Chairperson, hon members, let me register our appreciation of the commitment of and efforts by the Minister and also acknowledge the challenges she faces in dealing with two huge departments and their different challenges.
We also appreciate the co-operation the Minister has introduced with other departments, and the announcement she made yesterday of the progress in terms of providing rural areas with potable water. But I must mention that it might be only 10% or 20% of rural areas that are receiving water and that 80% to 90% of our people are still without water. There is still a huge challenge in this regard.
I must say, Madam Minister, the department is in contempt because water is a human right and the constitutional right of every citizen of South Africa. So, if we have 80% to 90% of people without water, it means the department is in contempt of the Constitution and of human rights.
I wish to thank the chairperson of the portfolio committee, Ms Maggie Sotyu, for the manner in which she conducts herself and the meetings of the committee.
Having said that, in December last year representatives of nearly 200 governments met in Copenhagen, Denmark, to hammer out the details of a new climate-change treaty. Although it is 17 years since the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has come into force, the developed countries are holding back. The political accord that was struck by world leaders only provides for explicit emission pledges by all major economies, but it does not chart any clear path to a treaty with binding commitments. To its credit, South Africa, which is a developing country, played a conspicuous and positive role in Copenhagen.
The Minister and the chief negotiator, Alf Wills, worked hard to secure a partial agreement. As a witness to the events, I wish to pay tribute to Alf Wills and the South African team for their sterling efforts in the Copenhagen solution.
The one positive development from Copenhagen relates to technology development and transfer in support of mitigation and adaptation. Cope believes that South Africa should take full advantage of acquiring new technology wherever it is developed in terms of the agreement so as to implement its own mitigation and adaptation programmes.
Cope believes that government must clearly spell out what lifestyle changes and infrastructure development will have to take place to cope with the effects and consequences of climate change. Are there any coastal communities that will need any infrastructure? Will agriculture have to be advised about which crops to grow in which season? The department must provide details of South Africa's reduction, mitigation and adaptation strategies.
In a world where climate change is occurring with frightening speed, it is imperative for government to encourage sustainable growth. Cope strongly advocates the implementation of wide-scale retrofitting of houses, offices, factories and vehicles to mitigate climate change.
Cope very strongly supports sustainable development through environmental management that is properly co-ordinated and highly championed to ensure the following: a healthy living and working environment for citizens of our country; sustainable use of land, water and natural resources; migration to clean and renewable sources of energy; active and extensive public participation in environmental governance and effective messaging; imposition of carbon taxes balanced by subsidies for those moving to cleaner technologies; ban on halogen lamps and all lighting that is not as efficient as compressed fluorescent lighting; and promoting vehicle pooling by daily commuters to reduce the number of cars on the roads and thereby decreasing pollution. Motor vehicles contribute 20% to 25% of air pollution.
If we look at government's efforts regarding the above, it is clear that a sense of urgency is lacking, and I urge the Minister to pay serious attention to this. Our children are going to be seriously short-changed if we do not act at once.
The ability of our environment to meet today's needs as well as those of tomorrow needs to be constantly analysed and monitored. Do we know to what extent southern Africa is warming, or what is happening to Antarctica, or how quickly the western half of our country is beginning to dry up - and has government begun to plan for water desalination plants for these areas? We are sounding a warning about a future without adequate water that awaits us, and we need to have timeframes for specific actions.
When we speak of sustainable development in respect of our country's macroeconomic and fiscal policy, we have to mention the sustainable management of the environment in the same breath. Neither growth nor development is sustainable in the absence of environmental sustainability. This Ministry must ensure that the environmental component has a key role in the implementation of the macroeconomic policy.
Throughout our history, before and after liberation, government in South Africa has continued to emphasise the optimal exploitation of our minerals and natural resources, with hardly any regard for environmental consequences. Even today mines continue to pollute with impunity. Enforcement must ensure that all pollution of air, soil and water is stopped.
Our ecological areas and cycles, and our biodiversity, must receive serious attention before it is too late. Cope requests that a more comprehensive and cross-cutting approach is adopted. Throughout our country the carrying capacity of the environment is being exceeded, and the dongas and ravines are an indictment of the government. Cope wants to know what is being done about our vulnerable terrestrial ecosystems ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]