The worldwide pattern of natural misfortunes in the form of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis is a challenge that no one nation can handle and no one nation must ignore, Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said on Tuesday.
She was speaking at the National Climate Change Conference held at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said South Africa is hosting a conference on climate change not just because the world is experiencing natural disasters more often, but also because every nation has a duty to assist.
”It is not just about South Africa but about the people of the world and what South Africa can do as a concerned global citizen in this regard,” she told delegates.
”One of the challenges we face today is that the plants and animals that our grandparents once knew, we only experience them through pictures. Some of them have become extinct.”
She said at least one-10th of bird species have become extinct in the past 1 000 years.
”It is sad that this happens at a time when there is a lot of development. We have compromised our earth for development.”
She said civil society, the government and business have been mobilised to do their bit for climate change, and that it is not just about profit.
Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk said it is important for less-developed nations to realise that they need to do more.
”Developed countries, who bear responsibilities for causing climate change, must take the leap to enforce change, but developing nations can also help and they need to realise this.”
He said one of the aims of the conference is to focus the government and private sector to do more.
Van Schalkwyk said concrete plans must be put in place by the end of the conference, which ends on October 21. — Sapa