STATEMENT BY THE RT HON PRIME MINISTER

DR B.S.S.  DLAMINI

AT THE COMMEMORATION DINNER FOR WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2012.

 

ROYAL SWAZI CONVENTION CENTRE, EZULWINI

 

6 JUNE 2012

 

Honourable Ministers

Honourable Members of Both Houses of Parliament

UNDP Resident Representative & Resident Co-ordinator

Senior Government Officials

Board Members and CEOs of Participating Institutions

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is a great honour and privilege once more to be present at this Gala dinner commemorating World Environment Day.

 

It is on this day every year that the whole world meets to rekindle the spirit of 1972, in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, where the commemoration of the event first took place.

 

One has to say that it is somewhat illuminating – indeed more than a little chastening – that it took until 1972 for the world to face up to the environmental challenges facing it, and get down to the fundamentals such as – what causes the challenges, to what extent is mankind exacerbating them, and what can we do to resolve them?

 

Then it took a further 20 years for the world to wake up to the realisation that, without good environmental stewardship, it would be difficult to attain sustainable development. On that occasion in 1992, Swaziland joined the rest of the world during the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro where commitments were first made to embrace environment principles in the global drive to attain sustainable development.

 

In that conference Swaziland presented a paper called “Ensuring our Future” which contained an analysis of the state of the environment at the time, the challenges we were facing, as well as our future aspirations and plans to achieve sustainable development.

And now, just a few days before we proceed to yet another milestone conference in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 20 to 22 June 2012, Swaziland has held an Environmental Indaba to assess our own progress towards meeting the commitments we made as a country back in 1992.  Such preparation and reflection is extremely important, and I am advised by the Honourable Minister for Tourism and Environmental Affairs that we have extended our work to interrogating the theme of this year’s World Environment Day Commemoration, namely “The Green Economy: Does it Include you?”

 

In 1992 the world came up with various declarations and  instruments which committed all participant countries to activities and programmes that sought to strengthen the environment sector as a critical pillar for sustainable development. One of these was the development of Agenda 21 which set out actions relating to the social and economic dimensions of sustainable development, conservation of natural resources, the role of major groups, and the means of implementation.

 

These commitments were reinforced in 2002 during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) where the Johannesburg Plan of Action (JPOA) was agreed upon. All these commitments were meant to cement the need for a convergence between the three pillars of sustainable development- Economic Development, Social Equity and Environmental Protection.

It is, however, sad to note that despite all these commitments having been made, progress in reaching the goals set at Rio de Janeiro has been slower than anticipated – as was stated in the UN Secretary-Generals’ report of 2002.  In effect, the Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs) that were agreed upon have not yet attracted sufficient attention, commitment, and the necessary resources required for sustainable development.

It has to be said that ecosystem degradation has continued  unabated.  At the present rate, planet earth is going to find it very difficult to sustain the ever increasing population which has now reached 7 billion of which at least 1 billion are already living in extreme poverty. In excess of 3 billion people survive on the already limited natural resources which are continuing to be depleted.  If we include the impact of extreme weather events – earthquakes, flood, drought and tsunamis – and add volatile food and oil prices, as well as global financial setbacks – we see how fragile is our quest for sustainable development. 

 

It is interesting to note that negotiations of the WSSD 2002 revealed a major change in the prevailing perception of sustainable development – moving slowly away from environmental issues toward social and economic issues. This shift has been driven by the needs of the developing countries and strongly influenced by the emergence of the Millennium Development Goals. This further demonstrates just how the perception of sustainable development has been pulled in various directions during its 20 year history.

 

This year’s theme therefore heightens our awareness of this paradigm shift and seeks to bring into sharp focus the need for everyone to play their part in keeping mankind’s ecological footprint within planetary boundaries.

Despite bringing environmental issues into the forefront of policy-making over those two decades, Swaziland has not been spared from the challenges facing the global community. Observations at ground level still show a continuing loss of critical ecosystem such as wetlands, and the biodiversity from indigenous trees and animals.  On the other hand we have seen an increase in alien, invasive plant species such as Sandanezwe which, alone, has turned large tracts of grazing land into unproductive green desert.

 

That does not mean losing hope. His Majesty’s Government continues to adopt programmes that will reverse this trend but it is fundamentally incumbent upon us all to join forces in reversing these unsustainable trends of our economy. The theme of this year’s commemoration wants us to answer the question: “Does the reversing of these trends include you?” The answer is, of course, “Yes it does.”  Because if the country is to achieve a green economy that is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive, it begins with you and me.  

 

The national effect is simply the aggregate of many hundreds of thousands of individual life styles.  That is why the individual has to move away from the attitude – “my personal behaviour won’t make any impact on the national effect, so I won’t bother.”  Instead we should all examine our own behaviour regarding protection of the environment and set ourselves tasks such as:

 

• a home and business energy audit to reduce unnecessary energy consumption;

 

• use of energy efficient stoves to reduce over – exploitation of indigenous forests;

 

• use of electronic files to reduce demand for paper products;

 

• car pooling and taking public transport to reduce vehicle emissions;

 

• making more efficient use of water to conserve this scarce resource;

 

• recycling appropriate materials and composting food wastes to reduce the impact of landfills.

 

In the coming conference in Rio we, and the other participating countries, will be called on to renew our commitments to the principles we agreed upon in 1992, with the promise to renew the efforts to green up our respective economies.  And, back home, we expect everyone in Swaziland to honour the responsibility of pursuing investment and activities that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

 

In conclusion, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, I would like to thank the UNDP for being a strategic partner in providing most of the resources to make this day a success. Special thanks also go to the Swaziland Electricity Company, Ubombo Sugar, KOBWA, LUSIP/GEF Project, Nedbank and Sun International.

 

With these remarks I would like to thank all of you who are here for your presence and commitment to environmental sustainability and wish you well as you help to chase the objective of an environment-friendly and sustainable Swaziland.

 

Thank you.