Statement to the High Level Segment of the sixteenth session of the United Nations (UN) Commission for Sustainable Development by HE Marthinus Van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

Mr Chairman, on behalf of the South African Government, I congratulate you on your leadership in this process. South Africa associates itself with the statements made by the Group of 77 and China and by the Africa Group.

Mr Chair, as the world experiences a food price crisis and escalating levels of poverty we meet timeously to review implementation of work towards meeting the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) targets. We are considering progress in Africa and the challenges of drought and desertification, land, agriculture, rural development and water as a firm basis for a constructive and action-oriented CSD17 policy session.

Mr Chair, in Johannesburg we agreed that the greatest challenge of our time was dealing with poverty. It is clear that whilst many countries have undertaken concrete actions and achieved progress in certain areas, much remains to be done to alleviate poverty, improve livelihoods and to enhance economic growth, particularly in Africa.

At the heart the vision of an African Renaissance stands the challenge of ending the economic marginalisation of Africa and attracting resources and investment to ensure its development. In this regard, South Africa is committed to the full implementation of New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) as Africa's premier development vehicle.

Mr Chair, agriculture remains the backbone of the economy for many developing countries, where the issues of drought, desertification and land degradation are closely linked to food security. In this context, meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and WSSD targets requires increased political commitment to address the challenges of agriculture and rural development. In Africa, this requires the full implementation of the NEPAD Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme which, in turn, is linked to efforts to address the inequities in access to land, its resources, and insecurity of tenure. Promoting women's equal access to and full participation in land decision-making; effecting new land rights and access to land and development opportunities remains a key challenge, requiring collective action.

Mr Chair, the current global food crisis highlights the impacts of climate change, a growing population and an ever increasing demand for food, which will require an intensification of agricultural development along with the integrated management of our natural resource base. The implications of these trends are most severe for the water and sanitation sector. In particular, we must note that that many African countries will not meet the water and sanitation MDG and WSSD targets. In this regard, South Africa supports and calls for international support for the full implementation of measures outlined in the eThekwini Declaration of the African Ministers Conference on Water.

Mr Chairman, our success in addressing the challenges of drought and desertification, land, water and sanitation is dependent on access to adequate finance, technology and capacity to fully implement agriculture, rural and African development programmes which are supported by comprehensive international science and technology co-operation initiatives. For these programmes to effectively address the central issue of poverty they would have to include a focus on the development of entrepreneurs to add value to primary production. In turn, these programmes must be supported by infrastructure development, including transport systems as well as information, communication and telecommunications infrastructure. In this context, it is clear that trade distortions and access barriers in the form of tariffs, sanitary and photo-sanitary barriers as well as other non-tariff barriers place huge constraint on development. Therefore a speedy and successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round is of crucial importance.

In conclusion, Mr Chair, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) must remain relevant as a global platform to review and measure progress in the implementation of the international sustainable development agenda. We have a responsibility to ensure that the CSD is strengthened in its role of holding all of us accountable for our commitments to achieving sustainable development.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
14 May 2008