Date: 01/06/2004
Source: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Title: M van Schalkwyk: CAPE Partners Conference
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK MP, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, AT THE CAPE PARTNERS CONFERENCE, KIRSTENBOSCH, 1 June 2004
$11,3 MILLION FOR BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
Yesterday saw the official launch of National Environment Week 2004. It is no coincidence that the CAPE Partners Conference takes place within this context, because the message of both is identical: that a sustainable world, and a healthy, thriving environment, is not only possible, it is imperative.
When the Cape Action for People and the Environment (CAPE) was established in 2000 it broke new ground. By combining the energies, insights and resources of government, academic institutions, NGOs, CBOs, and international partners, CAPE was a unique experiment, with immense potential.
As we gather here today, that experiment has already paid dividends. This conference will provide much the same opportunity for CAPE and its partners that National Environment Week provides for the rest of South Africa: a chance to reflect on and celebrate important achievements, and more importantly to issue a call to action.
The CAPE strategy embodies the new approach to biodiversity and conservation that has developed in South Africa during our First Decade of Freedom. It rejects the notion that conservation and development are polar opposites. It refutes the belief that the interests of humanity and the interests of nature are necessarily in conflict. It places people firmly at the centre of conservation and makes the concrete connection between the environment, the economy, and prosperity in our communities. This is a strategy that carries the complete support and endorsement of the South African Government and our Department.
The Cape Floristic Region may be the smallest but it remains the richest of the world's six floral kingdoms. Nowhere else on the planet is so much life, in such variety and abundance, packed into so small an area. It is a treasure and an asset that belongs not only to South Africa, but to the people of the world.
I am particularly pleased therefore that this conference effectively anticipates the meeting of the World Heritage Council in China towards the end of June, where we expect the final decision to be made inscribing the Cape Floristic Region as South Africa's sixth World Heritage Site.
This will mean that locations like the Table Mountain National Park, De Hoop Nature Reserve, the Baviaanskloof, and Cederberg will take up their rightful place alongside other national treasures like the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park, Robben Island, and Mapungubwe as internationally recognised and protected sites of universal significance.
We know though that the Cape Floristic Region it is also an asset under siege. With about 5,2 million people in both the Western and Eastern Cape living within the region - some 20-30% of whom live in our rural areas - we understand the pressures of poverty, hunger, and unemployment. Conversion of land for farming, grazing, and development has combined with pollution, climate change, and over-exploitation of water, floral, and marine resources to take its toll.
The question that CAPE correctly asks, and around which this conference centres, is how best to build the biodiversity economy - especially when most of these natural riches lie on private and communal land? The answer is that there is no chance of ever conserving biodiversity without the active support and understanding of the people who live on that land. It can never be a question of the people or the environment, conservation or the economy. What is needed is greater innovation to unlock the economic potential of conservation-friendly land use.
Our new Biodiversity Act provides the foundation for building our economy through biodiversity - involving communities in ecotourism, cultural entrepreneurship, and environmental management. This is also why our Government has aligned itself to the CAPE strategy - simultaneously creating tens of thousands of job opportunities and advancing conservation goals, through initiatives like Working for Water, Coast Care and other Expanded Public Works Programs.
Over the last four years CAPE has implemented more than 100 separate projects to support these goals, boosted by funding like the $6 million received through the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and the Agulhas Biodiversity Initiative, which was recently awarded $3,1 million. I am very pleased that we will today witness the signing of a further $9 million grant from the Global Environment Facility through the World Bank to the NBI, which will be followed tomorrow by another $2 million grant through the United Nations Development Programme.
It is a positive irony that in the same way that the CAPE Programme was generously supported by our international partners when it was formed in 2000, they are again behind us in our efforts to expand its activities into critical new areas. We thank them for their continued assistance.
Apart from helping to support the next phase of CAPE implementation, this funding will be used through the NBI to strengthen conservation institutions, education programmes and to expand responsible eco-tourism. It will also help to consolidate and expand the Baviaanskloof, Cederberg, and Garden Route protected areas, two Marine Protected Areas, and two estuarine protected areas.
I know that Professor Brian Huntley, the CEO of our National Botanical Institute is speaking next, and I would not like to take away any of the focus areas of his address, but I do want to say how pleased we are about the transformation of the NBI into the new National Biodiversity Institute. A new mandate and a new national institution will do much to take up the torch of conservation in our next decade of Freedom, and I want to assure Professor Huntley and his team of my support in their endeavours.
One of the most important benchmarks of any strategy is its measurable achievements. In this regard the CAPE Programme is setting the bar high for the next five years. I am informed that amongst the deliberations of this conference will be targeting an expansion of our protected area estate by 4000 km2 to meet the commitment set at the recent Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Malaysia. I see that other targets for the CAPE programme include increasing civil society participants by 30%, increasing the number of jobs directly associated with the project by 20%, and ensuring that a Cape Floristic Region education strategy has been fully implemented across the area by 2009.
These are challenging targets, but the end-goal is critical for our people, our country and our environment. Our Department stands ready to take the hand of all people of good faith in meeting these challenges in partnership. Every community, every business, every person has a responsibility to our future. We offer our resources, our energies and our enthusiasm to be part of the solution.
I wish you everything of the best for your deliberations, and the assurance of our continued support for the CAPE Programme.
Enquiries: Rob Spaull
Cell: 083 777 8563
Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
1 June 2004
Source: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Title: M van Schalkwyk: CAPE Partners Conference
KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MARTHINUS VAN SCHALKWYK MP, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS AND TOURISM, AT THE CAPE PARTNERS CONFERENCE, KIRSTENBOSCH, 1 June 2004
$11,3 MILLION FOR BIODIVERSITY AND CONSERVATION
Yesterday saw the official launch of National Environment Week 2004. It is no coincidence that the CAPE Partners Conference takes place within this context, because the message of both is identical: that a sustainable world, and a healthy, thriving environment, is not only possible, it is imperative.
When the Cape Action for People and the Environment (CAPE) was established in 2000 it broke new ground. By combining the energies, insights and resources of government, academic institutions, NGOs, CBOs, and international partners, CAPE was a unique experiment, with immense potential.
As we gather here today, that experiment has already paid dividends. This conference will provide much the same opportunity for CAPE and its partners that National Environment Week provides for the rest of South Africa: a chance to reflect on and celebrate important achievements, and more importantly to issue a call to action.
The CAPE strategy embodies the new approach to biodiversity and conservation that has developed in South Africa during our First Decade of Freedom. It rejects the notion that conservation and development are polar opposites. It refutes the belief that the interests of humanity and the interests of nature are necessarily in conflict. It places people firmly at the centre of conservation and makes the concrete connection between the environment, the economy, and prosperity in our communities. This is a strategy that carries the complete support and endorsement of the South African Government and our Department.
The Cape Floristic Region may be the smallest but it remains the richest of the world's six floral kingdoms. Nowhere else on the planet is so much life, in such variety and abundance, packed into so small an area. It is a treasure and an asset that belongs not only to South Africa, but to the people of the world.
I am particularly pleased therefore that this conference effectively anticipates the meeting of the World Heritage Council in China towards the end of June, where we expect the final decision to be made inscribing the Cape Floristic Region as South Africa's sixth World Heritage Site.
This will mean that locations like the Table Mountain National Park, De Hoop Nature Reserve, the Baviaanskloof, and Cederberg will take up their rightful place alongside other national treasures like the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park, Robben Island, and Mapungubwe as internationally recognised and protected sites of universal significance.
We know though that the Cape Floristic Region it is also an asset under siege. With about 5,2 million people in both the Western and Eastern Cape living within the region - some 20-30% of whom live in our rural areas - we understand the pressures of poverty, hunger, and unemployment. Conversion of land for farming, grazing, and development has combined with pollution, climate change, and over-exploitation of water, floral, and marine resources to take its toll.
The question that CAPE correctly asks, and around which this conference centres, is how best to build the biodiversity economy - especially when most of these natural riches lie on private and communal land? The answer is that there is no chance of ever conserving biodiversity without the active support and understanding of the people who live on that land. It can never be a question of the people or the environment, conservation or the economy. What is needed is greater innovation to unlock the economic potential of conservation-friendly land use.
Our new Biodiversity Act provides the foundation for building our economy through biodiversity - involving communities in ecotourism, cultural entrepreneurship, and environmental management. This is also why our Government has aligned itself to the CAPE strategy - simultaneously creating tens of thousands of job opportunities and advancing conservation goals, through initiatives like Working for Water, Coast Care and other Expanded Public Works Programs.
Over the last four years CAPE has implemented more than 100 separate projects to support these goals, boosted by funding like the $6 million received through the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and the Agulhas Biodiversity Initiative, which was recently awarded $3,1 million. I am very pleased that we will today witness the signing of a further $9 million grant from the Global Environment Facility through the World Bank to the NBI, which will be followed tomorrow by another $2 million grant through the United Nations Development Programme.
It is a positive irony that in the same way that the CAPE Programme was generously supported by our international partners when it was formed in 2000, they are again behind us in our efforts to expand its activities into critical new areas. We thank them for their continued assistance.
Apart from helping to support the next phase of CAPE implementation, this funding will be used through the NBI to strengthen conservation institutions, education programmes and to expand responsible eco-tourism. It will also help to consolidate and expand the Baviaanskloof, Cederberg, and Garden Route protected areas, two Marine Protected Areas, and two estuarine protected areas.
I know that Professor Brian Huntley, the CEO of our National Botanical Institute is speaking next, and I would not like to take away any of the focus areas of his address, but I do want to say how pleased we are about the transformation of the NBI into the new National Biodiversity Institute. A new mandate and a new national institution will do much to take up the torch of conservation in our next decade of Freedom, and I want to assure Professor Huntley and his team of my support in their endeavours.
One of the most important benchmarks of any strategy is its measurable achievements. In this regard the CAPE Programme is setting the bar high for the next five years. I am informed that amongst the deliberations of this conference will be targeting an expansion of our protected area estate by 4000 km2 to meet the commitment set at the recent Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Malaysia. I see that other targets for the CAPE programme include increasing civil society participants by 30%, increasing the number of jobs directly associated with the project by 20%, and ensuring that a Cape Floristic Region education strategy has been fully implemented across the area by 2009.
These are challenging targets, but the end-goal is critical for our people, our country and our environment. Our Department stands ready to take the hand of all people of good faith in meeting these challenges in partnership. Every community, every business, every person has a responsibility to our future. We offer our resources, our energies and our enthusiasm to be part of the solution.
I wish you everything of the best for your deliberations, and the assurance of our continued support for the CAPE Programme.
Enquiries: Rob Spaull
Cell: 083 777 8563
Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
1 June 2004
Advertisement
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE SAVE THIS ARTICLE FEEDBACK
To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here
