R Mabudafhasi: Opening of Mmaphake LandCare Centre

Mmametlhake Village, Mpumalanga
15 August 2006

Programme Director
Honourable MEC Madala Masuku
The Honorable Mayor Masombuka
Kgosi Mokgoko
Members of the community
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

It is always a wonderful experience for me to be part of an event to
celebrate communities’ efforts to take care of the land and its natural
resources. This event is of no exception as the Mmaphake LandCare Forum is a
community-based program that seeks to protect the environment for the benefit
of the current and future generations.

The launch and official opening of this LandCare Centre fits in well with
the celebration of 2006 as the International Year for Deserts and
Desertification.

The United Nations General Assembly, at its 58 ordinary session, adopted a
resolution which declared 2006 the International Year of Deserts and
Desertification (IYDD), in so doing, it underlined its deep concern for the
increased levels of desertification, particularly in African communities.

Celebrated under the theme “Desertification a threat to humanity”, the
General Assembly invited all countries, international and civil societies to
celebrate the Year 2006 and to support public awareness activities related to
desertification and land degradation. The main objective of the IYDD is to get
the message across that desertification is a major threat to humanity and
launch the fight against it as a global sustainable development challenge.

Programme Director, South Africa has ratified the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification and Effects of Drought in September 1997 and has
since committed itself to the development and implementation of a long-term
strategy to address issues relating to desertification.

I am aware that your community has been celebrating 23 June as the World Day
to Combat Desertification and Drought. I am also aware that, prior to the
establishment of your forum, you have conducted several awareness raising
campaigns on environmental and land care issues.

I think that you are one of the very few communities that have been
proactive and committed in dealing with matters on land and environment. I
would like to commend and encourage you to continue with your good
interventions. It usually said that “Rome was not built in one day”. No matter
how small or big, our efforts today will yield good results tomorrow.

Desertification is more of a challenge to us than ever before. It poses huge
threat to rural communities who depend on natural resources for their
livelihoods. Unfortunately the poorest of the poor, mostly women bare the brunt
as they are the ones who depend on these natural resources for survival, in a
form of wood, water and agricultural produce for subsistence and
commercial.

Land degradation is obviously not only about land, it is about the people.
Millions of people are directly affected by natural resource degradation and
many of them live below the poverty line. They depend on natural resources for
survival. Yet the capacity of our country’s land, water and biological
resources to sustain its people is eroding. Tons of productive land are now
lost and many once pristine conservation areas are denuded.

As government we have put in place legislation to ensure sustainable land,
water, forest, and biodiversity management. The Conservation of Agricultural
Resources Act, 1993, the National Forest Act, the National Water Act, 1998 and
the Biodiversity Act of 2004 are examples of legislation put in place to ensure
conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.

We have has over the past years also initiated programmes that seeks to
address land degradation and desertification.

The National Action Programme (NAP) on combating of land degradation to
alleviate poverty is one of the key interventions the department has adopted.
Its first principle is to be the prime contributor to sustainable rural
development.

The Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) is another strategy
in which government in partnership with communities, the private sector as well
as donor agencies, seeks to address land degradation at the same time
alleviating poverty.

CBNRM is about local people coming together to protect their land, water
animals and plants, so that they can use these natural resources to improve
their lives sustainably for the benefit of their children and grand children.
It is a tool to enable every member of the community to play a part in
improving the quality of people’s lives, economically, culturally and
spiritually.

Initiatives like the National LandCare programmes, Working for Water, and
Working for Fire are some of the national initiatives where government is
investing money in the rural infrastructure, to ensure sustainable land
management, rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems and addressing poverty
through job creation. Therefore this project falls under the National LandCare
programmes and must be given the necessary support by government.

I was very impressed to learn that your forum deals with a variety of issues
in order to prevent loss of biodiversity such as bush clearing, weed control,
removal of alien species and control of veld fires. This shows that you
understand that environmental issues are crosscutting and therefore require a
holistic approach.

As we celebrate the IYDD, we need to collectively raise awareness of the
links between land degradation and poverty and give priority or support to
conservation and wise use of natural resources including water and wetlands in
national poverty eradication strategies.

It is imperative that we ensure gender equity in sustainable natural
resource management strategies. We must encourage the role of local communities
and indigenous knowledge in addressing economic and ecological challenges of
dry-land management ecosystems.

As we have been commemorate the 50th anniversary of the women's march to the
Union Building under the theme “Women: Builders of Communities and Dreams” for
2006, it is imperative that we ensure gender equity in sustainable natural
resource management strategies.

In conclusion allow to take opportunity to officially launch this centre
which will serve as community resource centre on all matters relating
sustainable utilisation of our natural resource and a demonstration centre for
natural resource utilisation and management.

Let us ensure a broader participation by all members of the community in
this project. Together we shall succeed.

Thank you and good luck.

Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
15 August 2006