Air quality and environmental crimes: Dion George, South Africa’s minister of forestry, fisheries & the environment, put these issues on the G20’s green agenda for the first time this year while chairing G20 environment and climate sustainability ministerial meetings.
The meetings closed on Friday with “Cape Town ministerial declarations” on the issues, which, George said, “signal global recognition of their urgency and cross-cutting impact”. They will inform the G20 leaders’ declaration at next month’s summit in Johannesburg.
The environmental ministers failed, however, to agree on a consensus declaration responding to global environmental and climate crises. During the week delegates — who worked past midnight to find common ground — expressed concerns about this.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, George focused on the issues that resulted in declarations. “Everybody is interested in air quality, including the US … this is important for South Africa, specifically our people in Mpumalanga,” he said.
The air quality declaration “commits G20 members to advance cleaner production, transport and energy systems, improve data and monitoring, and scale up support for communities most affected by air pollution”.
Illicit wildlife trafficking is more contentious, but the minister pursued this with the tenacity of a honey badger. The environmental crimes declaration calls for “stronger global co-operation to combat illegal wildlife trade, deforestation, mining, waste trafficking and other transnational crimes”.
George said: “I met with the US and had a nice conversation about the things that we can collaborate on. For example, we work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.”
South Africa’s non-aligned status allowed him to engage all countries at a time when “multilateralism is under threat”, he said.
Calling on G20 environmental ministers to deliver justice and equity, small-scale fishers, community activists and SboNdaba Dance did a symbolic tug-of-war for Mama Africa before the opening.
As a megadiverse country, South Africa’s track record shows its potential to turn words into action and be a global leader in protecting biodiversity, conservation partners noted at a side event at Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
South Africa is expected to have 28% of land under biodiversity stewardship by 2035, the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF SA) reported. This puts South Africa within reach of the global biodiversity target to protect 30% of land, rivers and oceans.
WWF SA CEO Morne du Plessis said partnerships between the government, civil society and the private sector, along with people-centred conservation, were central to this progress.
WFF SA urged the government to adopt more ambitious targets in its third national biodiversity strategic action plan (2025-2035) “to unlock significant international funding”. On oceans, South Africa is far short of the 30% target, even though it has 42 marine protected areas. Less than 6% of its exclusive economic zone is under some protection.
South Africa is keen on marine reserves, specifically in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica, said George. “We have been having important conversations with India, Russia and China.”
The benefits of biodiversity stewardship on land — not replicable at sea — are abundant. “We now have examples of communities in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga ... The WWF has been party to pioneering many of these agreements,” said Du Plessis.
South Africa has encouraged countries to look “a bit beyond their own national interest, at what is good for the world
— Dion George, minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment
Most are with private landowners and commercial farmers, and rural communities are joining up. For them, the “incentives are improved range and land management and preferential access to markets and prices”. Employing herders to act as virtual fences creates jobs.
Commercial farmers who sign up to the highest level of stewardship for 30 years get tax breaks if they can report successful outcomes. The numbers tell the story.
George has met World Meteorological Organisation head Celeste Saulo to talk about data. “We must collect it for weather services and early warning systems, and South Africa supplies the world with lots of information,” he said.
“Not everybody believes in science and data but we do and we need to elevate data. This is actually ambitious because the world is in a complicated situation.”
Under US President Donald Trump, science is under attack, he said.
Research reveals that the earth would be hotter and extreme weather events more frequent without the commitments some 200 countries made under the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
In Cape Town the G20 countries — barring the US, which has withdrawn from the Paris Agreement — affirmed their continued support for the pact.
The US takes over the G20 presidency from South Africa in December and the UK is next. George said continuity was needed in the “shift from a developing economy country to developed economy countries”.
As G20 president, South Africa had encouraged countries to look “a bit beyond their own national interest, at what is good for the world”, said George.
“That’s been our message under our G20 theme of solidarity, equality and sustainability, and we have landed that message well.”
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