South Africa has always punched above its own weight when it comes to international affairs. This is no different when it comes to matters of climate change and sustainable development. Between 28 Nov and 9 Dec 2011, the warm coastal city of Durban will play host to the 17th annual UN Convention of Climate Change simmut, COP17. This will be the second major UN sustainable development initiative to be hosted by South Africa. In Aug-Sep 2002, leaders of UN country members decended on Joburg to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Development(WSSD). Many committments were made at the WSSD by all participating countries and these committements were captured in the "Plan of Implementation" and some of these include halving the number of the proportion of people who lack access to clean water by 2015 and significant preservation of biodiversity.
A big part of sustainable development relates to the reduction of carbon emmisions and while South Africa is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the country continues to invest heaviliy in carbon emitting practices. A good exmaple of this is the investment in major coal-powered electricity power stations such as Medupi, a multi-billion Rand infrastructure in the Northern Province of the country. Medupi is set to come on stream in 2013 and all of its steam produced to drive the turbines to generate energy will be produced by heat generated solely from coal.
To be sure, Eskom (the state-owned eletricity producer) is involved in sustainable initiatives such as the one aimed at assisting households to supplement their conventional electricity sources with solar-powered generators mounted on roof-tops, where Eskom susbsidizes the costs related to the purchasing of the solar panels. However, in my view, if Eskom is to really make an impact in reducing South Africa's carbon footprint, sustainable energy generation methods have to start at a power station level and not at a consumption level, within invidual households. While South Africa has a huge voice around the table when it comes to sustainable development issues, the country has done little to significantly ensure that the natural resources of the country are properly preserved for generations to come.
Nevertheless, all eyes will be on South Africa during the COP17-CMP7 deliberations and one of the real benefits for SA is the opportunity that such international events offer in positioning the country as an exciting tourist destination.
Our Politicians must demonstrate some will.
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