The South African government would like to express disappointment at a statement issued by Earthlife Africa Jhb questioning the composition of the South African delegation to the17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Durban later this year.
The policy governing the composition of the South African delegation for all UN climate change meetings and Conferences of Parties is constituted with representatives of government, business, civil society, labour and South African Local Government Association (local government) representatives and also includes representatives with specific skills, particularly from the South African scientific community.
It must be noted that once a part of the South African delegation, representatives from sectors other than government also operate under strict code of conduct and discipline.
This policy that draws on expertise from across society in general was agreed to in 2004 at the National Committee on Climate Change to enable the South African delegation to include very best capacity in the country.
Since then, there have been members of the delegation drawn from a wide range of sectors like academic, business and the non governmental organisations communities. It is crucial to also add that at the COP itself, our delegation has also included parliamentarians and local government representatives.
Furthermore, in order to broaden access to negotiations by civil society, it has been a practice – finance permitting- for government to pay for trade union, youth and women organisations.
The basis of the inclusion is that all of these individuals represent the South Africa government, not their respective organisations, and are bound by the country position. The view of government is that the current team has been of benefit to the South Africa negotiating position.
Enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
South Africa responds to statement by Earthlife Africa on South Africa’s delegation to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Cop17
