South Africa’s Deputy
Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs,
Ms Rejoice Mabudafhasi, is in Nagoya, Japan
for the High Level Ministerial Segment of
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
that will be held between the 27 and 29
October 2010.
The meeting of parties
– attended by 193 signatories to the Convention
– started on the 18th October with officials’
meetings that paved the way for the High
Level Ministerial Segment. The CBD is one
of the Rio Conventions from the Earth Summit
held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. It came
into force a year later with the objective
of conserving biological diversity, sustainable
use of its components and fair and equitable
sharing of benefits arising out of utilization
of genetic resources.
The High Level Ministerial
Segment is aimed at mobilizing the political
will as well as showing commitments and
delivering strong messages from the high
level representatives towards the implementation
of comprehensive and robust measures for
the conservation and sustainable use of
biodiversity. Deputy Minister Mabudafhasi
is expected to deliver South Africa’s country
message tomorrow at the High Level Segment.
‘“South Africa, as part
of the developing countries and the Africa
Bloc remains optimistic that on Access and
Benefit Sharing (ABS), the talks could and
actually should deliver a just and legally
binding agreement that we believe is a fair
and reasonable direction to take in light
of the need for a global regulatory mechanism
to govern ABS,” said Deputy Minister Rejoice
Mabudafhasi.
South Africa’s approach
to the CBD is also informed by its approach
to development as articulated in its biodiversity
policy and legislative frameworks. The CBD's
programme of work is organized around thematic
programmes of works which set out key issues
for consideration, identify potential outputs,
and suggest a timetable and means for achieving
these objectives.
South Africa is aware
of the synergies between the work on biodiversity
done by CBD and that on climate change by
the UNFCCC. However, South Africa is taking
a cautious approach that should not confound
the CBD negotiations with the UNFCCC processes.
The Deputy Minister
reiterated South Africa’s commitment to
the REDD+ (REDD Plus) partnership, which
is a constructive and appropriate opportunity
for the developed countries to fulfill their
commitments in assisting developing countries
with technical support. REDD+ Partnership
is an initiative that was launched on the
sidelines of the UNFCCC Cop 15 in Copenhagen,
by the Australia, UK, USA, France, Norway
and Japan to scale up funding and actions
of REDD+ activities.
South Africa’s vision
is that as far as possible the activities
of the Work Programme of the REDD+ Partnership
for 2011 and 2012 should remain in synch
with the discussions under the UNFCCC. In
this regard, “we anticipate that the Work
Programme of 2011 and 2012 will provide
greater clarity on the sources of finance
and also the on the finances that reach
developing countries”, concluded the Deputy
Minister.
The success of post-2010
international arrangement rests on implementing
international norms and effective tools
that: (i) recognize the value of biological
resources and associated traditional knowledge,
and the rights of indigenous and local communities
over such knowledge; (ii) ensure fair and
equitable sharing of benefits arising from
the use of these resources and associated
traditional knowledge through financial
and non-financial mechanisms; and (iii)
harmonise levels of ambition for targets
for biodiversity and for financial cooperation
between developed and developing countries.
For Media Enquiries
Peter Mbelengwa
Media Liaison Officer and Spokesperson for
the Deputy Minister
