September 29, 2005
By Anish Abraham
FOR a developing country, South Africa is far ahead of its counterparts in meeting water and sanitation targets set during the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) that was held in Johannesburg.
This was one of the main outcomes of a briefing by the national Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), assessing progress three years after Joburg hosted the WSSD.
At the briefing, held in Sandton on 28 September, representatives of national government departments, business, non-governmental and environmental organisations and the media revisited the summit's resolutions.
"It is significant to take a moment to reflect on the comments made at the WSSD and to look at what progress has been made," said the chief director of communications at the DEAT, JP Louw.
Vigilance was needed to ensure the critical issues raised during the WSSD did not fall off the agenda, he added.
Johannesburg Plan
At the conclusion of the marathon WSSD, held in 2002, participating nations agreed to adopt the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, which sets out goals to improve sustainable development and fight poverty.
The DEAT and the Department of Foreign Affairs were delegated by cabinet to co-ordinate South Africa's implementation of the WSSD agreements.
Blessing Manale, the director of sustainable development co-ordination at the DEAT, said commitments made related to energy, industrial development, water and sanitation, human settlements and climate change.
South Africa has made great strides in attaining the set goals, with several changes in line with decisions taken in Sandton in 2003:
- Lead petrol will be phased out in 2006;
- Support of the small business sector has been substantially strengthened;
- More than half-a-million houses have been built for low income families; and
- Ozone-depleting substances like CFCs and carbon tetrachloride have been almost completely phased out.
Targets
According to Manale, South Africa was one of the few developing countries that was on track to meet water and sanitation targets agreed on at the WSSD.
"It is one of the areas where we excel. But the challenge is to improve capacity of local government to provide better services."
He warned, however, that huge infrastructure investment would be needed to maintain the current standards and that a partnership with business was needed to limit pollution in the country's river systems.
Andre Fourie, the chief executive of the National Business Initiative (NBI), echoed Manale's sentiments. "We take our water quality for granted," he said, referring to the recent outbreak of typhoid in Delmas, in Mpumalanga.
According to its website, the NBI acts at the intersection of the private and the public sector to contribute to political and economic stability and to enhance the country's competitiveness as a key to sustained growth.
Media
Louw spoke about the importance of the media in ensuring ordinary citizens were exposed to the decisions taken at the WSSD and the progress made in implementing those decisions.
Tawana Kupe, associate professor and head of media studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, said, "Sustainable development issues must be owned by individuals, societies and nations. It is also participatory development - it has to include all levels of society and not just a few stakeholders."
He lamented that the media tended to be event-focussed, with disasters like the Asian tsunami, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and the hurricanes in the US pushing sustainable development issues "off the front page, off the back page and off the middle pages".
The media had failed to empower the general public by not stating how decisions taken would affect them, Kupe added.
"Media is not only about getting facts. It is about turning facts into information, information into knowledge and knowledge into power. We need to empower people and give a voice to those at grassroots level, as they suffer the most from failures in sustainable development."
Climate change
Johannesburg seems to be the venue of choice to debate the country's and the world's sustainability issues, with the Africa Climate Change Consultative Conference taking place at Gallagher Estate in Midrand from 17 to 20 October.
At that conference, the DEAT is expected to announce South Africa's strategy regarding carbon trading.
After that, the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development is to meet for the 14th time in New York, from 1 to 12 May 2006.
Discussions will focus on the progress that has been made in meeting the targets set out in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, in the sectors of energy for sustainable development, industrial development, air pollution and the atmosphere, and climate change.
The commission's 15th summit will also take place in New York, but Louw hopes South Africa can persuade the UN to hold its 16th summit in Johannesburg.
"Nothing ever happens if you hold these things in New York," he joked, referring to the UN reform measures that recently collapsed.
Permission to use web site material
Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as:
- Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website
(www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency
(www.joburg.org.za)";
- If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original
article on this website;
- The name of the article's author is acknowledged;
-
The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill
in this brief online form).
Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 |
