SA to push for better climate deal at COP21
South Africa will be pushing for a better climate deal for Africa at the upcoming COP21 in Paris, France.
Andrew Ngozo
South Africa will push for an agreement that ensures global emission reduction efforts are adequate to keep the increase in global temperature below 2°C at the upcoming climate change conference in Paris.
Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa on Monday held an interactive multi-stakeholder engagement at Leriba Lodge in Centurion in preparation for South Africa’s participation in the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which will be held from 30 November to 11 December 2015.
“The UNFCCC Secretariat synthesis of all intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) submitted so far has concluded that the sum of all emission reduction pledges is likely to put the world on track for a 3°C temperature increase. In the African context, this implies a 4°C to 6°C temperature rise in many countries,” she said.
Inevitably this will have an impact on water and food security, infrastructure and overall development on the continent, including South Africa. Molewa said it was clear the INDCs would not reach the level science indicated were required to keep the world temperature rise below 2°C.
“The Paris agreement must therefore find a way to address this gap. This is a survival issue for many African countries and small island developing states,” she said.
South Africa, which was part of the Africa group, would negotiate for a Paris agreement under the convention that was ambitious, durable, fair, and effective. Molewa said the agreement must balance environmental and development imperatives.
“The deal must have adaptation at its core and there must be an ambitious outcome on finance, technology and capacity-building to support the adaptation and mitigation efforts of the developing countries. A key position of the Africa group is that adaptation is a global responsibility,” she said.
Whip of the portfolio committee on environmental affairs Zondi Makhubele said the committee had proposed the department introduced a climate change bill.
“We envisage developing an effective domestic climate legislation as a possible and commendable route to shape multilateral processes as a bottom-up strategy,” Makhubele said.
He said climate change was rapidly pushing communities, particularly the poor and marginalised, beyond their capacity to respond effectively to their ever changing circumstances.
“Climate change poses a serious threat to sustainable development in South Africa, largely due to the lack of financial capacity to manage the impacts of global climate change on the most vulnerable that appear to constitute the vast majority of the population,” Makhubele said.
The international climate change talks are expected to be the culmination of a four-year negotiation process that was initiated in Durban at COP17 in 2011. All parties to the UN climate convention are expected to adopt either a protocol, legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force in order to conclude the Durban mandate.
The agreement will be applicable to all parties and will come into effect from 2020. South Africa submitted the country’s INDC to the UNFCCC before the 1 October deadline.
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