Putting preventative and mitigation measures in place to ensure there is minimal impact on climate is a policy more and more countries are adopting, and South Africa is no exception. National Government is in the advanced stages of formulating its national policy on this, which will be passed into law in the near future.
According to Barbara Creecy, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, the National Climate Change Bill will be an effective climate change response and ensure its long-term transition into a climate resilient and lower carbon economy and society.
National Government aims to achieve this through sustainable development in the country.
“It is heartening to see that since the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, many African countries have made significant progress in moving towards the development and implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs),” Creecy said in a statement.
NDCs represent the efforts of each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
“For Africa, addressing and responding to the impacts of Climate Change is critical for the sustainable development of our Continent. Climate Change also presents opportunities for our Continent which we should work on harnessing, in order to realise the aspirations contained in Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want,” she added. “We need to create a conducive environment for this to happen. We have a number of encouraging NDC case studies on the continent which demonstrate that Africa is prepared to make its fair share of the contribution towards the global effort to combat Climate Change. We should learn from each other and make further efforts to exchange our experiences in implementing the NDCs, as well as the challenges we are experiencing.”
In the near future South Africa as well as Cape Town will need to abide by the new rules set forward by the bill and start doing our part to become a better society and community for our earth.
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