One of the many commitments made during the COP21 climate change negotiations in Paris at the end of 2015 was for all participating countries to enhance education, training, public participation and awareness around climate change, and to guarantee access to information in their respective countries. This commitment, known as the “Action for Climate Empowerment” builds on Article 6 of the United Nations Climate Change Convention, and is a fundamental part of the Paris Agreement signed on 22 April 2016.
One of the ways of informing and involving citizens in the climate debate is through multi-stakeholder workshops at national, regional or local levels that involve policy-makers from relevant ministries, private sector as well as civil society representatives.
Project 90 by 2030 is working towards transparent climate action in South Africa. Together with the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office (CPLO), we held a roundtable discussion on the “Domestication of the Paris Agreement” in Cape Town on 27 May. The discussants were Olivia Rumble, a senior associate at ENSafrica; Goosain Isaacs, the Director of Climate Change at the Western Cape Government and Happy Khambule, from the Policy and Research team at Project 90. Representatives from faith-based and civil society organisations, parliament, private sector and research institutes were present at the discussion.
The focus of the roundtable was on how to ratify the Paris Agreement after it was signed in April. The South African Government indicated at the Post COP21 Provincial Climate Change Dialogues in April, that the ratification process will take place over the next two years. This is a lengthy process which includes various areas of Government, the President, Government departments such as the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ & CD), Cabinet, Parliament, National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. Detailed information is available on the website of DIRCO:
http://www.dfa.gov.za/chiefstatelawadvicer/ ratification.html
An important part of the ratification process is the question of how the National Government can promote climate change actions in South Africa in a more dynamic way. Some argue that South Africa needs sound legislation in the form of a climate act to give implementation of actions around climate change more teeth. Others say that an existing legislation could be amended to give climate change the emphasis it needs, and a third option, would be to create an enabling framework in order to mainstream climate change in existing legislations and policies.
The Department of Environmental Affairs appears to have opted for the first option and are currently in the process of developing a climate change act. Civil society should follow this process closely and ensure that the act not only creates an enabling environment for climate change mitigation and adaptation, but also ensures transparency and public participation of South Africans.
More information on the results of the roundtable discussion and the ratification process of the Paris Agreement will be made available in a briefing paper soon. Please contact the Policy & Research team at Project 90 by 2030 (info@90by2030.org.za) if you would like to join the discussion around climate change, and to find out more about what the targets and next steps in response to climate change for South Africa are.
