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Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs,
arrived this morning from her nine day visit to the US where she raised
the profile of adaptation for Africa, taking into account poverty
eradication thereby balancing development imperatives and addressing the
impacts of climate change.

She attended official engagements with various international
stakeholders as part of preparations for the December UN Climate Change
Conference in Copenhagen (COP15). Minister Sonjica was well received by
her counterparts and sought after for her views which enriched the
debate. The Minister also championed the cause of Africa as Chair of the
African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN), informed by a
developing country perspective.

She attended the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on Energy and Climate in
Washington from 17 - 18 September, which was attended by seventeen of
the world's major economies. This was immediately followed by the
Greenland Dialogue on the 19 - 20 September in New York, with a broader
group that includes not only Developed Countries, but a wider variety of
developing countries groupings such as Least Developed Countries and
Small Island Developing States.

The meetings addressed issues in the areas of mitigation and
adaptation, with focus on finance, technology and capacity building. She
used the platform to highlight the significance of adaptation, which she
emphasized was a priority for Africa as the most vulnerable continent
despite the issue being relegated to the periphery in the negotiations.
As such convergence was reached on ‘fast track' adaptation funding
for the period between 2010 and 2012, without prejudicing the outcome of
the negotiations for the period beyond 2012.

The meetings further deliberated modalities and mechanisms for
mitigation, with the Minister calling for leadership by developing
countries in taking deeper emission reduction commitments in order to
meet the Required by Science levels of carbon dioxide concentration. The
commitment of developing countries through their commitments to action
threw the gauntlet back to the developed countries, with China having
committed to a 15% contribution of clean energy to the country's
energy mix, whilst Brazil committed to an 80% reduction in deforestation
by 2020, both following the lead of South Africa's commitment to a
plateau of emissions by 2020-2025.

The Minister further committed to the need for developmental space of
developing countries, hence the inability to take emission reduction
targets beyond the ambitious actions outlined in the various
announcements by developing countries. She emphasised particularly that
the developing countries are grappling with delivery against the
Millennium Development Goals, access to energy, and energy security.

The minister encouraged all parties to respect the letter and spirit of
the convention particularly that of ‘common but differentiated
responsibility' as it takes into cognizance the historical
responsibility of developed countries, the current capabilities of
various countries, and social justice by recognizing the development gap
between developed and developing countries.

From the 22nd of September the Minister attended the UN Secretary
General's Summit on Climate Change, which was designed to galvanise
world leaders into action towards an ambitious and concrete outcome in
the international negotiations on climate change scheduled for
completion at Copenhagen. She contributed as a thought leader on the
Round Table on Business and Climate Change. As part of President
Zuma's delegation to the UN General Assembly, the Minister was part
of bilaterals with key countries over and above her bilaterals which
included, India, Denmark, World Bank, Sri Lanka, UK, USA, China, IRENA
and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as part of her effort to build
bridges to facilitate a resolution to many of the outstanding issues in
the international negotiation process.