated more than 60 000 trees to
metros and municipalities in Gauteng. On Thursday last week we embarked
on a campaign of distributing and planting 7 000 trees in Tembisa. This was
part of effort to address climate change and green our environment. Gauteng
has actually planted a total of 327 000 trees. GDARD plants trees for many
good reasons, climate change mitigation among them.
GDARD supports conserving water, saving electricity, and, using cleaner
energy such as biogas. The department promotes sustainable agriculture
activities such as mulching, which is a good response to climate change
threats such as drought. This is because mulching reduces the loss of soil
water and allows farmers to run their businesses viably, producing food for
people despite the drought. BKB promotes water harvesting, which is also a
good response to climate change as it allows farmers to cope with drought by
collecting water that can be used for watering the crops.
Climate change is an inter-disciplinary and cross-cutting issue, which will
require multi-disciplinary action from all stakeholders – national government,
provincial departments, municipalities, industry, civil society, the education
and training sector and research organizations - in order to achieve
acceptable results. It is important to obtain buy in and commitment from all
stakeholders. Human, financial and technological resources are necessary in
order to achieve the desired results of climate change response.
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The municipalities, including the City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane and
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, have various programmes and initiatives
aimed at addressing climate change. These include Sustainable Energy for
Environment and Development (SEED), Commission on Sustainable
Development, South African Cities Network, Climate Change MultiStakeholder Reference Group, and the Gauteng-based EnerKey programme
and collaborations on Clean Development Mechanisms.
The programs mentioned in this statement surely show that Gauteng is ready
to contribute to the hosting of the 17th meeting of the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), famously known as COP 17/
CMP 7, to be held here in Durban, South Africa during late November and
early December 2011.
I thank you.
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