Government is poised to start preparing the public and business sector to deal with climate change, which is expected to have a major impact on South Africa’s economy over the next few decades.
Opening debate on his budget vote in the National Assembly on Wednesday, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said the effect of climate change on maize production alone would have massive knock-on effects.
”South African biodiversity is under threat from one of the most noticeable and dangerous forms of change — climate change,” he said.
”The 10 warmest years ever recorded have all occurred since 1990. From 1961 to 1990 alone, the average annual temperature at the Cape Agulhas lighthouse rose by 1,2 degrees.”
Scientific modelling suggested that over the next 50 years there would be big changes, with certain types of vegetation shrinking to half the area it covered now.
”Hotter and drier conditions [will] reduce maize production by as much as 20%, with massive knock-on effects for our economy. Floods and droughts, increased water-borne disease, more frequent fires and the extinction of more animal species are all likely results of this change, unless we act swiftly and decisively.”
Speaking earlier in the day at a media breakfast briefing, Van Schalkwyk said climate change was now becoming a major issue.
”We have not even started to understand the knock-on effects,” he told journalists.
Announcements on what action government planned to take would be made later this year.
Speaking in the National Assembly, he said action was required on two levels.
The first was international action, to continue to pressure developed nations to further reduce their emissions of greenhouse gasses, said by scientists to be a major cause of global warming.
South Africa accounted for 1,4% of global greenhouse gasses.
”The second level of action is domestic — we need to prepare our people and our economy to deal with the consequences of climate change,” Van Schalkwyk said.
Turning to the issue of environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports, he said government had given the EIA industry six months to sort themselves out.
Earlier in the day, he told journalists some of the reports seen by his department were ”substandard”.
His department had met senior industry representatives last month ”to express our concern about issues like the need for greater independence of assessors, standards in the sector, [and] the urgent need for transformation and industry fragmentation”.
”Should such plans for the sector to take responsibility for change not be in place by September, we intend to begin further regulation to address these matters,” he warned.
Van Schalkwyk also announced plans to establish a bio-safety directorate in June this year, saying this should please those who had spent ”a great deal of time raising concerns about the use of genetically modified organisms [GMOs] in South Africa”.
He also announced a further R193-million would be invested in transfrontier conservation area projects over the next three years.
This included more than R25-million in Limpopo-Shashe, more than R50-million in Great Limpopo, and more than R60-million in Maloti-Drakensberg.
On the recent furore over trophy hunting in private reserves adjoining the Kruger National Park, he was appointing a panel of experts to consider the issue.
The panel, including representatives from wildlife and conservation bodies, as well as hunting groups, would report back to him ”within four months”. — Sapa