Chairperson,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen.
I am very pleased to be here in Namibia on the occasion of the 11th Session of Conference of the Parties. Being the first time that the UNCCD COP is being staged in the SADC Region, I would like to extend our appreciation to the Namibian government for organising this event in our region. Allow me to also extend our appreciation to the people of Namibia for the warm hospitality and the generosity accorded to us.
Ladies and gentlemen, the UNCCD underlines the role of women and the youth in all efforts to combat desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD). The UNCCD is truly a ‘peoples’ Convention’ as it calls for their empowerment in decision-making, capacity-building and access to and use of resources. The adoption of the UNCCD’s Advocacy Policy Framework at COP10 as well as the impending UNCCD Advocacy Strategy under consideration at COP11 in our view intends, among other things, to heighten the voice of women by examining gender policies in the DLDD, including existing and emerging challenges as well as opportunities for policy action at country levels.
It is believed that men and women will be faced with different vulnerabilities to desertification, land degradation and drought impacts due to existing inequalities such as, their role and position in society, access to resources and power relations that may affect the ability to respond to the effects of land degradation.
In spite of the major gains in addressing inequalities between men and women in South Africa, there still remain enormous disparities and inequalities. In trying to understand gender and DLDD in the context of South Africa, it is important to appreciate gender and gender relations. In this context, the contemporary position of women in South Africa cannot be fully appreciated without an understanding of the ways in which colonialism, capitalism and apartheid marginalised social relations and fractured society along racial, class and gender lines. The most important challenges are faced by women in rural areas, the majority of whom head households and are still living in poverty with limited resources to ensure sustainable livelihoods.
Women whom we consider one of the more vulnerable groups in South Africa seem to bear the most burden resulting from land degradation and climate variability impacts. Women have to walk long distances to draw water and collect firewood to sustain their families.
The South African Government thus strongly supports the mainstreaming of gender issues (especially focusing) on women and children into considerations of the Three Rio Conventions (i.e. CBD, UNCCD and UNFCCC). This is in terms of empowering women in playing an active role in achieving resolutions of the Conventions aimed at biodiversity protection, sustainable land and resource utilisation and enhancing people’s resiliency to climate change and variability. To this end, South Africa continues to effect the mainstreaming of gender issues into its UNCCD National Action Programme (NAP) and other national strategies like the National Development Plan (NDP) in a holistic and synergistic manner with the mutually supportive Three Rio Conventions.
In collaboration with the private sector, NGOs, small scale farmers support groups and civil society at large, South Africa established the “Rehabilitating Drylands for Poverty Alleviation Fund i.e. the Drylands Fund to address DLDD issues where women play a pivotal role in its governance structures and implementation strategies.
South Africa has set up the Green Fund through the Ministry of Water and Environmental Affairs, whereby R1.1 billion has been set aside to establish the Fund. It is a unique, newly established national Fund that seeks to support Green initiatives to assist South Africa’s transition to a low carbon, resource efficient and climate resilient development path (i.e. the Green Economy). It is the first climate fund to integrate gender considerations from the onset. Women are identified as a crucial group for input and participation of strategies and activities of the Fund.
As such, gender balance is highlighted as one of the goals for the Board of the Fund and the Secretariat Staff. Gender aspects of stakeholder involvement are also highlighted in the Fund in the development of fund priorities.
Ladies and gentlemen, this year South Africa celebrates a “Centenary of Working Together towards Sustainable Women Empowerment and Gender Equality” on the impact of the 1913 Natives Land Act, as well as programmes and projects to accelerate women’s access to land. This is a tribute to more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings (the centre of National Government) on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women.
To reinforce our commitment to gender equality, South Africa is contemplating tough laws to enforce gender transformation through Gender Equality Bill which will provide a framework for creating an enabling working environment for both women and men. In our view, stakeholders and Country Parties to the Convention need to internalise the roles of different partners to effectively mainstream gender in national and regional implementation of the Convention.
In conclusion, as part of the national implementation process, the gender perspective is being incorporated into South Africa’s overall Development Agenda, with women being placed at the centre of such. It is in this context that we feel the global community should put the mainstreaming of gender issues, in particular women at the heart of addressing DLDD including its synergistic approaches to the other Rio Conventions.
I thank you!
