“Local Government Key to Adaption Responses to Climate Change:  Some Closing Remarks at the Local Government Convention”
 
Yunus Carrim
Deputy Minister, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, South Africa

LOCAL GOVERNMENT CONVENTION
COP 17
eThekwini
4 December 2011

Local Government Uniquely Poised
If it’s true that to effectively tackle climate change, we need significant consensus globally, among national governments, international organisations, the private sector and civil society, it’s in the sphere of local government ultimately that we will be tested for how successfully we have implemented decisions on climate change.

So if this COP 17 Conference is important for all of us here, and even more important for the millions and millions of people who are not here, especially the poor across the globe, many of whom know nothing about this Conference, and even less about the what they too must do to reduce climate change, it is even more important for local government.
Those of us involved in local government, and those of us in national and provincial or state governments, who assist you, will be tested like never before.
Maybe it’s even more important for local than national governments to see consensus on decisions, and even more, action come out of this UN COP 17 Conference.  Who, after all, is closest to the people, if not local government? And, where, ultimately, is the destruction caused by climate change felt if not in the local sphere?

And if it’s true, as it is, that we need to mobilise ordinary people, in fact every person, to play a role in our global campaign on climate change, who, if not local government, has to play the primary role?
Local government councillors and officials are closest to the people, and working with civil society, it is you who will have to play the most important role in mobilising people for this campaign.
And if this mobilisation is to be effective, it has to be democratic. Ordinary people must have a say on what they do to reduce climate change. And which sphere of government is closest to them if not local government?   
And as you have, as local government, agreed this morning to move more towards adaptation responses to climate change, without abandoning your commitment to mitigation, to finding the right balance, it has become even more important that you ensure that local communities are involved in tackling climate change.

It’s instructive that you here in this Local Government Convention have struck significant consensus yet the national leaders in the main COP 17 negotiations seem to be dithering. I agree with ICLEI President, Mr David Cadman, when he says local government can make agreements that national government doesn’t seem to be able to.

Because you are closer to the people you are also under greater pressure. It’s ultimately at local government level that the toll on human life and the natural and built environment is most immediately felt. As Mr Cadman said this morning, there’s nowhere to run and hide for local government!
And almost to symbolise the gravity of the COP 17 Conference, on the very eve of its opening, in parts of this very city, a flood broke out, leading to 6 deaths and over 600 houses destroyed!

So as local government you’re under more pressure than national governments. And could it be that you’re able to secure consensus because you’re more directly accountable to local communities, while national governments are under much more pressure from the corporations?
If rural municipalities, especially in the developing world are very vulnerable to climate change, cities, of course, as you know more than me, are hugely challenged. Cities, after all, contain over 50% of the world’s population, use two-thirds of its energy and generate over 70% of its carbon emissions. And where if not in the cities are crucial services like water, electricity, sanitation, transport, and refuse removal that most impact on climate change concentrated if not in the cities? So an effective response to climate change must involve the cities.

As local government you seem in many respects to be ahead of national government on climate change issues. I heard this morning from somebody that even though the US government refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, over 400 municipalities in the US decided to commit to it. Now I’ve just heard its 1000 or so municipalities. Well, even better!

Local Government Charter on Adaptation Responses
Your adoption of this Local Government Charter on adaptation this morning, as others have just observed, is historic, and I congratulate you! At Cancun last year, I hear, you agreed to a covenant on mitigation. This Charter is more focused and binding, I’m told. And, of course, it’s on adaptation responses. And you have over 600 delegates, many mayors, here.

You have a good foundation here. So even if not much comes of the main COP 17 negotiations, you can forge ahead to implement your Charter. There are many things local government can do to tackle climate change even if national governments are sluggish.
I have, unfortunately, because of other commitments, not been able to come to this Convention until this morning, and I’m very sorry about this. I spoke with a few people about the issues I should focus on in these closing remarks. In an email exchange with me last night Chippy Olver – a former Director General of the Environmental Department and Deputy Director General of our Department – pointed to the importance of political will and the need for a change, as he puts it, in “the mindsets of planners”.

Now on the need for political will in local government, I was going to talk about that anyway. And it’s obvious – without political will, without political drive and leadership, local government will not be able to effectively respond to climate change. Officials and civil society actors can play their part, but it’s on the mayors and other local government politicians that much, much depends. And I urge you to play your full part.  
I am more interested in Mr Olver’s remarks on the planners. Let me quote from his email of last night:
“A key feature of climate change is increased climate variability and extreme weather events. The head of Durban’s environmental planning department, Deborah Roberts, points out that planners can no longer plan on the basis of what has happened in the past. Rather they have to start planning for a more uncertain future that could include a variety of possible changes to weather, natural resources and economies.
This means that city planners need a mindset change. They need to overcome business as usual mindsets and vested interests, and the lack of “buy-in” and support from traditional engineering and finance departments. As a number of cities have demonstrated, changing city management practices can make a difference.”

More and Faster Action
My input was meant to be brief. And it is. The speakers before me in this panel, more knowledgeable and experienced than me on climate change issues, have in any case offered very helpful closing remarks. So I conclude, by stressing the importance of giving life to the words in this very good Charter that you’ve adopted today and done us all proud.
You need to immediately act too. To insert the key aspects of this Charter into the main COP 17 negotiations.
We all know there are many challenges in securing a significant consensus at the end of the overall COP 17 process. But all of us here, no doubt, hope that something meaningful emerges by the 9th.

And, you know, it’s apposite that this UN Conference is being held here in South Africa. Two years ago, in Copenhagen, governments could not come to an agreement on how to reduce climate change and global warming. It is hoped that with our rich recent history of negotiations, dialogue and consensus, South Africa will provide fertile ground for an amicable global settlement.  
And it is apposite too that UN Conference is being held in this particular city of Durban/eThekwini, with its progressive climate change programmes and management of its diverse cultural communities.

So this country and this city in particular, even if we have our problems, symbolise what’s possible through give-and-take negotiations and persistently searching for consensus across divides.
For all the challenges, we need to find consensus on the need to act on climate change. We need global consensus on an issue like never before.  As our options to disagree shrink, because we are all periled like never before by each other’s actions, we are becoming more than ever what we are – a global village.

It’s not enough just to recognise this. We have to act! Act far more and far faster! All of us!   
So it’s not enough, certainly, for us here in this Local Government Convention to take decisions. We need, in whatever way possible, to put pressure on those negotiating our future in the main plenary session of this Conference. And we have to persistently put pressure on the final decision-makers in the years ahead.
*Parts of this speech were offered off-the-cuff and subsequently inserted into this final text as best as can be recollected.