Chairperson, these affairs seem to be many. When you introduced me you mentioned the affairs of water and the affairs of the environment.
Deputy Minister, chairperson of the portfolio committee, hon members, all leadership of community-based organisations and public entities, nongovernmental organisations, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we will be debating this Budget Vote under the theme "Working together, we can do more for our environment". Allow me to dedicate this year's Budget Vote speech to our first democratically elected president, Tata Nelson Mandela, who, 20 years ago, walked out of Victor Verster Prison after spending 27 years of incarceration fighting for the freedom of our people, harbouring no trace of bitterness or animosity to those who had placed him behind bars. His exemplary stature taught us to be selfless and dedicated in pursuit of the betterment of the lives of our people. Through the policies and programmes of our department we will ensure that we give credence to Tata's vision of making tomorrow a better day than today.
When the gates of Victor Verster were flung open, he took those memorable first steps that symbolised the many steps we were to take in our quest to move our country to a new era of sustainable development that benefits all our people, irrespective of their race, creed or station in life.
The emergence of Tata Nelson Mandela from incarceration further symbolised the emergence of a paradigm where, as a nation, we recognised that development should benefit us today, while at the same time we should not deprive future generations of access to the same resources and natural assets.
The 2007 State of the Environment Report is quite revealing in reminding us of the damage we continue to inflict on our environment. It highlights the deteriorating condition of the South African environment and the right to a healthy environment, as articulated in the Constitution. Although we recognise the role of other government departments, we respond directly to outcome 10, which demands of us to "protect and enhance our environmental assets and natural resources".
The financing and resourcing of the environmental sector in particular in provinces and municipalities is not high up on the agenda. We are working closely with the National Treasury to explore fiscal instruments like the emissions tax, as pronounced by the Minister of Finance, and the current plastic bag levy in order to generate significant revenue for the sector.
South Africa joins other nations of the world in observing 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity. This is an opportunity to heighten awareness of biodiversity, which we will consistently carry out in partnership with our partners in the sector, the South African National Biodiversity Institute and the South African National Parks. This is the celebration of life on earth and the recognition of the links between biodiversity, ecosystem services and human wellbeing.
As part of our strategic focus and in response to the broad government inclination towards rural development, we will ensure that the integrity of ecosystems on which rural economies are based is enhanced and protected. Working together, we will speed up economic growth and transform the economy to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
Hon members, we have set aside R400 million for the eco-towns programme that we are rolling out to 10 municipalities. The project, Buyisela, is an initiative led by our department in partnership with Indalo Yethu and the Department of Water Affairs. This initiative aims to create 10 eco-towns, founded on sustainability, as a legacy project to serve as a framework or blueprint for other towns to follow. "Buyisela" means "giving back" or "restoring" and, in essence, it captures the thrust of cleaning and greening efforts that go beyond just planting lawns and trees to create bio- recreational spaces for our people in which to enjoy their neighbourhoods, while also protecting and enhancing the quality of open spaces that could have been a breeding ground for criminal activities.
In the midst of the world economic meltdown, the United Nations Environment Programme called for a Global Green New Deal in terms of which governments are encouraged to support economic transformation to a greener economy. They should promote sustainable and inclusive growth to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, and reduce carbon dependency and ecosystem degradation.
In response to this international context, we will work towards the development of a national green economy strategy. Hence we will be hosting a Green Economy Summit in the first quarter of this year. It will be used to define the key elements of this strategy and to gain insight into key areas of focus and the issues requiring attention in the medium and long term.
We also need to act together to mitigate the effects of and adapt to the impact of climate change. Climate change poses an enormous threat to economic growth, sustainable development and our ability to achieve the MDGs. By 2080, about 70 million people and up to 30% of Africa's coastal infrastructure could face the risk of coastal flooding because of a rise in the sea level and an increase in storm intensity and frequency over the oceans.
Climate change threatens Africa's food security, with some parts of the continent expected to experience a reduction in agricultural yields of more than 50% by 2050. The oceans, covering 70% of the earth, play an important role in the climate change debate, particularly the role they play in providing moisture for rain.
The western parts of South Africa are projected to become drier, with certain key agricultural sectors expected to be impacted quite severely. This will result in the accelerated loss of biodiversity, particularly fynbos, as well as chronic water shortages, as we have seen in the past two seasons in the Southern Cape. In addition, the north-eastern parts of the country are expected to get wetter with a highly energised climate, risks of flooding and damage to property from tornadoes.
In response to these challenges we will release a National Climate Change Policy and White Paper, which should be concluded by the end of 2010. The policy will further build on a broad understanding of what can be done by all stakeholders, namely government, business, labour, civil society and, most importantly, individual citizens, to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
More needs to be done to prepare our communities and arm them with information to demystify the climate-change debate and secure their informed understanding of human activities that contribute to climate change. We will use our public participation engagements to spread the message of climate change.
This year marks 150 years since the South African Weather Service was established. In celebrating this achievement, the theme "150 years of service to South Africans" has been chosen to showcase the wealth of climate data and information we have as a country and which informs policy and strategies in climate-change adaptation measures.
Working together, we will look at the conservation and protection of our oceans and coasts. The Integrated Coastal Management Act came into operation in December last year. We regard this as a significant milestone, representing our first legislative instrument in the service of a holistic and integrated approach to the conservation and management of the South African coastline.
There is recognition of the challenge regarding the management of ocean spaces in our adjacent ocean areas. The threats of climate change, including the severity and frequency of storms, droughts and other extreme weather events, can only be appreciated when we understand the physical processes that occur in our adjacent ocean areas. This warrants a comprehensive ocean strategy.
The latest presidential proclamation on the transfer of the fisheries function from our department presented us with an opportunity to improve ocean governance that extends the integrated approach to the conservation and management of our oceans.
Marine Protected Areas continue to be a significant conservation tool for the protection of marine biodiversity. Historically, such areas have been associated with dispossession and the exclusion of vulnerable communities from access to natural resources. The department will continue in its efforts to optimise the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas, both offshore and inshore.
Estuaries, the interface of river and seawater, represent important water bodies crucial to the functioning of our ecosystem. Of the 200 estuaries found along the South African coast, 25% are in a degraded state. This degradation is due to inappropriate developments along the banks and in the catchment areas. The department will focus its attention proactively on these degraded systems and will prioritise developing management plans that seek to improve the functioning of estuaries in associated hinterlands.
Hon members, in May this year we will be repatriating a species of black rhino - which is not indigenous to our country - to Tanzania. About two decades ago, eight individuals of this rhino species, Diceros bicornis michaeli, was imported to our country and kept at Addo Elephant National Park. I am happy to announce that, following a request by the Tanzanian Wildlife Authorities, we will be donating 32 of these animals to our Tanzanian counterparts, since the species has become almost extinct in its original habitat. This is one of those stories with a fairy-tale ending, where an alien species has become a gene pool to restock depleted ranges.
Hon members, through our leadership as president of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment, Amcen, we were able to transform the ministerial forum into the key voice of Africa on the environment. This was also evident through the role played by Amcen in crafting and galvanising Africa's common negotiation position on climate change, which was taken to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties, Cop15.
Furthermore, under our Presidency we have initiated a process for outlining a comprehensive implementation framework on climate change for Africa which unpacks the climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives to be embarked upon.
In the Southern African Development Community, region, our efforts are geared towards a SADC protocol on the environment which seeks to support the development and implementation of environmental policies and a legal framework in areas like biodiversity and conservation, focusing on Transfrontier Conservation Areas, environmental planning, Environmental Impact Assessment, process alignment and so on.
At the recent climate change talks in Copenhagen, South Africa committed itself to reducing its emissions by 34% by 2020, and by 42% by 2025, depending on the availability of financial and technical support. South Africa will host the Climate Change Conference of Parties at the end of 2011. As the conference president after Mexico, we will be directly involved in the attempts to advance the process towards an international climate deal. This is an opportunity for South Africa to make its mark in advancing and positioning itself within the agenda of developing nations and in preparation for the Conference of Parties to be held in Mexico in 2010. That we will be hosting this big international meeting is a significant milestone for South Africa, especially given that climate- change talks are at such a critical stage. Last year we highlighted that environmental crimes were a source of great concern requiring urgent intervention, especially given that they were often committed by organised crime syndicates with international connections. To address these crimes adequately, enforcement and compliance capacity need to be increased. However, this will only be effective if we brought the criminal justice system into the equation.
We then moved to ensure that we establish environmental courts, and we will be doing that in a number of provinces. We are looking at four provinces. Gauteng is where we will be launching the environmental courts on 20 May 2010, in Johannesburg. Other pilot sites will include the Durban Regional Court in KwaZulu-Natal, the Nelspruit Regional Court in Mpumalanga and the Hermanus District Court in the Western Cape. Further roll-out to other provinces will be considered on an annual basis.
We have trained over 300 prosecutors and over 200 magistrates on environmental crimes in preparation for this, and we have also distributed prosecutor manuals on environmental crimes to the National Prosecuting Authority. We have been working with the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development to assist us in all of this.
We have to look at effectively balancing out the impact of development on the environment. A number of frameworks and tools have been developed to be at the core of advancing the environmental sector programmes. I am pleased to inform the House that I plan to publish the new environmental impact assessment regulations, to come into effect in July 2010. The last financial year saw steady progress towards the development and implementation of an environmental assessment system that was effective in enhancing environmental quality while being efficient in terms of both the time frames associated with decision-making and maximising value for money.
This signifies a quantum leap for us in that, apart from aligning the 2006 regulations with the new and improved Act, the 2010 EIA regulations seek to streamline the EIA process and enable integration with other processes such as water-use licences, emission-to-air licences and mining-related approvals.
Let me end by reminding the House that 2010 is the year of action, as pronounced by the President in his state of the nation address. This Budget Vote speech is indicative of our commitment and dedication to service delivery in synch with the mandate given to us by the electorate. I thank you. [Applause.]