Keynote address by Gauteng MEC for Agriculture, Conservation and Environment Khabisi Mosunkutu at the Sustainable Use of Environment Open Day

14 June 2007, Kempton Park Civic Centre

Programme director:
Executive Mayor of the host Metropolitan Council: Councillor Duma Nkosi (in absentia)
Councillors present
Head of Department: Dr. Steven Cornelius
Officials from the Department and other spheres of government
Representatives of the business community, non-governmental and community-based organisations
Representatives of various communities
Invited guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

I am truly delighted to be in this gathering with you all and to partake in the exchange of ideas and perceptions on what has necessitated our coming together.

It is my hope that the business community has found it important to be here not necessarily because of legislated punitive measures that may be a consequence of certain actions.

Similarly, I hope that environmental activists present here have found it important to join us not because of ideological persuasion alone. It certainly will be most encouraging to also hear that, together with representatives of the disadvantaged communities, we all are here out of realization that continued mismanagement of the environment is a threat to all our sectoral interests and to our wellbeing.

Certainly, continued degradation of the environment out of convenience and because of wanting to cut corners to save a few thousand rands, thereby increasing the bottom-line will, in the long run, threaten the very basic ingredients that make the enterprise flourish. Likewise, communities who dump rubbish on our rivers and contribute to deforestation and destruction of flora are effectively exhausting the very natural resources that regulate the climate and provide wood for energy and parks for recreation, as another example.

Friends and colleagues, it is not a myth that the environment is a natural provider of services that allows life itself and contributes to social and economic development - to civilization as we know it. It may, to many people, seem that the business of protection and sustainable use of our natural resource is a distant issue far removed from the reality of the poverty and stress of daily living. The reality, however, is that the business of protecting and promoting sustainable use of our natural resource base, has everything to do with conditions of poverty and social deprivation. It has everything to do with sustainable economic development.

We will not achieve environmental sustainability without eradicating poverty, and we will not eradicate poverty without striving for environmental sustainability. If we are to "meet the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs", then we must focus on not only the conservation and management of our natural resources, but also the social and economic dimensions of development.

Similarly, the economic activities that are the basis of the 'better life' that we are pursuing for ourselves and which we wish to bequeath to our children can only be sustainable if they are environmentally sustainable. Economic growth is essential in Gauteng, as is the development of infrastructure.

If we allow our factories and our vehicles to pollute air, our children will not be able to breathe. If we build houses so that we lose our wetlands and also lose our natural capacity to manage flooding, and clean our water, we are compromising the very substance of life. If we build roads in places where the last surviving members of a plant or animal species exist, we lose the richness of our biodiversity and irreplaceable genetic material.

If we wastefully consume non-renewable resources of the earth - those that cannot be replenished but can be used until they are completely depleted - what are we leaving to sustain a better life in the future? If we consume energy and water carelessly with no thought for the future, what do we leave for our children? So, environmental concerns are inseparable from social and economic concerns, and must be integrated into sustainable development practices that make a better life for our people, particularly the poor.

We all perhaps are aware that Gauteng is South Africa's economic powerhouse, with its economic growth and output outstripping the rest of the country. This however comes at cost to the environment. Our last State of Environment Report (SOER) showed that rapid growth and urbanisation, places a strain on our natural environment resulting in negative impacts such as:

• An increase in the housing backlog,
• Degradation of environment,

The report further noted that

• the long-term effects of pollutants, and rapid land transformation potentially pose a threat to optimal agricultural production, and potentially a decline in the contribution of agriculture to the GGP
• although surface water quality was generally good, there was a notable decrease in quality, in terms of salinity and faecal coliform from 1999 to 2003
• land use continued to be unsustainably structured. Density was inversely related to adequate service provision. That the urban poor were isolated from urban opportunities and had to spend large amounts of their income and time commuting to the areas omployment
• due to the high population density, high concentration of industries, large vehicle population, air quality in specific areas was poor and that there was a very stable and well-defined level inversion layer during winter, which in combination, resulten very high levels of pollution during the winter months, and that there was a deterioration in visibility and aesthetic landscape quality of the Province, particularly in winter due to the inversion conditions
• habitat destruction/transformation and fragmentation through urbanisation was the most serious threat posed to the survival of threatened plants of Gauteng. Habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation also represent the greatest threats to threatened d, mammal, reptile, amphibian and invertebrate species in Gauteng, and that
• Efficient and adequate waste management was a serious problem in the province. All of this occurs within a particular background. As a Provincial Government, we have identified guiding objectives to help attain our goal of a better life for all. These focus on sustainable economic growth and job creation. They focus also on poverty alleviation and building sustainable communities. We also are committed to the realisation of the constitutional rights of our people, including ensuring that the environment is managed in a manner that does not pose a threat to the health and well-being of all our people and the future generation.

At the beginning of my brief input, I suggested that we all are brought to this meeting by various needs. I also painted a scenario that suggests that there exist a golden thread that connects our various needs. Please, let us bear this as we continue with our deliberations. Let us examine how best can we co-operate and allow our various interests to also co-exist non-antagonistically.

I thank you.