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Date : 08/06/2006
Source: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Title: van Schalkwyk: Environmental Affairs and Tourism Budget Vote debate, NCOP


  Environmental Affairs and Tourism Budget Vote debate 2006/07 in the National Council of Provinces by Marthinus van Schalkwyk Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism

Better Environment, Better Tourism Oceans, Parks and Communities of Hope

Introduction

Chairperson, 8 June is an auspicious date for this policy debate falling as it does in the middle of the Year of Deserts and Desertification, at the start of Antarctica Month, at the end of National Environment Week, and on World Oceans Day.

There is a proverb which our colleagues from KwaZulu-Natal will know that says “Akusagaywa ngoludala, kugaywa ngolusha”. Literally translated it means that we no longer grind with old stones - that things have changed. Ours is a country renewed. Ours is a people emboldened and energised both by the fires of our shared past and by the hope and promise of future prosperity.

When the President stood before Parliament, at the start of the year, he captured this spirit in his challenge to us all to build the Age of Hope. This shared national endeavour asks much, but promises more * especially in this portfolio. As we celebrate ten years of Constitutional protections, it is the environment and tourism that increasingly takes centre-stage in our efforts to ensure that hope is grounded in lasting improvements, sustained growth, and a better life for all South Africans.

Oceans of Hope mariculture and regional partnerships to boost food security

Chairperson, since this is World Oceans Day let us reflect for a moment on the importance of our marine and coastal resources in sustaining hope. The Honourable Members will no doubt be aware of our process to allocate long term commercial fishing rights which thus far has achieved much in transformation and empowerment, but the reality is that the fish stocks of Africa and South Africa are at all time lows.

Take for example the spawning biomass of deepwater hake which dropped from 1050 000 tons in 1917 to less than 200 000 tons in 2004. Catches of West Coast Rock Lobster have declined from 10 000 tons in 1970 to less than 2000 tons today. Yet the 2005 World Fish Report reveals that just to maintain our current per capita fish supply of almost 7 kg/year will require a 20% increase in production by 2015, and a 32% increase by 2020. Simply put our oceans alone cannot meet these needs, there is simply not enough fish, and in the medium to long-term widespread food insecurity threatens the hopes of our people.

To meet the shortfall South Africa must move swiftly to develop and expand our marine aquaculture industry one of the issues that the Chairperson of our Select Committee, Rev. Peter Moatshe, has staunchly advocated for some time. Worldwide this sector represents more the R650 billion in global value, yet South African mariculture accounts for only about R3 million and about 2500 jobs. Our Department is committed to develop the necessary legal framework, aggressively build the needed capacity and skills, and to help drive sustainable growth of the industry ensuring both competitiveness and significant Small Medium Micro Enterprise(SMME) participation.

Regionally our Department has also been working closely with our neighbours on the West Coast to improve the management of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME). Together with compliance and enforcement initiatives like our joint SADC marine patrols, these programmes are helping us to protect fish stocks across national borders, for all the people of Southern Africa. I am pleased today to announce that we will, before the end of this year, be signing an agreement with Namibia and Angola to establish an Interim Benguela Commission to advise on transboundary fish management, as well as the impacts of human activities, like fishing and mining, on our marine environment.

International Partnerships for Hope

Chairperson, through the growing success of our role in regional programmes like the Benguela initiative, South Africa is earning a reputation for excellence in environmental leadership. This is one reason why we have been chosen by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to host the International Waters Conference in 2007.

The news of our having secured the hosting of this conference builds on the excitement and value to South Africa of our hosting later this year of the GEF Annual Assembly one of the most important global forums for deciding on allocations of environmental financial assistance. I can confirm today that South Africa has officially decided to become a donor to the GEF * allocating R38,4 million over the next five years. This will provide us with a formal voice in the negotiations to replenish the GEF which we will use to advance a more equitable and even-handed approach to resource allocation for African countries.

South Africa has taken on ever-growing international commitments in tourism and the environment. Our Department is now either the lead Department, or one of the major drivers, in 33 separate international Agreements, Conventions and Protocols. To ensure success in these global partnerships we have created a specialised new unit within the Department International Co operation and Resources to drive and coordinate our participation. In the past year alone we have already seen the fruits of this investment with South Africa making major international contributions and advancing the shared interests of Africa like our assistance in unblocking the climate change negotiations in Montreal; the facilitation of a compromise deal on the handling of Genetically Modified Organisms at the meeting of the Convention on Biodiversity in Brazil; and the negotiation of common African policy positions on water and sanitation within the Millennium Development Goals 5 Summit in New York.

Tourism for Hope: Growth and Jobs Through Tourism Masterplan

Chairperson, all of these international meetings, conventions and conferences also form a key component of our tourism strategy. We have achieved much in leisure tourism, and plan much for event tourism, but this year has seen the third pillar of the Masterplan business tourism * reach new heights with our Business Unusual global marketing campaign. It is our heritage of dialogue and unique approaches, our ability to merge centuries of African wisdom with the demands of modern business, which sets us apart and makes business tourism in South Africa so exceptional and why we will break into the Top Ten global conferencing destinations in the next four years.

We need to shoot for the stars when it comes to our ambitions for tourism. We need to set ourselves goals like finding it hard in 2010 to find anyone who has only been to South Africa once. We need tourism and hospitality products of such excitement and quality that the question is not if, but when to return. We need young people, professionals and pensioners across the length and breadth of South Africa who accept tourism as their own and who make hospitality their personal business. Only then will we meet and exceed the targets that we have set for tourism success: 500 000 new jobs, 8,5 million international arrivals and R100 billion contributions to the economy within five years.

The Honourable Members may have seen our announcement of a new R20 million Equity Fund to support small and medium sized Wheel and Tour Operators. This, like the R185 million that we will, over the next three years, be investing in the Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP), is funding that will be used to greatly expand the services and support that we offer to smaller tourism businesses. Our initial TEP target for these next three years is in excess of R1,8 billion in transactions facilitated, more than 2000 enterprises assisted (75% of which will be BEE), more than 20 000 tourism SMME trainees taught in over 1200 courses, at least 840 local government officials trained, and at least 1000 SMMEs on a new 2010 suppliers database.

Communities of Hope Environmental Impact Assessment Air Quality, and the NSSD

Chairperson, the Honourable Members will tell you that there are communities across our country for which hope entails any measures to improve their environment and access to basic resources. One needs only to speak to families like those in the South of Johannesburg where low-cost housing has been developed alongside mine dumps, landfill sites, and under high-voltage power lines; or communities in the North West province whose homes have been flooded by damage to sensitive wetland systems; or to the people of Van der Bijl Park where serviced plots lie immediately adjacent to industry belching forth pollution. To build the Age of Hope we need first to build communities of hope.

This is why we have announced the expansion of our existing Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) processing unit and a new unit to build capacity and provide support to other authorities involved with EIA. This combined increased capacity will drive our new EIA regulations. I am pleased today to also announce that on the issue of the quality and independence of EIA practitioners we expect an application for the creation of a national EIA Practitioners Registration Authority to reach us by April next year the result of which will be firm self-regulation and an industry-wide improvement of EIA standards. We also spoke this week about new Ambient Air Quality Standards for South Africa to scrub the brown haze from our skies. We will, by the end of this year, identify South Africa's second air pollution Hot-Spot using unique aircraft infrastructure from our SA Weather Service to analyse the air over areas like the Eastern Highveld, Gauteng, Durban, Richards Bay, Cape Town, and parts of the Eastern Cape.

2006 has also been a year in which South Africans in every community have come face to face with the realities of resource constraints. We have seen major electricity shortages and blackouts; been confronted by the threat of contaminated water supplies; faced flooding and unseasonable storms in some parts, and dams whose water levels continue to fall in others. To address these challenges, and to meet our obligations as global champions of sustainable development, we will, by August, be publishing for public comment our National Strategy for Sustainable Development (NSSD) a powerful tool for addressing priority issues like water quality and quantity; climate change; waste management; soil loss and pollution; food production; and strategic biodiversity management, within the context of our developmental priorities to address poverty and basic human needs. It is a vehicle that will help us to popularise and build on existing policy frameworks to ensure sustainable development in all South African communities.

Parks of Hope expansions, improvements and new parks

Chairperson, our National Parks lie at the centre of our South African character. They reflect and strengthen our sense of place; they protect and support our unmatched biodiversity; and increasingly they anchor growth, job creation, and hope through tourism for our communities. Since 1994 we have established five new National Parks and added 379 000 hectares to our Parks system. I am pleased today to announce that we will be adding another 230 000 hectares to our National Parks in the near future. This will include the Knysna Forests and Soetkraal which will become part of Tsitsikamma, the QwaQwa Nature Reserve which will be added to Golden Gate Highlands, and a number of other recently acquired areas in Addo, Namaqua, Mapungubwe, Agulhas and the Karoo National Parks.

Our focus is ensuring that these expansions focus on biomes, like grasslands, that are currently underrepresented in the priority areas identified by our newly published National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. This is also one of the main reasons that, after thorough consultation with local communities and the royal houses, we will be able to formally declare portions of the new Wild Coast National Park before the end of this financial year an area recognised globally as a biodiversity hotspot with more than 1500 plant species alone. It is projected that tourist numbers to the area will swell from the current level of about 170 000 to in excess of 245 000 by 2008, and 270 000 by 2013 creating about 3260 direct and indirect new jobs.

We will also be declaring the new Blyde River National Park on Heritage Day this year. With more than 2 000 plant species, of which 163 are Red Data book plants, more than the whole of Kruger Park, the Canyon and its surrounds contain amongst the richest combination of plants and animals in Southern Africa. With an infrastructure budget of R18 million for the next three years, and work about to start on a R10 million luxury hiking trail, the new park is expected to inject R500 million into the local economy over the next ten years. With 500 planned beds, restaurants, adventure activities and a cableway, Blyde has the potential to become one of the fastest growing malaria-free tourism destinations in Africa.

Conclusion

In conclusion Chairperson, I wish to thank all of our provincial colleagues for the work that has been done in every part of our country in both the environment and tourism. I believe our MECs will agree that, as a team, our portfolio has performed well over the past year, and that the foundations for the Age of Hope have been firmly laid. To Rev. Moatshe and the other members of our Select Committee you have the appreciation and support of our Department.

To our Statutory Bodies, and our Management Team and Department under Director General Pamela Yako, I must also express the thanks of our Deputy Minister, Rejoice Mabudafhasi and myself it remains an honour to work with such talented, dedicated and enthusiastic colleagues.

Ultimately what we debate today the budget policy for Environmental Affairs and Tourism could not be more fundamental to the dreams, aspirations and hopes of our people. A better environment and better tourism is, quite simply, the basic requirement for a better South Africa.

Ngiyabonga Ndiyabulela. Ke a leboga. Enkosi

Enquiries: Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923

Issued by: Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.
8 June 2006
   

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