Pretoria - It is of utmost importance that at the end of COP17, there is an agreement on the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, says Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
"We strongly believe that a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol must be agreed to as a first step towards a truly multilateral rules-based and binding global system that helps us to cut the carbon emissions and also stabilise the greenhouse gas emissions," she said.
The minister was speaking at the meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at COP17 in Durban on Monday.
The Kyoto Protocol was not only important as a mitigation instrument, but was also an important source of finance for the Adaptation Fund.
"Adaptation being a priority for Africa, failure to secure a legal second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol before we conclude COP17 is of particular concern," she added.
South Africa believed that the "pledges inscribed in the Cancun Agreements need to be further developed in Durban".
"It is important therefore to, amongst others, conclude deliberations with an agreement on the second Commitment Period of the Kyoto Protocol," Dlamini Zuma noted.
COP17 needed to address the challenges facing the most vulnerable states, with the least resources, such as small island developing states that were at risk of disappearing, the minister said.
"For such states, it is not just about climate change, but about their right to exist as citizens of their countries. As the inhabitants of the small island developing states say, the islands define who they are. However, they also say that climate change is turning the ocean - their friend and resource into a deadly enemy."
Bearing this in mind, adaption needed to part of the critical outcomes of COP17, Dlamini Zuma said.
She called for the current fragmented approach to adaptation to be addressed in a more coherent manner to ensure an outcome that would lead to the concrete implementation of adaptation outcomes and actions.
Dlamini Zuma also called for the issue of mitigation to be addressed.
"Durban should accordingly formalise mitigation pledges from individual developed countries or blocs of countries and deepen their scope to come to a net reduction of emissions which would limit the increase in global temperature to a maximum of 2øC, and to continue to look into the goal of a 1.5øC increase as mentioned in Cancun," she said.
