Hon Speaker, just like poverty, Aids and international conflicts, global warming and climate change is threatening human existence on an unprecedented scale. Whatever the outcome, South Africa and its leadership should be seen to be among the nations that are waging a war to minimise the effects and impact of global warming and climate change on human and planet life.
The question is: What are we doing to keep this issue on the public agenda and ensure that a global sustainable agreement is forged? South Africa is responsible for about 60% of the African continent's carbon dioxide emissions and almost 1,5% of the amount produced globally. Though we can claim that this amount is small, this is a significant contribution and requires our national government to take the lead in ensuring that the provisions of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol are implemented.
The responsibility for co-ordination and implementation has been delegated to the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs. In addition, the government has established the Department of Minerals the as designated authority for the clean development mechanism under Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol.
Communication and public education about climate change must be improved, especially to the poor rural farmers whose lives and livelihood will be harshly affected by its impact.
On the other hand, owing to its ugly past of apartheid and gross inequalities, South Africa needs to provide houses, hospitals, schools, roads and other infrastructural developments in many working class communities. Our country cannot afford to abandon its developmental commitments while countries of the North primarily benefited from decades of development based on fossil fuels.
President Jacob Zuma, at the recent UN General Assembly, correctly stated that there needs to be an agreement on new, additional, sustainable and predictable financing for adaptation. This should be for programmes that reduce the vulnerability of developing countries to the effects of climate change.
Industrialised countries, therefore, face the biggest responsibility and burden for action to address climate change. They, therefore, must support developing nations to adapt through financing and technology transfer, for example.
Without additional measures to mitigate climate change, global greenhouse gas emissions will continue to grow over the coming decades and beyond. Most of this increase would come from developing countries where, per capita, emissions are still considerably lower than those in developed countries.
In December 2009, world leaders will meet in Copenhagen with a view to coming up with a solution to the problem of climate change. Its success will be measured by whether China and the United States of America come to the table and agree to reduce their emissions. [Time expired.] I thank you. [Applause.]