South Africa has become a centre of local and global conversations in the topic of environmental conservation and sustainability and implementation of programs towards the goal of greener economy.
The South African International Renewable Energy Conference (SAIREC) took place from 4 October to 7 October 2015. South Africa became the first country in the African continent to host the International Renewable Energy Conference held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. The conference was hosted by the South African Department of Energy together with the South African National Energy Development Institute (SANEDI), under the theme ‘RE-energising Africa’, SAIREC’s main objective was to demonstrate why Africa is the business destination for the renewables energy sector given its current growth trajectory and need for investment in clean energy to underpin sustainable economic growth.
Just a day after the SAIREC, GreenCape, an affiliate of the 110% Green initiative of the Western Cape Government invited all key stakeholders working in waste management and with the informal sector to a national dialogue on 8 October 2015. The dialogue focused on the informal sector and SMEs and was aimed at deriving recommendations on how to integrate these actors into the South African waste economy. It aimed to link like-minded people in the space to collaborate, identify appropriate models and initiate a model that can be tracked to illustrate the improvement of the informal sector in terms of increase of waste collected and social environment. The workshop was one of two regional workshops (one in Gauteng and one in Cape Town), held with key decision-makers to address the topic of integration.
The Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (DEADP), and the Western Cape Wetlands Forum (WCWF) also partnered in hosting the 20th annual National Wetlands Indaba 2015. The conference took place at Goudini Spa in Rawsonville. The theme of the Indaba, ‘Wetlands for our Future’, was used to highlight the role that wetlands can play in the sustainable development and management of urban and rural landscapes and livelihoods. The 4 day event took place from 20 October to 23 October 2015 and was a collaboration of minds to discuss and share information and giving feedback on numerous projects, research and policy relating to wetland use, management and protection; it also included outdoor fieldtrips and showcase of local wetlands as well as networking.
Around the same time the National Department of Energy announced in a media release that its Deputy Minister, Ambassador Thembisile Majola would be addressing the 8th Women in Energy Sector Workshop at Radisson Blu in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province. The workshop, took place last week, 28-29 October 2015. This conference was motivated around the principles of empowering women with information about opportunities in the energy sector and how they can take advantage of the growing sector educating them about energy policies and access to finance under the theme ‘Knowledge is power – empowering women in the energy sector in South Africa’. The Department of Energy is hosting a series of these similar workshops in various locations across South Africa covering topics such as Oil, Gas, Electricity, Generation, Distribution, Retail and Renewables. The next is listed for February 2016 to be hosted in Bloemfontein.
These are just highlights; while October 2015 seems to have been an eventful month seeing South Africa take authority in engaging governments, public and private entities, citizens around green economy dynamics; there is still a need for the substantial transformation of behaviour, as well as of industry technologies and structures. While our landscape, climate, and environmental diversity provide a greater potential for green economy opportunities, it takes a commitment, and action to make an impact and we can achieve the green goal better together.