Somerset West, Saturday, 6 November 1999
Welcome
The State Secretary for Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries of the
Netherlands, Ms Geke Faber
The German Federal Minister of the Environment, Nature conservation and Nuclear
Safety, Ms Gila Altman
The Executive Director of UNEP, Dr Klaus Topler
Honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the start of the 6th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Bonn Convention. The meeting today is particularly auspicious as we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Bonn Convention.
The Conference of the Parties (COP) takes place every three years and is the decision-making organ of the Convention. We are honoured that you chose to hold the 6th COP of the Bonn Convention and the 1st Meeting of the Parties to the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) in our country.
South Africa, at one end of the migratory route for a number of birds and marine mammals, and thus plays an important role in their conservation, is an idea venue to celebrate these two milestones in the history of the Convention.
Animal migration is one of the many wonders of the world. It is a universal and natural phenomenon encompassing a wide variety of species from antelopes, to dolphins, whales and marine turtles, to bats and many bird species.
Migratory species usually choose one area in which to breed and another in which to spend the non-breeding season.
Most bird migrants to South Africa breed in Europe, Western Asia and northern Africa during the boreal (northern) summer. These include species such as the White Stork and European Swallow.
There are some species that breed in South Africa and migrate into tropical Africa during the austral (southern) winter, such as the Redchested Cuckoo. In both cases, the migrant birds enjoy the benefits of living in a perpetual summer, never experiencing extreme cold and always enjoying an abundance of food.
To these highly mobile animals, among which birds are the most numerous example, the non-breeding areas are just as important as the breeding grounds. The migration routes form the highways and the stopover points provide essential services during the journey.
All these habitats are of equal importance to migrant birds and stretch over great geographical areas.
But there is another reason for Southern Africa to take a keen interest in the work of the Bonn Convention.
Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe last month signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA).
The agreement supports the establishment of a TFCA that will bring the parks of Gaza in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa and Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe together under a joint management creating one of the biggest conservation areas in the world.
The agreement established a Ministerial Committee and an International TFCA Technical Committee to oversee the implementation of the agreement. This is the second agreement to be signed this year as Swaziland, Mozambique and South Africa signed the Lubombo Protocol to establish a transfrontier conservation area.
The protocols recognise that ecosystems transcend national boundaries and the need for trans-border co-operation in the conservation and management of the shared natural resources for the benefit of the people of the region.
They follow the ratification of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park Protocol which makes the adjacent Gemsbok National Park (in Botswana) and Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (in South Africa) a single ecological unit to be known as the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.
The Park, which will be formally opened by the Presidents of the two countries in February next year, formalises the previous arrangements to ensure that no barrier to wildlife movement exists along the international boundary which separates the 9,591 km2 Kalahari Gemsbok National Park and the 28,400 km2 Gemsbok National Park.
These three Transfrontier areas carry this continent’s vision of an African Renaissance - where we put our colonial past behind us as we work for common goals such as conservation of our natural heritage.
This is the spirit of the Bonn Convention and your presence here today in our country at the 20th anniversary of the convention gives us renewed energy and hope in striving for its speedy implementation.
Thank you.
Didi Moyle
Special Adviser to the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism
Telephone: 27 21 465 7240/1 or 27 12 3110 3611
Fax: 27 21 465 3216 or 27 12 322 0082
082 808 5108
moyle@mweb.co.za