Thank you to the Minister of International Relations and Co- operation for her statement on our readiness. I certainly agree that Durban, the city that I come from, is ready to host the approximately 20 000 people that will come to our shores for these important climate negotiations, an annual event which, the Minister has said, has taken place for a number of years across the world, including on two other occasions on the African continent.
Durban is an excellent venue for these negotiations. It has hosted a number of other large negotiation meetings and forums in the past 15 years, including those of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, CHOGM, the World Aids Conference, and the Non-Aligned Movement. It is capable of hosting this event and, indeed, we will put on a very good show for the 20 000 people who attend the event.
The designation of responsibilities between the various Ministers is exactly right. I am happy that the Minister of International Relations and Co-operation is able to co-ordinate the actual negotiations, freeing up the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs to conduct the negotiations on South Africa's behalf and to put our country's position during the negotiations.
Indeed, this must be an African Congress of the Parties, COP. The impacts of climate change are going to affect the people of Africa disproportionately. We are not responsible for the historic emissions that are trapped in the atmosphere at this moment; yet the people of Africa are going to have a disproportionate burden foisted upon them. Therefore, it is very important that the question of adaptation is addressed at COP 17 in Durban. Much of the emissions that have already gone up since the Industrial Revolution are trapped, and we have yet to even see the impacts of those emissions on the world.
It is very important that we have a negotiated deal that continues to honour the principle of historic and differentiated responsibility. It is the burden of the developed world to take the big cuts necessary to stabilise the climate. South Africa and other emerging economies deserve the space to continue to grow.
The focus of Durban is going to be on operationalising many of the agreements that came out of Cancn last year; indeed, it is the right thing to do.
However, the big question which will be on everyone's mind is whether there will be a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol - the Kyoto Protocol first commitment period ends at the end of December next year. This is going to be exceptionally difficult for the South African negotiators to achieve. Indeed, this is about national interest, and although our negotiators may do their best, there is not much we can do in this regard. Many countries, including Japan, Canada and Russia, have no interest in a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol. Therefore, it is very important that we keep the negotiations alive, and that we salvage the most important instruments under the Kyoto Protocol so that flexible mechanisms like the Clean Development Mechanism are still able to survive, even if there is no second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
In some sense there is going to be a political deal in Durban, and that is something that we must certainly fight for, bearing in mind that our principal negotiating position is that there must be a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol.
I think South Africa will be a very good host. There is much that we can bring to these negotiations. We as a country negotiated ourselves out of years of oppression. We must bring this to bear on these negotiations and remind other countries of the world, particularly developed countries, of the moral imperative to come up with a fair, balanced and credible climate change outcome. I thank you. [Applause.]