Issued by: Ministry of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
OPENING ADDRESS BY MINISTER Z. PALLO JORDAN TO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTEGRATED ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, EAST LONDON 9 FEBRUARY 1998
The Vice Chancellor, Professor Mzamane, The Rector of the University of Duisburg, Professor Eberhard, Mr Chris Albertyn, President of the South African Institute of Chemical Engineers. Fellow Ministers, Professors Asmal and Bhengu, Your Honour, the Mayor of East London,
Let me thank you all for inviting me to be here with you on this propitious occasion. I would also to express my thanks to the University of Fort Hare, the Gerhard-Mercator University of Duisburg, the South African Institute of Chemical Engineers and the numerous sponsors for making this conference possible.
A new dogma has seized hold of some opinion makers, politicians and leaders in our country to the effect that any form of regulation has a distorting effect on the market. The assumption undergirding this dogma is that the market, left to its own devices, will invariably optimize economic performance and consequently contribute immeasurably to the public good. While I do not want to be drawn into that debate, it is incumbent upon me to restate certain realities which we all must take cognisance of.
While the market can very easily assess and weight the value of a host of other commodities, it finds it difficult or understates the value of things we cannot buy and sell; such as clean fresh air, the beauty of a landscape, the diversity of life and the quality of the biosphere we will leave to future generations. There are also many other things the market prices wrongly - education, public infra-structure, health, research and the quality of good governance. All these however are necessary and invaluable inputs for economic activity and growth in any society.
The overwhelming majority of the South African people have learnt that inequality is unsustainable, while equality is. Experience has taught us that tyranny is unsustainable, while democracy and participation are. We have also learnt that while meeting the needs of our people today, a balance must be struck such that we enhance the capacity of future generations to meet theirs. The central challenge of sustainable development is reflective of the lessons learnt from our past, and the future we are striving towards as a nation.
That experience is equally instructive about the unbridled and unregulated pursuit of private profit, that ignores the long term impact of such economic activity on the environment. That path leads to environmental degradation and the South Africa we inherited from the previous government is the living evidence of such folly. As a nation we have resolved to embark on a different path. This resolve is expressed in our new constitution, which was signed into law on December 10, 1996, and recognises the right of every individual to a clean and healthy environment. Our constitution also enshrines the protection and preservation of our natural heritage for future generations.
The Integrated management of our natural environment cannot be regarded as a luxury. It is an imperative rooted in the appreciation that ours is a small planet, made up of a number of extremely fragile and delicately balanced systems whose equilibrium is essential for the very survival of life on Earth.
Poverty remains the single greatest obstacle in our quest for sustainable development. Poverty impacts on the environment in two ways. Firstly, poor rural and urban communities in developing countries hardly have the opportunity to think through the consequences of the over-utilization of resources because their priority is survival. Secondly, it does happen that governments in developing countries, spurred by the imperative of economic growth as the key to prosperity, are often tempted to embrace ecologically unsound development strategies.
The Herculean task of devising a sound environmental management strategy is directly linked to the struggle to eradicate poverty. Consequently the eradication of poverty must be firmly established as a true cross sectoral matter featuring prominently in all regional and national policies aimed at achieving sustainable development.
South Africa's own Reconstruction and Development Programme is a social policy aimed at meeting the basic needs of all South Africans by addressing the massive disparities that still divide the previously privileged from the historically disadvantaged. The RDP is premised on a partnership among, Labour, business, civil society and the government to create an environment conducive to sustainable development.
The primary aim of the plan is to promote an expanding platform of employment opportunities for our people. This requires trade, investment and human resource policies that respect the need to regulate economic activity in the interests of our future survival.
The Reconstruction and Development Programme is the context in which we locate the Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy (GEAR). GEAR is premised on creating the appropriate blend of market development and human development. It is a strategy imbued with an appreciation that we have to build today for the intermediate and the long term future. By its insistence on training, health, safety at work and environmental regulation it is laying down standards that will compel us all the stop treating people and our biosphere as disposable and depletable assets.
Economic growth is the first imperative of GEAR. The striving to reconcile economic growth and development with environmental protection is captured in the concept "sustainable development" at whose core is an integrated approach to environmental management. Loosely defined, "sustainable development" means pursuing economic growth and development in a manner consistent with ensuring the capacity of future generations to pursue their own.
Regrettably, in the past South Africa did not bother much about the environmental impact of economic activity and much of that legacy still bedevils the present. While it is not yet routine to undertake environmental impact assessments, our new national Environmental Policy has made these compulsory in the future.
For centuries human beings stood in awe of the weather, which seemed to represent the power and might of inscrutable forces over which they had no control. The very terms in which we describe weather conditions still suggest supernatural forces that hold us mere mortals at their complete and utter mercy.
In pre-modern agricultural societies, completely dependent on the seasons for their survival, the weather was regarded as the single most important aspect of life. It is quite understandable that they revered and respected it. Good weather led to a plentiful harvest, which in turn meant a well-fed and healthy people. Floods or droughts brought destruction and death. Invariably these were regarded as "the anger of the Gods being unleashed onto the earth". Because human life was so dependent on weather conditions, early religions centred around Gods of the earth, the sun, the sea, rivers, the wind, thunder and the rain.
These days, Ladies and gentlemen, the weather is not such an unknown entity. Owing to the advances humankind has made in understanding the nature and causes of climatic conditions, we are better able to predict future weather conditions. Rather than praying for the sun to shine tomorrow, we consult the daily weather forecasts from the Weather Bureau in the newspapers, on the radio, or on television. Farmers now have more information at their disposal to plan in advance, for heavy rainfall or drought. Individuals are even able to know if they should dress cool or warmly for the following day, or wear a sun hat or carry an umbrella.
Today, we focus not on the impact of the weather on society, but rather on the impact of society on weather conditions. Technological and industrial advances have been attained at a price. We are more fully aware of the negative impact that we as humans have had on the earth. Some of these effects apply also to climatic conditions.
That awareness informs the numerous international conventions on the management of the environment.
Many in our country, regard the cities as offering the prospect of greater opportunities and a better quality of life compared to the deprivation they have experienced in the rural areas. Not surprisingly South African cities are growing at an astronomical and unplanned rate. These growing populations, accompanied by heavy industrial activity and intense energy use in urban areas, have a direct bearing on local climate, the environment, agriculture and on human health.
Urbanisation has serious consequences for the availability and use of fresh water resources. A significant proportion of urban residents in South Africa (as well as a large number of rural communities) have limited access to a safe and potable water supply. As South African cities expand, so do their water requirements for domestic, agricultural and industrial use.
Research indicates that most cities in the developing world will probably experience water shortages by the beginning of the 21st century. South African cities are no exception. It is therefore the responsibility of the government to make provision for future fresh water resources in the light of the population growth, particularly in cities.
The Weather Bureau is already engaged in important research activities regarding precipitation forming processes in clouds and the possibility of artificially enhanced rainfall. This research may well, in years to come, lead to the implementation of techniques to augment fresh water supplies.
Our experience teaches us that it is dangerous to embark on "development projects" that in fact disempower the people. In evolving policy, therefore, the government has consistently sought the path of maximum inclusivity. this entails long, and tortuous policy formulating processes. But at the end of the day, we emerge with policies that the South African public feel a sense of ownership over. We did also in evolving environmental policy.
Fundamental principles of this policy include:
South Africa signed the 1992 UN Convention on Biodiversity, as part of our commitment to addressing the global crisis of a rapidly contracting biodiversity. My Ministry has also released a national Biodiversity White Paper in the near future. The new environmental policies being propagated by my Ministry aim at creating "win-win" opportunities, by simultaneously promoting both economic and environmental gains. These policies are informed by the recognition that growth and development must be more equitable, less polluting and more efficient in the use of energy and natural resources. Once put into practice, we will be able to ensure that all future development initiatives are environmentally sustainable.
The conservation of biological diversity through the sustainable development of tourism is especially important to South Africa, as this country is ranked as the country with the third richest biodiversity in the world. Sustainable tourism therefore features high on the agenda of my Ministry, as various factors indicate that tourism is poised to become one of the major lead sectors of our economy.
The new tourism policy we are evolving, cites the need for special attention to be given to income-generation opportunities for local communities. While tourism development has the potential of stimulating economic activity and thus empowering local communities, we are keenly aware of the negative impact that it could have on our biodiversity.
Government is therefore committed to eco-tourism development, to protect and preserve certain sensitive and biologically diverse ecosystems. My ministry, in collaboration with business, plans to build on the tourism boom South Africa has experienced over the past few years. To achieve this, tourism development has been integrated into the overall economic strategy of the government at the highest level. We are at the same time identifying all sensitive eco-systems of national and international importance, and determining guidelines for land usage near these ecosystems.
It remain our view that a major responsibility devolves on the developed countries of the north, whose economic activities in the past and in the present have contributed immeasurably to the ecological threats our world is experiencing. We cannot hide our deep disappointment at the attitude adopted by some of these countries during the Kyoto Conference on Climate Change, last December. The developing countries produce oil, yet most of our people do not drive cars. The forests in developing countries produce valuable hardwoods, yet most of our people are poorly housed. It is a fact a disproportionate share of the world's resources is consumed by the developed countries. That alone requires that it is they, in the first instance, who have to change their consumption patterns if the earth is to survive.
Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, the topics on today's agenda span a very wide spectrum. My Ministry is keenly interested in this conference's proceedings and we are certain that the leading minds participating in it will ensure that it makes a valuable contribution to the challenges facing our country.
I wish you well in you deliberations and an pleased to declare this conference formally opened.