President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and President of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC), Prof. Robin Crewe;
Co-chair of the Global Young Academy (GYA), Prof. Gregory Weiss;
Co-chairs of the South Africa Young Academy of Science (SAYAS), Prof. Jerome Singh and Dr Caradee Wright;
ASSAf’s Executive Officer, Prof. Roseanne Diab;
South Africa Young Academy of Science Executive Committee Members;
Programme Director, Prof. Bernard Slippers Distinguished Guests;
Academics, Researchers, Scientists, and Students;
Ladies and Gentlemen

The South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) has hit the ground running. It was launched only in September last year (2011). Barely a year later SAYAS is hosting the General Assembly of the Global Young Academy! I commend both ASSAf and its energetic offspring, SAYAS.

I am delighted to say a few words on the theme “Sustainability: Lessons on the road between Rio and Rio+20”.

Rio+20 is the shortened name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012 – twenty years after the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio.

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to talk about how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an our crowded planet.

The official discussions will focus on two main themes; (1) how to build a green economy to achieve sustainable development and lift people out of poverty; and (2) how to improve international coordination for sustainable development.

As we go into Rio+20 we are reminded that 20 years on the matrix of challenges has not changed much since the 1992 Earth Summit. I want to highlight a matrix of challenges facing the world today. These are:

• The world today has 7 billion people – by 2050, there will be 9 billion,
• One out of every five people – 1.4 billion – currently lives on $1.25 a day or less,
• A billion and half people in the world don’t have access to electricity,
• Almost a billion people go hungry every day, and
• Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and more than a third of all known species could become extinct if climate change continues unchecked.

Rio+20 is an historic opportunity to define pathways to a sustainable future – a future with more jobs, more clean energy, greater security and a decent standard of living for all.

I attended COP 17 in Durban and came away with an understanding that among the most pressing issues facing the world today is that of population growth. It is estimated that by mid-century world population will have grown to more than 9 billion. Population growth is one of the three principle factors determining the human impact on the environment, the other two being economic growth and technological processes.

The world is undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in history: already, over half the world’s population is living in towns and cities, and by 2030 this number will swell to almost 5 billion, with urban growth concentrated in Africa and Asia.

At the same time about one out of seven persons who currently live on the planet live in extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as living under $1.25 per day. Unemployment, underemployment or vulnerable employment is the key contributor to low household incomes and low household incomes are also closely linked to food insecurity.

Today, food insecurity is largely a question of household incomes, but food insecurity is rapidly becoming a question of the availability of food itself. Because of competing uses of food (for fodder and biofuels, for example), climate-change related hazards and other factors, food production will need to increase at a relatively high rate. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) 2010 estimates, world agricultural output will need to grow by 70 per cent to feed a population of 9 billion people with rising levels of consumption.

Food insecurity cannot be delinked from questions of availability of land for agriculture. Four in five women in developing countries consider agriculture as their primary source of livelihood. Yet in sub-Saharan Africa only one in five landholders is a woman. The failure to address the persistent inequalities that undermine rural women’s status and well-being should be the priority area of focus for governments leading into the Rio+20 conference in June.

We will not achieve sustainable development if we do not achieve gender equality.

Closely connected to gender equality are the multi-pronged and multi-stakeholder responses to its climate-change challenges that South Africa is embracing and implementing.

On 12 October 2011, Cabinet approved a National Climate Change Response White Paper. It spells out the country’s key global policy commitments. It aims to achieve a fair, inclusive and effective global agreement that is in line with goals to end poverty and promote sustainable development. South Africa is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, which is the United Nations-driven response to curb global temperature increases.

South Africa’s "Climate Change Response" policy aims to reduce South Africa’s greenhouse gases through complementary adaptation and mitigation strategies. It includes a timetable to review greenhouse gas emission reductions and the implementation of sustainable development policies every five years.

There are other policies that reflect our national commitment to shift the country to a low-carbon socio-economic development path. Both the New Growth Path and Industrial Policy Action Plans, for example, outline various "green economy" initiatives. The Industrial Policy Action Plan contains a commitment to foster the "greening of industrial development". It specifically recognizes the potential benefits to be reaped from promoting "green" and energy-saving industrial development, and is closely aligned to government’s "Renewable Energy White Paper".

In addition to exploring options for greater water efficiency in industrial applications, these policies also considers wind, biomass and waste management, and ways to efficiently harness solar energy. There has, for instance, been growing demand for solar water heaters, which is considered to be a very labour-intensive industry alongside its environmental spinoffs. Treasury’s "Carbon Tax" discussion paper specifically calculates the social costs and benefits from activist state policies to curb emissions from polluting firms. The longer-range plans emerging from the National Planning Commission indicate similar steps in this direction.

Ladies and gentlemen, a greener but also a more prosperous planet is in all our best interests. On 17 November 2011, the South African government and its social partners signed the Green Economy Accord, as an outcome of social dialogue on the South African New Growth Path – a plan in which South Africa set a goal of creating five million new jobs by 2020.

Through the Accord, South Africa has committed to concrete steps to reduce dependence on coal-based energy, to develop a local industry to produce the necessary technologies, and to create more opportunities for workers and for small businesses and co-operatives.

The Accord helps lay a basis for greater employment creation and equality, as it both aims to secure a sustainable future for all South Africans and sets out how South Africa can participate in the growing green technological revolution.

To date, 140 000 solar water heating systems have been installed at household level. The South African government is committed to a target of ensuring the installation of one million solar water heating systems at household level by 2014.

At the same time South African business is committed to working with government to develop, establish and then publicise a sustainable funding plan to support the installation of one million solar water heating systems.

A capital allocation of about R22 billion will be set aside for green projects over the next five years and a further R3 billion will be made available for manufacturing of green products and components.

The government also commits to the procurement of renewable energy as part of the plan to expand the energy-generation capacity of the country. To date, government has committed for the supply of 3 725 MW of renewable energy by 2016 as a first step to realising the goals for renewable energy under the Integrated Resource Plan 2010 – 2030.

As a contribution to sustainable development, my Department is working at establishing (i) a bioeconomy strategy and (ii) new Centres of Excellence that will have a focus on sustainable development areas of research.

The bioeconomy strategy will facilitate more bioeconomy-related Research Chairs, Centres of Excellence and related industries.

Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen, as I conclude, I was told that on Tuesday you will be visiting the Maropeng centre at the 'Cradle of Humankind'. We are proud to be the custodian of such a famous archeological site where some of the best known human and humanoid fossils have been unearthed. As you tour the facility remember that “all of humanity shares an African heritage. We are one diverse species across the globe with our roots in Africa”.

I thank you.