Honourable Chairperson of this session;

Honourable Minister, Ms Edna Molewa,

Honourable Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Mr Jackson Mthembu,

Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee;

Honourable Members of Parliament;

Distinguished Chairpersons and Chief Executives of Public Entities;

Distinguished guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen;



INTRODUCTION

Angibonge sihlalo. Lomnyango wethu wezemvelo uye ubukeke sengathi uwumnyango okhetha iphela emasini. Kuyaphoqeka ukuthi siqonde ukuthi lomnyango usidinga sonke ngoba usithinta sonkana. Konke okusizungezile kumayelana nalomnyango. Kungaba umhlaba esiphila kuwo, umoya, amanzi, inhlabathi uqobo, yilanga, izitshalo, izihlahla, utshani, umkhathi, amahlathi, izilwane, ulwandle, imifula, ekugcineni abantu uqobo. Kubalulekile ke ukuthi siqaphele ukuthi singazitholi sesicekela phansi wona umhlaba sibe siphila kuwo. Uma siwucekela phansi pho siyophila kuphifuthi siyozinza kuphi? Bengithi angindlalele ngiphinde ngiqwashise.
Lolusuku lwanamuhla usuku lwethu singumnyango la sihlahla khona indlela esizohamba ngayo, ngamanye amazwi yiwona mkhombandlela wethu. Ukusebenza kwethu kuyabambandakanya o Hulumeni bezifundazwe kanye no Hulumeni basekhaya. Sinethemba ukuthi siyosebenzisana ngobuqotho ngoba phela inhloso yinye, “ukududula izwekazi lethu liye phambili”. Asisenakuphazamiseka ngoba abantu banga kithi, sibonile imiphumela yokhetho. Sebekusho konke bakwenza konke, the ANC stood up victorious.
U Minister uluthintile udaba lokubaluleka kwlokhu esithi Biodiversity. Yiyo phela abantu basemakhaya abazikhusela ngayo. Bayazingela, bayadoba, bayatshala, bamba amakhubalo okuziphilisa, bayatheza izinkuni zokubasa nezokwakha izindawo zokufihla amakhanda. Abantu basemakhaya basadla imbuya ngothi, kodwa sithi kulabo esingakafiki kubo  siyeza sizofika qathatha njengokufa.
Ake ngithinte kafuphi ngezolwandle. Ulwandle lungezinye zezibusiso esigidlabezwe ngalo u Mdali. Yebo ulwandle luhle, luyabukeka kodwa lo Hulumeni uthi phinde asingalibali ukubuka lobuhle kuphela.  Lolulwandle luphethe umnotho oyisikhondla kakhulu. Thina nozakwethu besilibele ubuhle bolwandle, kanti onkabi bayavuna. Siyonithinta uma sezidumela ngasemantsumpeni. Ngoba ulwandle lubalulekile, masiwanakekele amanzi alo, singawangcolisi. Izinga lokuhlanzeka kwalo libalulekile kakhulu. Siyakuqonda ukuthi kulomnotho wasolwandle kungahle kuphakame noma kuvuke izinsiba kwabanye abantu. Asazike ngoba konke lokhu engikhuluma ngakho kuzokwenzeka kuwona lo Hulumeni oholwa u “Maphuma Ephethe” sithi ulwandle luphethe okungaphezulu kokulibuka “umnotho”.
Sihlalo ngike ngaba nethuba lokuvakashela umkhumbi i SA Agulhas 2. Lona isikhondlakhondla somkhumbi esenza ucwaningo lwezeScience olwandle. Impela ngifunde engingakaze ngikucabange, lokhu kungenze ngakholwa ukuthi ngempela lo Hulumeni kukhulu osukwenzile futhi kukhulu osazokwenza. Sizinikele ukuthi sidlulele ngaphandle kwalokhu esithi I “Exclusive Economic Zone”.  
Our commitment to Southern Oceans and Antarctica is evidenced by commissioning of the Sanae IV base in Antarctica in 1997 and the new Marion and Prince Edward base in 2011 by our Government.  These bases are serviced by our state of the art polar research and supply vessel, SA Agulhas 2 dedicated to Mirriam Makeba; commissioned by this Government in 2012.  Our presence in southern Oceans and  Antarctica enables us to better  understand among others, the process and impacts of climate change.  
                                                                                                                         Umthetho sisekelo welizwe lethu uyagcizelela ukuthi kubalulekile ukuthi siyihloniphe imvelo, ukuze thina nesizukulwane sethu sikwazi ukuzuza inthuthuko ezimele neqhubekayo.

Wildlife Economy
We have more than 10 000 game farms across the country. The wildlife economy is currently valued at 8 billion Rands and is growing at an annual rate of 20, 3% in terms of turnover. The wildlife industry attracts a large number of international visitors each year and creates more than 100 000 jobs across the country. Nakhona la kulengxenye yomnotho abantu bethu bahambela kude, kumele sibasondeze.

Another interesting programme is the Working for Wetlands Programme.The National Biodiversity Assessment of 2011 identifies wetlands as the most threatened ecosystem yet they provide valuable services for livelihoods. The department’s working for Wetlands Programme was formed in 2000 to champion the protection, rehabilitation and sustainable use of South Africa’s wetlands through co-operative governance and partnership. This programme has strong involvement with civil society. It is also labour intensive and contributes to skills development that contributes to Expanded Public Works Programme. There are fourteen EPWP programmes including the Working for Water programme which will ensure that over 750 000 hectares of land are cleared of invasive alien plants; the Working for Wetlands will rehabilitate 115 wetlands across the country; Working for Land will ensure that over 30 000 hectares of land are rehabilitated; and, Working for the Coast will ensure that conservation work is done along 2 113 kilometres of coastline.  
These programmes are among the most successful initiatives of Government, as referred to by the President in his State of the Nation address.  The returns on investment are extremely high, as I have often highlighted, and exemplify the Government's commitment to sustainable development.  A budget of R2,83b has been allocated to these EPWP-aligned programmes for the financial year.  It is anticipated that this will lead to the creation of almost 70,000 Work Opportunities, and over 37,000 Full-Time Equivalent jobs.  In all programmes, we target the following percentages for designated groups, 55% of the work going to women, 60% to youth and 2% to people with disabilities. Lokhu kusinika ithemba ukuthi siphikelele khona kwisibophezelo sokwakha amathuba emisebenzi.
A particular priority for our green economy interventions is to address the challenge of youth unemployment. To this end, we have established a Youth Environmental Services programme aimed at providing training opportunities with a target to place at least 75% of them in long-term contracts or permanent employment.
The Youth Jobs in Waste programme currently provides 4 099 job opportunities across 8 Provinces for young people in the areas of waste management administration within municipalities managing landfill sites, environmental awareness campaigns, landfill staff and general workers-waste collection.
This effort focused on the youth has been expanded to the innovative Groen Sebenza programme we launched last year, aimed at rapidly overcoming the problem of needed skills in environmental sector while at the same time tackling unemployed graduates and matriculants. This is funded through the Presidential Jobs Fund Programme and to date 818 ‘pioneers’ have been appointed and placed within 43 biodiversity organisations.
I would like to congratulate the 50 young participants in this programme that have already been permanently placed in decent jobs.

People and Parks Programme
Traditionally people have always lived in harmony with nature and the philosophies of sustainability and conservation were inherent in their society. During the colonial period, the creation of parks often resulted in communities being forcibly relocated to new areas, or losing their land.
Reserves were fenced off and communities lost their access to resources within the reserves. Conservation became elitist and access to parks required social privileges. Communities were excluded from playing a role in protecting the environment; instead they were seen as threats to the environment. This is certainly a bad story of the past to tell. Ezingaxoxwa ke lezi.
We will be hosting the 6th National People and Parks programme this year to take stock of the progress made on the partnership between protected areas and local communities on issues of access to natural recourses, capacity building, awareness and most importantly reviewing South African progress and its commitment on the implementation of the 5th World Parks Congress.
Our parks serve as economic hubs especially in rural areas, where there is no conventional economic activity. SANParks has aligned its programmes to maximise job creation in response to the National Development Plan 2030. National parks are major contributors to local economic development, particularly in rural areas. At the end of 2013/14 financial year, SANParks employed over 4 740 full time employees and 1 930 jobs created through the SANParks Public Private Partnership Programme.

Education and Awareness
Biodiversity and the Green Economy have huge potential for decent jobs. Our legislative framework gives a range of environmental and natural resource management competencies to National, Provincial and Local levels, which are reflected in their structures. The problem is that there is a lack of skilled people in our sector, partly because of legacy issues and there is destructive competition for the few skilled human resources.
The Kids in Parks Programme which is an environmental education programme within the ambit of People and Parks Programme will also be rolled out this year, targeting 5000 learners and 200 educators from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Kids in Parks programme has been one of the most crucial means of making sure that all South Africans participate in the conservation and preservation of South Africa’s environment by providing access to protected areas.
During the 2013/14 financial year 215 232 learners participated in the SANParks environmental education programme.  In addition, a total of 42,330 community members had free access to the National Parks during the South Africa National Parks Week in 2013/14.
To heighten awareness about the ongoing poaching of rhino, a street parade was organised in Tshwane on World Rhino Day last year to highlight the efforts made to fight the scourge of rhino poaching, commencing with a march and ending with an address by the Minister.
Honourable members, SANBI continues to grow its highly successful Garden Based Programme focusing on primary and high school learners particularly from underprivileged schools, with over 44 000 beneficiaries reached in 2013/14.
In addition to that awareness raising initiatives such as celebration of environmental theme days, expos and holiday programmes has grown with over 8000 beneficiaries reached. The outreach bus has been used to transport senior citizens, youth and children from disadvantaged backgrounds with 6000 beneficiaries transported to the different botanical gardens.
The Fundisa for Change is another programme which encourages teachers to ‘teach for change’ through teacher education institutions to strengthen environmental learning and teacher education within the Curriculum and Assessment Policy framework of South Africa. It serves as a broader Education for Sustainable Development framework through a co-ordinated, participatory, national system of engagement.  
The Fundisa for Change Partnership Programme rationale is based on a need for measures to strengthen the schooling system in ways that ensure capable teachers, a coherent curriculum, and high quality learning materials to resource the foundations of further learning and participation in the environment, global change and biodiversity Human Capacity Development pipeline.
Extended Public Works Programme
As we have said, the work of our Department and sector must support the ideas and vision espoused in the National Development Plan.
Through the Wildlife Economy and Eco Furniture Programmes, the aim is to venture into the space of sustainable employment and economic growth.
The Eco-Furniture Programme has been rapidly developed into a winning formula.  As an offshoot of the Working for Water programme, it seeks to add value to the invasive alien plants being cleared, by using the biomass for products needed by Government.  Its initial focus is on school desks, given the need to address significant shortages in our poorer schools.  
Already we are targeting to put 300,000 learners behind a solid, well-crafted eco-desk in this financial year.  When fully established, the programme is targeting having 3,600 previously unemployed people as skilled workers in harvesting, milling and furniture making, including working in mutually beneficial partnership with the private sector.
While it is not the intention of the Eco Furniture programme to sell directly to private sector, eco-coffins are already being produced where the product is sold via faith-based organisations to the poor, to reduce the cost of bereavement.
The Working on Fire programme has grown from a modest programme in 2003 to one that is internationally recognised for its excellence and efficiency.  

Compliance and Enforcement
The Environmental Management Inspectorate, commonly known as the Green Scorpions, was established in terms of an amendment to National Environment Management Act (NEMA), in 2005. Their key focus is on monitoring the environmental impact of projects and conducting follow-up assessments.
The Green Scorpions are tasked with, amongst others, holding businesses, institutions and individuals accountable for the negative impacts their actions or inactions have on the environment. The Green Scorpions deal with various incidents of illegal activities related to EIA legislation and considerable inroads into fighting these crimes have been made. There are numerous instances of successful prosecutions of those in contravention of environmental legislation. Offenders have been fined millions of Rands and ordered to implement various measures to ensure compliance.

Conclusion
I wish to thank our Minister for providing exceptional leadership as well as the chairperson and honourable members of the Portfolio Committee for the guidance in ensuring that we deliver on the mandate entrusted to us.
A big thanks to the Director General, the DDGs and Team Environment. The award the DG received last year is recognition of hard work. We are proud of you.
I also want to thank our public entities, sister departments and all sector stakeholders for their active participation on environmental issues and unconditional support.
Siyanikhumbuza ukuthi kusasa ngosuku lomhlaka 18th July, masibhukule sonke ngobuningi sihloniphe ikhwelo lika Mongameli wethu ukukhuculula amadolobha noma izindawo ezingahlanzekile lapho sihlala khona.    
Thank you.