Speaker, given its long history of oppression and the state of poverty that most of its citizens live in, South Africa needs to provide hospitals, schools, roads and other infrastructure and social development to its previously disadvantaged communities.
To achieve this, the country needs a stable growing economy. This might be threatened by greenhouse emissions. It would be grossly unfair to expect South Africa to abandon its current economic drive while other countries have benefited from decades of development based on fossil fuels.
While sustainable development is the answer, South Africa and other developing countries need skills and a transfer of technology that will allow them to deviate from a development path followed by developed countries, and, thus, mitigate climate change. It is, therefore, true that South Africa and other developing countries have common but differentiated responsibilities.
Agriculture and its role in food security and combating poverty make it the most important sector in the less developed countries, particularly in sub- Saharan Africa. Food security has a function of several interacting factors including food production, as well as food purchasing power. Climate change could worsen hunger in Africa in general through a direct and negative effect on production and indirect impact on purchasing power.
Climate change has a long impact on food production, access and distribution as a consequence of droughts, floods and shorter growing seasons. Increased drought frequency and flooding, as a result of climate change, will damage agricultural systems, threaten the food security of millions of people and adversely affect the existing food security of millions of others.
The National Climate Change Response Strategy, NCCRS, for South Africa not only perceives energy-induced climate change as a threat to sustainable development, but also as an opportunity for realising sustainable development, especially when activities for climate change mitigation are linked to poverty eradication and human capital development. In fact, the collaborative approaches proposed for mitigating and/or managing the impacts of climate change in the NCCRS for South Africa reflect such a perception in government. The investment opportunities created by the Clean Development Mechanism, CDM, projects and the associated skills development initiatives and recruitment offers provided by these projects demonstrate the strategic opportunities that South Africa has for harnessing sustainable development through appropriate climate change interventions. There are signs that the approach to climate change is shifting from one based on environment to one cast more broadly in terms of sustainable development, particularly at international level. The outcome of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, WSSD, strengthened the concept of sustainable development by addressing its three dimensions, namely economic, social and environmental dimensions. The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, JPOI, addresses climate change and its adverse effects and clearly links it with poverty and other development concerns such as land degradation, access to water, food, and human health.
On international agreements, the Delhi Ministerial Declaration adopted at the eighth Conference of the Parties, COP8, in the wake of the WSSD underlined development concerns in the context of climate change, reaffirming that economic and social development and poverty eradication are overriding priorities of parties to the convention, particularly developing countries. The declaration also highlighted the importance of adaptation for all countries.
The 2005 World Summit outcome document links climate change with energy issues in the context of sustainable development. It notes the challenges faced in tackling climate change, promoting clean energy, meeting energy needs and achieving sustainable development.
Viewing climate change in the context of sustainable development has a number of implications. Such an approach means that poverty eradication and socioeconomic development are necessary for combating climate change. The critical effort of developing and diffusing clean energy technologies is being stepped up. At the same time, enhanced access for the poor to modern services also needs to be vigorously pursued. Concrete initiatives for technology co-operation between North and South and South-South could help realise the promise of technology transfers.
Incorporating climate change response measures into the development planning, including National Sustainable Development Strategies, NSDS, could contribute to achieving the objective of sustainable development goals. Integrating adaptation measures into development planning could simultaneously contribute to poverty eradication and the reduction of the vulnerability of the poorest communities to climate variability and climate change. Therefore, the NCCRS for South Africa was developed with a full understanding of the need for an integrated approach to tackling the impact of climate change.
South Africa recognises that global climate change is a formidable threat to sustainable development, and could undermine global poverty alleviation efforts and have severe implications for food security, clean water, energy supply, environmental health and human settlement. The SA Country Studies on Climate Change, SACSCC, programme has, in fact, identified the health sector, maize production, plant and animal biodiversity, water resources and rangelands as areas of highest vulnerability to climate change. These are, therefore, the areas that need to be targeted for adaptation measures.
It is indisputable that women in developing countries, including those in Africa, are already on the frontline of adapting to climate change with increasing floods and droughts impacting on their livelihoods. As pivotal managers of natural and environmental resources and key frontline implementers of development, women have the experience and knowledge to build the resilience of their communities to the intensifying natural hazards to come.
It is therefore clear that, without the full participation and contribution of women in decision-making and leadership, real community resilience to climate change and disaster simply cannot be achieved. In too many places and even within countries, women are still marginalised from community discussions about development planning. Thus, real community-based development must involve the knowledge and energy of women. The ANC-led government specifically states that it will promote integration between the programmes of the various government departments involved to maximise the benefits of managing climate change to the country as a whole, while minimising negative impacts. It sees climate change response action as a significant factor in boosting sustainable economic and social development.
It is, thus, fitting that South Africa's approach to climate change is consistent with the concerns expressed in the international arena. Climate change is specifically predicted to reduce crop yields and food production in some regions, particularly the tropics. Traditional food sources may become more unpredictable and scarce as the climate changes.
There are legitimate concerns that climate change is arguably the gravest threat ever faced by humanity. It is a serious and long-term challenge, posing a serious threat to development and poverty reduction in the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the world. Climate change impacts, in many ways, are about changes in resource flows which are critical for local people's sustainable livelihood.
As rising concerns over the climate prompt the search for solutions, it is increasingly being recognised that, in order to be effective, efforts to combat climate change will have to be integrated into the broader context of social and economic development. There has, indeed, been international consensus that there is a linkage between climate change and development, as reflected in the outcome of the COP8 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, as well as the WSSD in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002.
Thus, the sustainable development dimension of climate change is being better understood. The implementation of sustainable development goals can lead to a development trajectory that combines economic growth with climate change mitigation. Existing synergies between climate change and sustainable development could be further exploited through policies and actions promoting cleaner energy technologies, more sustainable transport and better land-use policies.
The ANC's 52nd National Conference held in Polokwane came out very clearly on this matter when it unambiguously stated that climate change considerations must be further integrated with sustainable development strategies, the science and technology agenda, integrated energy planning, transport policy and the evolving industry policy.
This realisation is already apparent in the NCCRS for South Africa, as well as in the National Framework for Sustainable Development, NFDS, in South Africa. The fact that South Africa hosts the largest number of CDM projects in Africa, is a clear indication of its comparative progress in integrating sustainable development into climate change initiatives. I thank you. [Applause.]