Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa reported on Tuesday that South Africa’s negotiating position for the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change conference of the parties, or COP 17, would be submitted for Cabinet approval in October.

This is one of three key priorities the South African delegation is focusing on in the build-up to the gathering, which will be held in Durban between November 28 and December 9, Molewa said at a media briefing, in Pretoria.

The other priorities were the coordination and implementation of projects that would offset the impacts of the event itself and to create projects that could leave a lasting COP 17 legacy, as well as the Public Climate Change Outreach and Mobilisation programme, which aimed to engage all South Africans on the concept of climate change.

“If there is any legacy we can bestow on our people from this conference, it is the power of knowledge,” said Molewa, who is the leader of the South African delegation to COP 17.

South Africa had already committed to implementing nationally appropriate mitigation actions, which could result in the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 34%, relative to its business as usual trajectory, by 2020, and by 42%, by 2025, in line with the Kyoto Protocol. However, the extent to which this commitment was implemented would depend on the finance, technology and capacity building support extended by developed countries.

The incoming president-designate of COP 17, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, said South Africa was on track to host the UN conference, with the inter-Ministerial COP 17 committee working closely with the UN to ensure that the conference meets all the organisations’ requirements.

“To achieve a balanced outcome, South Africa requires the operationalisation of the Cancun agreement and commitment to tackle unfinished business concerning the Bali Action Plan,” noted Nkoana-Mashabane.

To ensure that the conference was a success, she said South Africa, together with outgoing COP president, Mexico, was arranging a ‘Leaders’ Dialogue’ on climate change, to be held on the margins of the sixty-sixth session of the UN General Assembly, which will open at the UN Headquarters, in New York, on September 13.

“President Jacob Zuma and Mexican President Felipe Calderón have invited about 20 heads of state to participate in the dialogue, on September 20, in New York,” concluded Nkoana-Mashabane.