There were significant opportunities for the development of a green economy in Southern Africa, which could also be extended to other parts of continent, President Jacob Zuma said on Monday.

Addressing delegates at the official opening of the seventeenth Conference of the Parties (COP 17) climate meeting in Durban, he said the green economy would create new opportunities for enterprise development, job creation and the renewal of commercial and residential environments globally.

This transition was already represented by the Grand Inga mega hydropower project, which could dwarf China’s Three Gorges dam. South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo signed a new ‘Grand Inga’ memorandum of understanding earlier this month.

The project would provide electricity to more than half of Africa’s population and produce about 40 000 MW of electricity – one third of the electricity generated in Africa currently.

Zuma highlighted other developments on the hydro and wind energy fronts, including the R15-billion Lesotho Highlands Water Project, as well as renewable energy projects in Mozambique and South Africa.

Earlier this month, South Africa also committed to create 300 000 jobs through a new Green Economy Accord.

Zuma said climate change was a serious risk. “It is no longer just an environmental challenge, but a holistic sustainable challenge.”

He called for a fair and balanced outcome at COP 17, stressing that the outcome of climate change talks could not be separated from the challenge to eradicate poverty.

The President said delegates and governments had the responsibility to reaffirm the multilateral rules-based system anchored by the Kyoto Protocol and to provide the funding needed to address impacts of climate change through activating the Green Climate Fund.

Adaptation was also a key priority, particularly for small island States, least developed countries and Africa.

“We have come a long way since Copenhagen and Cancun, and Durban must take us many steps forward to ensure that we save tomorrow today.”

Meanwhile, Maite Nkoane-Mashabane, president of COP 17, said at an official United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change press briefing, the world realised that this conference would not be an easy one.

"However, we are optimistic that it will be the place where the international climate change negotiators will arrive at some agreement on the pressing issues that need a resolution within the next two weeks."

Nkoane-Mashabane said that trust that was rekindled in Cancun, Mexico, for COP 16, was still fragile, and the conference was an ideal opportunity for parties to strengthen this trust.

She said that a solution to the Kyoto Protocol extension had to be found. “If this question is not resolved, the outcome on other matters in the negotiations will become extremely difficult.”

"The multilateral rules-based system must prevail for the world to effectively address the global challenge of climate change. The system must also give the required reassurances that our response to climate change cannot depend on the domestic measures alone, as there will be no assurances that all parties will do what needs to be done," the International Relations and Cooperation Minister said.