Date: 01/09/2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: J Zuma: Conference of Parties on UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)


STATEMENT BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA TO THE SIXTH SESSION OF THE CONFERENCE OF PARTIES (COP 6) OF THE CONVENTION TO COMBAT DESERTIFICATION (UNCCD) Havana, Cuba, 1 September 2003

Your Excellency, President Fidel Castro,
The Executive Secretary of the UNCCD,
Excellencies Heads of State and Government,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Esteemed Participants,

Just under a year ago, the world converged in Johannesburg, South Africa, for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), which we had the great honour to host.

The Summit gave new impetus to global action to fight poverty and protect the environment.

We believe that the WSSD was correct to label the UN Convention to Combat Desertification as one of the most important tools for poverty eradication and food security in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas of our planet.

The Convention is also another important instrument to achieve the objectives contained in the UN Millennium Declaration to halve world poverty by 2015. It therefore provides hope for the millions of people throughout the globe affected by desertification and drought.

We concur with the UNCCD view that programmes to combat desertification should be integrated into development policies as a whole, addressing the physical, biological and socio-economic aspects of desertification and drought.

The UNCCD is truly a sustainable development convention.

The Convention is important for the developing world in many respects. For South Africa, it is crucial because a large sector of at least 12 million rural dwellers are involved in subsistence farming activities and rely heavily on natural resources for parts of their livelihood. This sector is particularly vulnerable to the consequences of desertification and drought.

There is a similar or worse situation in other countries. It is therefore not surprising that the developing world has attended this conference in larger numbers than the developed countries. Issues of poverty and desertification affect us directly, and seeking solutions is first and foremost in our interest, and also in the interest of the developed north.

The war against poverty and environmental degradation will be effectively won if all governments - in both developing and developed countries - seriously work together within the context of the multilateral agencies and others to maintain viable projects, which reach the poorest of the poor.

Support from the developed countries is necessary in order for developmental initiatives to be effective and sustainable. This support must go beyond commitments around Official Development Assistance. In the framework of Financing for Development and WSSD, the support should mobilise additional resources for development through trade, investment and technology transfer.

In this regard, the forthcoming World Trade Organisation negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, are extremely important and should take us a step ahead with regards to implementation.

I cannot over-emphasise the important progress that needs to be made at this gathering, especially with regards to the need for the phasing out of agricultural subsidies by the North, to empower rural farmers in the South.

Improved access to markets would improve the lives of rural dwellers, especially women and children who are most affected by the impact of droughts, desertification, climate change and land degradation.

In the African continent, we are already implementing and championing the goals of the UNCCD through the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the continent's blueprint for socio-economic development.

We believe that there is a need to draw stronger linkages between the "Environment Initiative" of NEPAD and the UNCCD. The current co-operation on developing the environmental component of NEPAD - between African countries, the Global Environment Facility and the UN Environment Programme - is greatly appreciated.

We are already taking forward this co-operation in areas such as transfrontier parks, where African countries are boosting joint conservation efforts, enhancing biodiversity and rural development. We will be celebrating these successes at the forthcoming World Parks Congress next week in Durban.

Chairperson, we welcome wholeheartedly last year's decision of the Global Environment Facility Assembly to give effect to the WSSD recommendation to incorporate land degradation as a new focal point of GEF.

This meant that the issue of land degradation could now be tackled in a dedicated fashion, instead of indirectly through other focal areas of the GEF.

The issue of funding and resources for the Convention is also critical. We therefore welcome the agreed third replenishment of the GEF Trust Fund.

The Global Mechanism as well as bilateral and multilateral donors must identify and provide new and additional funding for the UNCCD.

Esteemed Participants, in conclusion, allow me to congratulate the Executive Secretary and the Secretariat on work done thus far, and trust that they will continue to streamline operations to facilitate greater efficiency and effectiveness.

The world's poor look up to this conference to make a difference in their lives. There is a lot of work ahead of all of us, and we need to get on with it without delay.

I thank you.

Issued by The Presidency
1 September 2003