Minister Sonjica raises profile of adaptation in her Climate Change engagements

25 September 2009

Ms Buyelwa Sonjica, Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, arrived this morning from her nine day visit to the United States where she raised the profile of adaptation for Africa, taking into account poverty eradication thereby balancing development imperatives and addressing the impacts of climate change.

She attended official engagements with various international stakeholders as part of preparations for the December United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15). Minister Sonjica was well received by her counterparts and sought after for her views which enriched the debate. The Minister also championed the cause of Africa as Chair of the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN), informed by a developing country perspective.

She attended the Major Economies Forum (MEF) on Energy and Climate in Washington from 17 to 18 September, which was attended by seventeen of the world's major economies. This was immediately followed by the Greenland Dialogue on the 19 to 20 September in New York, with a broader group that includes not only developed countries, but a wider variety of developing countries groupings such as least developed countries and small island developing states.

The meetings addressed issues in the areas of mitigation and adaptation, with focus on finance, technology and capacity building. She used the platform to highlight the significance of adaptation, which she emphasised was a priority for Africa as the most vulnerable continent despite the issue being relegated to the periphery in the negotiations. As such convergence was reached on 'fast track' adaptation funding for the period between 2010 and 2012, without prejudicing the outcome of the negotiations for the period beyond 2012.

The meetings further deliberated modalities and mechanisms for mitigation, with the Minister calling for leadership by developing countries in taking deeper emission reduction commitments in order to meet the required by science levels of carbon dioxide concentration. The commitment of developing countries through their commitments to action threw the gauntlet back to the developed countries, with China having committed to a 15% contribution of clean energy to the country's energy mix, whilst Brazil committed to an 80% reduction in deforestation by 2020, both following the lead of South Africa's commitment to a plateau of emissions by 2020 to 2025.

The Minister further committed to the need for developmental space of developing countries, hence the inability to take emission reduction targets beyond the ambitious actions outlined in the various announcements by developing countries. She emphasised particularly that the developing countries are grappling with delivery against the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), access to energy, and energy security.

The Minister encouraged all parties to respect the letter and spirit of the convention particularly that of 'common but differentiated responsibility' as it takes into cognisance the historical responsibility of developed countries, the current capabilities of various countries, and social justice by recognising the development gap between developed and developing countries.

From 22 September the Minister attended the UN Secretary General's Summit on Climate Change, which was designed to galvanise world leaders into action towards an ambitious and concrete outcome in the international negotiations on climate change scheduled for completion at Copenhagen.

She contributed as a thought leader on the Round Table on Business and Climate Change. As part of President Zuma's delegation to the UN General Assembly, the Minister was part of bilaterals with key countries over and above her bilaterals which included, India, Denmark, World Bank, Sri Lanka, UK, USA, China, IRENA and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as part of her effort to build bridges to facilitate a resolution to many of the outstanding issues in the international negotiation process.

Enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871

Issued by: Department of Water and Environmental Affairs
25 September 2009