House Chair, hon members, the response to climate change, whether it be in the UN negotiating process or in the domestic response as articulated in the White Paper, is exceptionally complicated and this should be acknowledged. I rise to support the Report of National Consultative Seminar on Climate Change, as well as the resolutions. They encapsulate the discussion and debate of this particular seminar, held three weeks ago.
Climate change is not some kind of caravan road show that comes and goes. Whatever happens at Cop 17, when the 20 000 visitors leave our shores on 10 December 2011, we, as a country, will be faced with doing our fair share to mitigate and adapt to climate change. That is the real test for South Africa.
As the hon De Lange, the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs, recently noted, we have to change the very DNA of South Africa. We all accept that we do not have much time to perform this life-saving operation. But few people, I believe, actually realise how hard it is going to be to pull this off and understand the extent of the contestation for carbon space that is going to ensue.
It is fair to say that there is general agreement on the negotiating positions of the South African negotiating team at Cop 17. On behalf of the DA, I wish team South Africa well during these negotiations. They are well prepared and will try their very best to get a fair, credible and balanced deal. But I am realistic that the actual outcomes of Cop 17 cannot be a measurement of success for our negotiators. The outcomes of Cop 17 will be the product of many governments coming together, each with their own interests and unique domestic politics. The world must take collective responsibility for the outcome.
When the dust settles on Cop 17, we, as a country, will have to start delivering on the proposed outcomes of the White Paper and many of the resolutions that were discussed at the consultative seminar. Government will have to make good on the promises of the Green Economy Accord, which was signed earlier today. Otherwise, that accord will be viewed as a green- washing exercise, cleverly timed a week before the arrival of our Cop visitors to present the veneer that we are a country with a plan to transition to a low-carbon economy.
The White Paper is an excellent policy statement. It is, however, the beginning of a process and not an end in itself. Upon preparation for implementation of these new proposals - many of which were discussed at the consultative forum, excluding the flagship projects that are already under way - this country will see just how tough it is to challenge our so-called