South African Environmental Minister in Greenland for talks on Climate Change, Arctic Melting and the Global Response

Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs & Tourism, has yesterday and today been visiting the Ilulissat Ice Fiord World Heritage Site and the Greenland icecap to observe the evident decline in the extent of sea ice in the North Pole.

"Our experiences in Greenland thus far have dramatically demonstrated the effects of the unprecedented rise in arctic temperatures," said the Minister, "The melting of the arctic glaciers, the retreat of the ice cap, and the global rise in sea levels is clearly a cause for major international concern."

"Climate change is one of the most important and daunting global challenges facing the international community. It is a threat to all nations, and requires a coordinated, determined, and united response," said the Minister, speaking on Thursday from Greenland.

Hosted by the Danish Ministry of the Environment, Minister Van Schalkwyk has joined the representatives of 25 developed and developing countries like France, Sweden, China, Brazil and Germany, for a week-long ministerial dialogue and political discussions on climate change – focusing on building greater international understanding of the challenges relating to future international climate policies. One of the main aims of the meeting is to discuss ways of making the Kyoto Protocol more effective and more inclusive to successfully tackle global climate change.

The Greenland Dialogue follows in the footsteps of the discussions about climate change at the G8 Heads of State and Government meeting in Gleneagles in July, and anticipates the follow-up meeting of the G8 announced by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be held in London in November, to which Minister Van Schalkwyk has also been invited as part of the build-up to the first international meeting of parties under the Kyoto Protocol which is to be held in Montreal in December.

The Greenland discussions also precede South Africa's own regional initiatives – a climate change conference of African scientists to be held in Gauteng from 17-19 October 2005, and a parallel National Consultative Conference from 18-20 October to examine the policy implications of climate change.

During the Greenland meeting the Minister stressed the following points about the impact of climate change on South Africa:

In South Africa, climate change is evident and will continue, even if Greenhouse Gas concentrations are stabilised, and as such will also continue to undermine sustainable development;

Expanded desertification in the semi-arid areas of the country is already a feature of the South African landscape. In terms of biodiversity, there is a demonstrated die-back of desert plants, such as the Kokerboom, in the Northern Cape and southern Namibia;

In the more moist areas in the East of South Africa there is a marked increase in the density of thickets, eg. thorn trees. Bush encroachment into productive grasslands in the summer rainfall regions holds implications for agricultural activities such as cattle and sheep ranching, wildlife management strategies and other ecosystem services;

Climate change could lead to provinces like Mpumalanga, Limpopo, the North West, KwaZulu-Natal and even Gauteng becoming malaria zones by 2050 (if no control measures are implemented). The number of South Africans 'at high malaria risk' may quadruple by 2020 – at an added cost to the country of between 0,1% and 0,2% of GDP;

Climate change modeling suggests a reduction of the area covered by the current biomes in South Africa by 35% to 55% in the next 50 years; and

Under a hotter and drier climate, maize production will decrease by up to 20%, mostly in the drier western regions of the country. Marginal areas of maize production may well fail, especially for resource-poor farmers unable to rapidly adapt.

In the discussions the Minster added that: "South Africa's vulnerability to the direct and indirect impacts of climate change, including the costs of mitigation and adaptation, the potential loss of markets, and the consequent impact on sustainable development and poverty alleviation (eg. threats to water provision, health, energy supply, biodiversity, sustainable human settlements, tourism, agriculture and food security), underlines the need to create a balance between adaptation, mitigation and managing the socio-economic impacts of climate change response measures."

Source: www.deat.gov.za