This year marks the 15th since the Rio Earth Summit and five since the Johannesburg World Summit. Looking back, we all need to agree that we have come too far to begin to cast doubt on the contribution of the resource base to development, or to forget that there is a ‘growth and prosperity case†for sustainable development.
South Africa’s natural wealth has led to the assumption in the past that all economic growth must consume more materials and created the myth that water, minerals, plant and animal products and air will constantly be available, no matter how we produce and consume.
The key is sustainable development. To achieve the vision where all people have sufficient food, clean air and water, where there is sufficient work for everybody and where people can live in harmony with their environment, South Africans must take collective responsibility for sustainable and shared resource use.
This includes acknowledging that various processes are necessary. We cannot fish and hunt without regulation or emit noxious gases and dump hazardous waste without penalty. It also means we cannot build, dig, pipe, dam and mine wherever we see profits.
It includes understanding that the two schools of thought — ‘growth and development at all costs†and ‘conservation and environmentalism for its own sake†— are out of step with the reality of increasing global poverty, underdevelopment and environmental degradation.
Growth and development pursued with disregard for the natural resource base has left us a legacy of global warming, dwindling fish stocks, social degradation, species loss and waterborne diseases. Environmentalism for its own sake has displaced and disenfranchised millions while denying communities livelihoods and the opportunity to benefit from the natural resource wealth of their countries.
We need to see sustainable development opportunities in our growth trajectory and social development targets. While some may regard environmental considerations as constraints, the environmental department regards these considerations as a new, better way of doing things.
The Environmental Impact Assessments, which have always been singled out as the greatest hindrance, have made corporates and governments more responsible and continue to give the poor a voice to ‘demand our right to a secure environmentâ€.
The key interventions we need to ensure accelerated, shared and sustainable growth are improved systems for integrated planning and implementation that factor in all the pillars of sustainable development in public policy.
It is also important to invest in sustainable economic infrastructure, with minimum environmental impact and a maximum social development dividend. Lastly, we must create sustainable human settlements to deal with rural hunger axnd poverty and manage the impact of rapid urbanisation.
Yako is the director general of the environmental affairs department