Welcoming remarks by The Deputy Minister of Higher, Education, Science, and Innovation Mr Buti Manamela on the occasion of the plenary of the Group on Earth Observations, Cape Town International Convention
Dr Mmboneni Muofhe, Co-chair and GEO Principal for South Africa;
Fellow Co-chairs from the United States of America, the People’s Republic of China, and the European Commission, Dr Stephen Voltz, Dr Lui Zhichun, and Johanna Drake;
Heads of delegates of GEO member states;
Representatives of Participating and Associated organisations
Delegates;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen:
It is my honour and privilege to welcome you to the GEO Plenary 2023.
It was around this time four years ago that I addressed this forum in Canberra, Australia. At the time, our rugby team had just been crowned World Champions in Japan.
Today, four years later, around the same time, I am once again addressing this forum and once again, our rugby team has been crowned World Champions.
In Canberra, we made a number of commitments to advance the work of GEO. We resolved “to reconvene in four years to assess GEO’s progress towards attaining the intended goals, objectives and priorities” that were established, “and to consider new challenges and themes to guide consideration of GEO’s future beyond the term of the current strategic plan”.
Informed by the commitments made in Canberra, we are pleased to see the significant progress that has been made towards defining the direction of GEO in the ten years, post 2025.
I must also commend the GEO community for the effort and commitment that they have put into creating the new Post 2025 Strategic direction, which aims to build upon the successes of the past two decades of GEO’s existence.
Even more pleasing is the realisation that, today’s GEO looks significantly different from the one that was formalised in 2005. Over this period, GEO has assumed a truly international character that emphasises representation, inclusiveness, and accessibility.
Towards this end, we have taken the opportunity to strengthen the voices of developing island nations in GEO’s governance and its activities.
Further to this, regional GEOs have grown and matured, expanding their reach to various marginalised communities, and forming cross-regional collaborations.
In Canberra, one of the other issues that was emphasised was the role of the private sector as well as support for, and involvement of small, medium, and micro-enterprises. This is particularly important for us as the African continent.
We are seeing many of our young people leading the rise of new small businesses in earth observations in support of government priorities such as poverty alleviation, employment creation and economic development.
This is why it pleases us that, as we move towards adopting the Cape Town Declaration on Friday, we would be doing so after having done a lot of work to create a platform for young people to express themselves on issues that are of concern to them.
The highly impressive achievements of young people in this regard, demonstrate not on the value of earth observations, but also the opportunities it presents to modernise various aspects of our economies, assisting in evidence-based decision and policy making and mitigation of and response to devastating disasters.
Equally impressive is what is referred to as the incubators that you are introducing and through such innovations, I am confident that we will succeed in achieving our goals.
We recognise that not every GEO member is equipped to deal with or respond to some of the most urgent environmental challenges of our time. This, ladies, and gentlemen, is the very reason why GEO was established in the first place.
To create a system that fosters access, sharing, training capacitation and mutual empowerment. One of the urgent challenges that informed the establishment of GEO-is the issue of climate change, which as you know is wreaking havoc globally.
We see hurricanes in the US, earthquakes in Morocco, floodings in South Africa, China, and India and fires in Australia and Hawaii. Insect infestation and devastation of crops in East Africa and droughts in California.
The frequency and severity of these catastrophic events, destruction of the environment, properties, infrastructure, human lives, settlements, and general disruption of lives, including displacement is concerning.
Ladies and gentlemen, the most logical response to all these environmental challenges is through coordinated responses, sharing of data, resources, and deployment of capable human capital in minimising the impact of these disastrous incidents.
For this reason, we need to continue our focus on areas such as land, water, atmosphere, biodiversity, and climate monitoring, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable development.
Additionally, we must focus on relevant and appropriate actions related to the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
My reference to the success of our rugby team at the beginning of my remarks, may easily come across as nothing but bragging, while there may be some truth in this perception, there are however some invaluable lessons that we as the GEO community can learn from the sport of rugby.
Embodied in the sport of rugby are such elements as teamwork, camaraderie, resilience, perseverance, and selflessness. This, in my view, are the attributes that must define the character of the GEO community.
Thank you for your attention. I wish you all a productive GEO week and hope that you will enjoy your stay in our country.
