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The Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi today went on a tour of the Climate Train in Polokwane. The Climate Train, after 19 days of traveling across the country, has reached Polokwane to raise awareness on climate change ahead of the 17th Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to be held in Durban this month.

During her visit, the Deputy Minister did her part in the fight against climate change and offset her carbon footprint by planting a tree at the Polokwane train station. She went on to hand over 100 trees to the city of Polokwane.

The Deputy Minister held a round table discussion on climate change issues in the train’s on-board conference carriage with members of the community. The round table discussion gave members an opportunity to discuss the challenges experienced by women and youth in agriculture in Limpopo as a result of our changing climate.

“The Climate Train interactions with people in all these vast corners of South Africa help us to facilitate this national conversation about climate change” said the Deputy Minister. The Climate Train is making its way through 16 towns and cities in an attempt to facilitate a dialogue on climate change issues under the theme ‘Mobilizing, Dialogue & Climate Justice’.

“Climate change and its impacts have the potential to reverse our development gains since SA became a free country. We therefore believe it is important for every person in this great nation of hope to start talking about climate change and collectively come up with adaptation and mitigation solutions to respond to climate change. ” said the Deputy Minister.
The Climate Train will remain in Limpopo for the next four days where members of the public will be welcomed on board the train to see exhibitions, attend workshops and educate themselves on climate change issues. The train is expected to arrive in Johannesburg on Sunday.

The Climate Train is a partnership between Indalo Yethu, the British Council and COPART, with the support of the Department of Environmental Affairs, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa and the Embassy of the Republic of Germany. There is also collaboration with the South African National Biodiversity Institute and LoveLife.