Director-General, Ms Nosipho Ngcaba
Deputy Directors-General
Our Stakeholders
Ladies and gentlemen
Good morning
I am happy to have been granted this opportunity to address this forum – my first engagement with you our stakeholders, whose views and opinions we as government will always treasure as they assist in getting us to sharpen our policy and regulatory instruments.
I am happy to be back in the environment sector after having served in this portfolio during my tenure in the North West Province some years back. I move into this portfolio with all the intentions of ensuring that we all as sector players – government and non-government entities - move forward in unison for the benefit of all our people millions of whom continue to vote this government into office without failure irrespective of their squalid living conditions.
We owe it to them to work together to achieve more to save our environment from degradation, to halt biodiversity loss, to ensure that all our people are exposed to acceptable levels of clean air, and that the water they drink is of the quality that we ourselves would be happy to drink as well.
In the same vein, we need to ensure that whatever we do in terms of the Constitution finds harmony with the work done by other departments and also fulfilling similar sections our Constitution such as “the right to economic activity” to ensure economic growth and sustainable development and creating jobs as well as poverty eradication.
The Constitution stipulates that all South Africans have a right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being and to have the environment protected for the benefit of present and future generations.
For us to deliver on that mandate effectively, we need to engage with you all as the different role-players and stakeholders in the environment sector so that policy making is relevant and in touch with the reality and the challenges our different communities continue to face on the ground. And that policy-making and legislative frameworks do not hamper growth but promote the country’s stated realisation of a green economy.
We are gathered here today to ensure that as a responsive and responsible government, we continue to reach out to all communities, be they geographically defined or communities of interest. Your voice is important to us as a government and a department.
Our work as a department is located in the new outcome-based approach that government has adopted. Government has agreed on the 12 outcomes as a key focus of work to be done between now and 2014, with each outcome having limited number of measurable outputs and targets.
We respond to Outcome 10 – Environmental Assets and Natural Resources that are valued, protected and continually enhanced.
Each output is linked to a set of activities that will help achieve the targets and contribute to its outcome. Each of the 12 outcomes has a delivery agreement which in most cases, if not all, involve all spheres of government and a range of partners outside government. Combined, these agreements reflect government’s delivery and implementation plans for its foremost priorities.
The deliverables identified under this outcome derive relevance and significance from the State of the Nation Address by the President early this year wherein he promised that this government will ensure that our environmental assets and natural resources are valued, protected, and continually enhanced.
We will have to work in collaboration with the various national departments, provincial departments and municipalities in the spirit of cooperative governance and recognition that environment management and protection of natural resources is a concurrent function.
The Constitution compels us to take reasonable steps to prevent pollution and ecological degradation, promote conservation and secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources.
Our environment is deteriorating and we must all be mindful that we are not immune to the global environmental crisis. Our country faces a number of current and emerging issues related to climate change, requiring intensive mobilisation to effectively respond to these challenges.
Sustainable development and efforts to mitigate climate change and/or adapt to its impacts, in general, have a mutually beneficial relationship.
Due to the nature of its impacts on environmental, social and economic systems climate change can no longer be regarded as an environmental challenge but rather a sustainable development challenge. We must work together to ensure that our response strategy also takes cognisance of the new growth opportunity we are presented with.
Although South Africa makes up just two percent of the global land area it is home to almost 10% of the world’s plants and seven percent of reptiles, birds and mammals. Sadly much of our terrestrial ecosystems and over 80 percent of our fresh water systems are threatened.
Therefore our interventions must be aimed at finding solutions to this perennial problem for our people depend on biodiversity goods and services for sustenance. We rank among the world’s 20 biggest greenhouse gas emitters and are the highest emitter in Africa.
Unaddressed, these issues could seriously undermine our country’s ability to pursue a sustainable development path and our ability to address developmental challenges we face as a developing country. Spatial planning and spatial development decisions are still fragmented and there is still a need to address competing land uses and ensure that industry and infrastructure development programmes ensures the long term sustainability of natural systems and the environment.
As a sector, we have agreed to address four critical problems in order to achieve the set outcome.
These are:
- Our water is unsustainably used and the quality and quantity of water resources is in decline
- Urgent need to reduce green house gas emissions, prepare strategies to cope with projected climate change impacts and reverse the rising trend in relation to the release of pollutants into the atmosphere
- Proper and better management of our environment
- Enhance the protection of our biodiversity.
The President expects us all to respond to these challenges and I believe that we are equal to the task at hand. We can only satisfactorily address these critical problems when we all work together for the good of our people and for the improvement of their lives as well.
Unless our responses are pro-poor, development-oriented and anchored in an approach that gives meaning to our people’s lives, an approach that is informed by the challenges our people continue to face daily, we will not be able to realise any benefits from our efforts.
I believe that with your support, engagement and constant feedback mechanisms we can achieve more to ensure that our tomorrow is better than our today.
Ke a leboga.
Thank you.
