Date: 09/09/2010
Source: The Department of Water and Environmental Affairs
Title: SA: Skosana: Address by the acting chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs, at the official launch of TEEB: Report for local and regional policy makers, in the National Assembly, Cape Town

Ladies and Gentleman,
Esteemed colleagues,
Honourable Mayors,
International Guests and Delegates,

It gives me great pleasure to address you today on this occasion of the
launch of the D2 component of the study on ‘The Economics of
Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)'.

South Africa is one of four countries around the world, namely Brazil,
Belgium and India, which are hosting this important event aimed at
raising awareness on the value of Nature for Local Economic Development.
South Africa is the 3rd mega diverse country in the world, and our
natural resources are our wealth as a nation and form the basis of
sustainable livelihoods for an improved quality of life for all
citizens.

Africans have always had an ancestral connection to the Earth. Our
indigenous people were land-based communities living in harmony with
nature for generations. This spiritual attachment to the soil, the
trees, the animals, water and the sun, has been the basis of our value
system. Water, food, shelter and energy are just some of the basic
essential services derived from nature which is the basis of life. In a
modern day economy, where the accepted currency of value is money,
people have become more and more detached from nature. This in turn has
affected our inherent value system, which has subsequently led to the
erosion of the social fabric of society. As we pursue a developmental
pathway, the value streams from nature become more and more invisible.
This has consequently affected our quality of life which is underpinned
by the services that nature provides.

Increasing urbanisation leads to the transformation of the value system
of society. It is envisaged that by 2030, 75 % of our country's
population will live in cities. We are fast approaching the stage when
our "ecological budget" will be exhausted, when the demand on
ecological services begins to exceed the renewable supply. For most of
human history, humanity has been able to live off nature's resources and
producing carbon dioxide at a rate lower than what nature was able to
regenerate and reabsorb each year. South Africa would like to remain the
3rd mega diverse country in the world, but ecosystem degradation and
biodiversity loss is a reality. Serious human and economic costs of
biodiversity loss are being felt now and will be felt at an accelerating
pace if we continue ‘business as usual'. That may have implications to
the attainment of some of the Millennium Development Goals including the
efforts towards poverty alleviation.

Biodiversity is a global good and is among the world's most essential
resources. It is first and foremost a local issue because of its direct
interaction with people's daily activities. It is therefore imperative
that local actions that effectively respond to biodiversity loss and
degradation of ecosystems are found and applied. Hence, all stakeholders
are an integral part of the solution. It is often said that the battle
for biodiversity will be won or lost in the cities, and therefore, local
government is an important stakeholder.

The priority of the present Administration is to build a better South
Africa and a better world through improved and effective service
delivery for all our people. Local government, by virtue of being the
closest sphere to our people, is dependent on healthy ecosystems and
biodiversity to provide the essential services to maintain the quality
of life of our citizens. This reality is often not acknowledged and such
need to change now than latter.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment which was a global assessment of
biodiversity, made the link between human livelihoods and ecosystems
services. Local government can take direct action to protect these
valuable resources through responsible planning for their own
sustainability and resilience. Your actions for the country's management
of biodiversity would be one of the key mechanisms for delivering the
mandate of the Government as articulated in its programme of work.

It is however important to mention that Local governments are not alone
in their endeavours. Increasingly, partnerships with national and
provincial governments; government entities; business, international
NGOs such as ICLEI, academia and the general public are emerging in
recognition of the critical role of local governments. The capacity
building initiatives by some of these various organisations are
noteworthy. I would also like to commend ICLEI's leading work in local
action through its globally recognised Local Action for Biodiversity
initiative which works with local governments and cities in six
continents across the globe. Such pioneering greening initiatives have
laid the foundation for a new path to sustainability.

Adopting a greener environment is also a vital mechanism to attract
investment as part of local economic development. Against the backdrop
of one of the worst financial crises that the world has experienced, it
is clear that the present world economic system need some transformation
for sustainability. The TEEB initiative will help in providing the most
valuable inputs towards such transformation.

The global community is gradually shifting towards a new Economic
Growth Paradigm that ensures that in the process of conserving and
protecting our natural resource base, we also ensure that we meet our
development challenges, mainly employment creation and ensuring
sustained economic Growth. In the wake of the economic crisis in early
2009, the United Nations Environment Programme released a report termed:
A Global Green New Deal, this report urged nations to focus on a Green
Economy Growth Path. South Africa has committed to ensuring that our
development paradigm is less carbon intensive and that we are a
country that consumes our resources in a sustainable manner while
exploring their maximum economic benefits.

TEEB therefore serves as part of the roadmap to a green economic
pathway and can assist Government to implement appropriate measures
while boosting the local economy, enhancing quality of life, securing
livelihoods and generating employment in a sustainable manner. This is
an opportunity for local governments to harness the green brand and take
action to protect Biodiversity. Green investment at the local level is
fundamental to National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures. The TEEB
reports can increase our understanding of the real value of biodiversity
and ecosystem good and services. One of the things we need to do is to
engage the institutions of higher learning, research institutions,
Treasury, the Departments of Science and Technology, Economic
Development and Trade and Industry to demystify the hidden value streams
of ecosystems, goods and services derived from Nature. We need to
strengthen an economic case for biodiversity and ecosystem services that
would ultimately help us move to a more ecologically friendly budget.
This would enable Government to establish scientifically defensible
thresholds so that Biodiversity, and its ecosystems goods and services,
can continue to support a sustainable growth path. The TEEB tools are
certainly a centre point from which South Africa can benefit immensely
to raise awareness of the value of Biodiversity.

I hereby launch the TEEB D2 report for Local Administrators. I call on
all stakeholders, especially local government to engage with the report,
and to assess options that factor nature's benefits into local policy
and action. This approach will inform processes which would ultimately
influence national policy imperatives in this regard. Local Government
is expected to continue to emerge as a key player in the global and
national arena, as the battle for sustainability will be won at the
local level.

I thank you.