We need foresight, says minister
2005-10-17 10:40
Johannesburg - There was a need to focus on the effect that climate change was having on Africa, Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Monday.
The decline in Arctic sea ice opened historically closed sea-routes and new shipping possibilities from Asia to Europe, prompting a need to investigate how this would affect trade passing through the Suez Canal or even around the southern tip of Africa.
"It is believed that within 20 years the annual value of these newly opened shipping lanes could exceed $100m. The precautionary approach applies - we cannot afford to wait until the inevitable happens.
"In business and government we need to understand the science, and to identify and plan today for African scenarios like this one," Van Schalkwyk said in a speech prepared for delivery at the Science Conference on Climate Change, being held in Gauteng.
Few places on Earth better embodied the proof of human-induced climate change than Africa and with failing crops, rivers running dry and more frequent hurricanes, it was time to make the link between actions and climate change.
"We need to link the devastation and tragedy of more intense extreme weather events to the energy wasted by millions of lights left to burn in empty offices and homes for no reason."
Recent hurricanes
The recent hurricanes - Katrina and Stan, and Typhoon Longwang were the collective "smoking gun" of global climate change and pressure was needed especially on industrialised countries to acknowledge the effects of this.
"We note with concern that a country like the United States, with 4% of the global population producing 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions, remains outside of the Kyoto Protocol."
Small scale agriculture and rural farmers would be hardest hit because they were not capital intensive and often lacked access to information and alternatives.
They would either be forced off their land, or should be ready with new management strategies.
This included more resistant crops and animal varieties, more sustainable land management practices, and better support for farmers.
There was also a need to monitor the effects on marine life to plan ahead for fishing quotas, to work on desalination techniques for water, and to track the spread of malaria.
"As Africans we must assist in developing the wisdom to acknowledge the threat of global climate change, the clarity of judgment to place it at the forefront of our policy-making, and the courage to act on this understanding," he said.
- SAPA