Hon Deputy Speaker, all Kyoto parties, except Russia, Japan and Canada, have committed in Durban at the 17th session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties and the seventh session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (Cop/Mop 7) to a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, which will commence on 1 January 2013. All parties agreed to the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, popularly known as the ADP, which will negotiate within the set timeframes - that is, from 2015 to 2020, by when a new protocol, another legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force under the UNFCCC will be developed. Currently, all parties are in agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under this future agreement.
Thank you, Deputy Speaker, and thank you, hon Minister, for your reply. The slow pace of commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries is of serious concern, as developing and poor countries suffer the most from global warming. Developing countries take longer to recover when climate change causes floods and droughts, among other things. Is the Minister hopeful that developed countries will demonstrate a strong will and not just formally conform to the Cop 17 agreement? Will they do more on their own initiative to drastically reduce their emissions?
I think it is the responsibility of both developed and developing countries to make sure that the historic outcome of the Durban Platform for Action gets implemented to the full. I think that is the only way we could safeguard the interests of developing countries.
Developed countries have a historic responsibility to continue under the principle of "equal but differentiated", to continue contributing more than the developing countries in not only reducing the greenhouse gas emissions but making sure that they continue to provide the necessary support for adaptation, largely and particularly for developing countries, the small islands and African countries, in particular, in their adaptation initiatives, because this is what is covered and protected in the Durban outcome.
The Durban conference secured the integrity of a multilateral rules-based system by establishing a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. When we left Mexico, everybody was saying it was dead, but we managed to secure that, as well as delivery on most of the Bali and Cancun outcomes.
Durban furthermore represents a gear shift in climate change negotiations where future work can now focus on implementation, as well as development of a more comprehensive and ambitious multilateral regime.
As a country, therefore, South Africa - and all developing countries, particularly African ones - delivered a historic, watershed conference, because it is the first time that a process was launched that would lead to a reduction of obligations for both developed and developing countries. As we move to Qatar, these are the successes that we have to defend and safeguard.
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, I do not have a follow-up question.
Hon Deputy Speaker and hon Minister, I was at Cop 17 where, through sheer persistence and hard work we managed to get agreement on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. I think we can take immense pride in securing such an outcome, but I am sure you will agree that the real hard work lies ahead of us still. One of the components of the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action is the agreement that a new global treaty, including both developed and developing countries, will be negotiated by 2015. I would like to know how those negotiations are going at present. Has there been acceptance on the part of developed countries that the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities must inform these negotiations for a global treaty?
Madam Deputy Speaker, I acknowledge the contributions that were made by hon members of this House, including the hon member who just took the floor. I must also say that one of the key outcomes of Durban, through this historic outcome, was a balanced package of decisions that also included the launch of the Green Climate Fund.
The Southern African Development Community, SADC, summit recently endorsed the hosting of the secretariat of the Green Climate Fund in Windhoek, Namibia. This is just one way of making sure that we continue to keep our eye on the ball, and we have to continue doing that.
As I said earlier on, the negotiations will start in earnest in 2015. So, we have the period between 2015 and 2020. What we need to do is to continue working together with other developing countries, African Union members in particular.
Luckily, the Ministers of environment from our continent will be meeting in September to do all the reviews before we go to Qatar in December of this year. This is to make sure that we continue making the requisite preparations, to be advised by science and also to collate all the necessary information as we build up towards the start of the negotiations in 2015. In the meantime, we do have a bridge - the Kyoto Protocol - that is in use and enforced until the negotiations start and until the actual implementation of the new platform to be launched in 2020.
Minister, there have been lots of talks about talks on issues of climate change and environmental greening, leading to South Africa hosting the Cop 17 indaba last December. Various resolutions and communiqus, right from the Kyoto Protocol and other greening conferences around the world, require that governments be involved and lead the way in the application of sustainable development principles and practices at all levels.
It surely has become fashionable for South Africa to be involved in these noble ideals, but mostly at ministerial and governmental levels, with no clear plan for the grass roots and the implementation thereof. My question to you, Minister, is: How can we shorten the timeframes of these goals to make them tangible and meaningful to ordinary people? Are the deadlines and goals set for 2015 achievable in the dark climate of poverty, unemployment and corruption that our country is riddled with? If so, what can the Minister share with the nation on this matter?
Hon member, through the hon Deputy Speaker, certain hon members of this august House, including members from your esteemed party, participated in full in these processes as a build-up towards South Africa hosting this very historic Cop 17/Mop 7. It is going to take the leadership of this House to make sure that South Africa lives up to the commitments it is making.
Secondly, before South Africa's hosting of Cop 17, this House adopted a Green Paper that was presented here by the hon Minister Molewa and was thoroughly discussed. Lastly, it is the responsibility of the global leadership to make sure that we protect our environment together.
What did the South African government do prior to the hosting of Cop 17? There was a civil society entity known as C17, the Civil Society Committee for Cop 17. It was in this country, in Durban, where civil society had full participation, including a massive demonstration and a march, where I received a memorandum. Civil society was allowed to participate in full in these processes. Civil society was also fully represented in the main plenary hall, including the representatives of women, youth and broader civil society, as well as those who represented believers from all sectors of our community. So, there was full participation of all South Africans from all walks of life.
What remains a historical responsibility is the role of the developed, industrialised countries. They have had 100 years of unfettered development and industrialisation, which led to the crisis that we are facing today. However, finger-pointing cannot lead us to the new destiny that we all aspire to. Developing countries are also committed to doing their bit through adaptation. So, it is going to take global leadership for us to make sure that we implement what we have agreed on. The role of South Africa was to make sure that we delivered an outcome that took the processes of negotiations under the UNFCCC forward - and we delivered just that.
Madam Minister, I am concerned about good intentions. We have all these meetings - in Durban, Copenhagen and all over - and we take resolutions, but do we carry them out? I remember at a meeting in Geneva once, we spoke about poverty, of resolutions taken four years earlier, and one rapporteur after the other who stood up showed that almost nothing had been done in the four or five years. My concern is about the good resolutions that were taken on this very serious matter: Are we carrying them out or is it just talking?
Hon Deputy Speaker, I am the current President of Cop 17 until December. The responsibility I have is to make sure that the international community lives up to their expectations. One of the outcomes or deliveries that we made in Durban is that of the establishment of the Green Climate Fund.
As for what South Africa is doing, here in our country Minister Molewa is doing that efficiently. She will be supported by your good selves in respect of the commitments that South Africa made when we went to Copenhagen and Cancun, historically, as well as in Durban and when we move forward to Qatar. No single country can take overall responsibility for the global challenges of climate change because the negative impacts of climate change know no artificial boundaries and borders.
Government's strategy to put a stop to gang violence in townships
210. Rev K R J Meshoe (ACDP) asked the Minister of Police:
Whether the Government has any new strategy to fight and stop the gang violence that is now taking place in townships such as Khayelitsha in the Western Cape; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, how does the new strategy differ from the previous one which aimed to stop gang violence on the Cape Flats?