１０３６：ダボス会議始まる

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26 January 2011 23:12
Davos 2011: Edna Molewa - Minister of Water & Environmental Affairs

The markets and update on the green economy and global warming.

ALEC HOGG: We are far away today. We are in fact coming to you from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the highest little town in Switzerland. I can tell you, it's as cold as it has been every single year. But the company is warm.
On the markets today, the Top 40 index on the JSE started off pretty weakly, and improved towards the mid-section and it seems to be sliding towards the close. But up about a percent on the day. Not bad going.

The major movers? Shoprite had a big day. That's more than 3%. And, outside of that, the resources stocks once again are getting interest from abroad. Anglo American up 2.5%, Mondi and BHP Billiton, the other 2%-ers. On the way down, bankers under a little bit of pressure as they are in Davos once again this year. RMB Holdings and Nedbank both about 1.5% lower. But outside of that, not a bad day for the JSE.

The first of our interviewees is Minister Edna Molewa, the Minister of Water & Environmental Affairs here in our studio in Davos. It's a lot warmer inside, and it's nice to see you wearing your South African scarf. This is, though, your first visit to the World Economic Forum here.

EDNA MOLEWA: Thank you very much, and thanks for having me. Indeed it is the first time. I don't know about warm - I feel cold, even inside here.

ALEC HOGG: It gets into the bones, doesn't it? But you've already been working, or singing for your supper. You were on a session this morning, how the environmental agenda is changing. Did you see any change - you have been participating in many of these global forums around the world. Environment was big news in Davos two years ago, also big news last year. There's a worry that it's going off the agenda.

EDNA MOLEWA: Well, I'm very glad indeed that environment was on the agenda last year and this year. But more importantly, to the fore they've brought the issue of water, which is quite important. We are having a discussion on that tomorrow. But for me, I think for us actually as South Africans and Africans, we see this World Economic Forum discussion on the world climate issues being very important in that wherever we have discussions as parties elsewhere in the climate change, for instance in Cancun, wherever they've been, you really find that the ideas have not emerged that are intended to bring together in an integrated fashion the world leaders in business as well. We are mainly with the NGO sector and government as parties.
ALEC HOGG: This is an opportunity.

EDNA MOLEWA: This is an opportunity. I think really what came out for me very important this morning is - for us in South Africa what stands out is that we need to find a mechanism to deal with issues of environmental governance, as well as issues of reporting, but also more importantly how we integrate these governance issues because to go forward none of us can sit back and say "climate change is an issue for government, it's an issue for business, it's an issue for that" - even with the new technology.

There are five issues that we agreed upon in Cancun, with very serious success indeed. We need business, we need the business leaders to be there to actually work with government, with civil society to implement those. And for our South Africa it's quite an agenda.

ALEC HOGG: Minister, quite often when people are involved in their own fields, they forget that the rest of the public are maybe not as au fait. Cancun - that was the last big environmental discussion worldwide. The next one comes to our house, to Durban.

EDNA MOLEWA: High expectations indeed, and that's why I am saying we've got to make sure that the adaptation committee that has been set up functions throughout the year so that, come Durban, we are not caught napping. We all would have spoken about what is it that other parties throughout, and countries, would have pronounced on matters of adaptation, because we've been talking mitigation for quite a long time. We've got to increase the targets on mitigation, we've got to say technology that has been agreed upon, the .. fund - where are these funds, because the small island are vanishing indeed? We've got to really move to do something about it. So, come December, implementation of those.

But there are other issues, a whole host of issues that there's no agreement upon, the most important one being the Kyoto Protocol issue, because it's coming to an end, it expires 2012. We can't not have it. There's got to be a replacement for ... But obviously with the second commitment period we've got to say whether we continue with the Kyoto Protocol extended, or what we do, because we can't have any legal vault in any way.

ALEC HOGG: Well, as you can hear, our Minister of Water & Environmental Affairs is right up to date on all of these things - the Kyoto Protocol, Cancun, Durban. The important thing for South African citizens is that our country is very much in the focus of what's happening of what's happening in the green economy around the world and global warming. We'll be having a lengthy discussion with Minister Edna Molewa on Moneyweb a little bit later. It's a full 10-minute podcast to get your teeth into the environmental issues.