Edna Molewa, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, today, 30 May 2011, opened the Rio +20 Regional Workshop being held in Pretoria until 1 June 2011. The regional workshop intends to bring together the scientific and technological community as well as policy makers to deliberate upon pertinent issues of sustainable development and is part of Africa region’s preparatory process for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) that will take place in 2012, in Brazil.
This is the event that will mark the 20th anniversary of the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the 10th anniversary of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) hosted by South Africa in 2002.
Molewa said that there was almost twenty years of experience in the implementation of the sustainable development agenda since the adoption of Agenda 21. In 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development held here in South Africa and we have made strides in establishing a clear course of action for the implementation of Agenda 21 known as the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI).
“We have made progress in the implementation of some targets contained in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI) inclusive of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) over the years. However, like many other regions, Africa lags behind on the attainment of sustainable development agenda particularly the Millennium Development Goals. Our ability to achieve the Millennium Development Goals requires continuous interventions at international, regional, national and local level supported by the science and knowledge economy,” highlighted Molewa.
“The current multiple challenges of food insecurity, global warming and the financial downturn reversed some of the gains made towards achieving sustainable development agenda. Africa is at the receiving end of the intertwined impacts of these challenges,” she said.
However Molewa added that, Rio+20 scheduled from 4 to 6 June 2012, in Brazil gives us an opportunity to assess progress made thus far, identify some implementation gaps and agree on solutions to address new and emerging challenges.
The Minister reiterated that Rio+20 is organised under the banner of the two themes namely; green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication and institutional framework for sustainable development. Therefore, discussions in the coming two and half days should aim at formulating concrete inputs on these thematic areas to be considered by the Africa Regional Implementation meeting scheduled later this year.
This workshop should provide a platform to the scientific and technological community to engage on themes and formulate options for policy makers that are aimed to expedite practical implementation of sustainable development agenda particularly in Africa building on existing best processes, programmes, initiatives and indigenous knowledge.
Molewa emphasised that the scientific and technological community should aim to formulate and provide measures, innovative solutions which are key for a shift towards a more resource efficient trajectory. As the green economy concept is gaining momentum in the international space, we need to explore in detail the tangible benefits of this transition towards achieving the overriding objective of sustainable development which is to eradicate poverty.
The overall enablers of implementation for the green economy include innovation, science and technology commercialisation with consideration for greater localisation and manufacturing. Our research outcomes are often not fully exploited and commercialised.
She said that we further need to explore the potential of green economy to drive the convergence of the three pillars (economic, social and environment) of sustainable development. Therefore, the scientific research and policy interface is crucial for Africa to move towards a resource efficient trajectory.
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