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UNCCD THIRD SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE FOR REVIEW
OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CONVENTION

ACCESS BY AFFECTED PARTIES, PARICULARLY
DEVELOPING COUNTRY PARTIES, TO APPROPRIATE
TECHNOLOGY, KNOWLWDGE AND KNOW-HOW 2 11 MAY
2005 BONN, GERMANY
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• SOUTH AFRICAS EFFORTS TOWARDS APPROPRIATE
  TECHNOLOGY,
• KNOWLEDGE
• AND
• KNOW-HOW

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OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY ANDGALILEO

• Science is an odd beast. It has its head in the
  clouds, while keeping both feet planted firmly on
  the ground. As a result, it has revolutionised
  human life both intellectually and practically.
  That the mental landscape today is almost
  unrecognisable from that of, say, two centuries
  ago, is due almost entirely to the work of two
  groups of thinkers scientists and economists.
• - Economist, Jan 3rd, 2002

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LAND DEGRADATION ISSUE OF LAND AND PEOPLE

• Land degradation is not only about land, it
  is also about the people. In South Africa
  millions of people are directly affected by
  natural resource degradation and many of them
  live below the poverty line. They depend on
  natural resources for survival. Yet the capacity
  of our countrys land, water and biological
  resources to sustain its people is eroding. Tons
  of productive land are now lost and many once
  pristine conservation areas are denuded.
  (Foreword to the NAP by Hon Marthinus van
  Schalkwyk Minister of Environmental Affairs and
  Tourism.

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Country Challenges

• According to the South African Government and the
  University of Pretoria
• Roughly 80 of SA land is used for agriculture
  and subsistence livelihoods.
• About 16 million people (40 of population) live
  in rural areas
• 85 of the rural people live in former homelands,
  the rest on private farms and small towns.
• Women form the majority of rural
  populationfemale-headed households being
  particularly disadvantaged in terms of income,
  literacy and education, access to technology,
  water, energy and other services.

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Country Challenges (Cont)

• SA has the highest per capita soil loss in the
  world, losing an estimated 400 million tons of
  topsoil a year.
• During the 20th century alone, SA lost 25 of its
  top soil.
• In 1992, the cost of soil erosion was estimated
  at R2 billion a year, including off-site costs
  such as water purification and siltation dams.
• Soil loss is in part responsible for farmers
  abandoning land in many areas, especially those
  in homelands.

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Country Challenges (Cont)

• Over R2 billion is spent each year in the
  commercial farming sector on fertilizers. The
  subsistence farming sector cannot afford this
  cost and operates with insufficient soil
  nutrients, resulting in low yields.
• Nutrient loss from soil in SA is estimated to
  cost the country R1.5 billion a year.
• The average veld degradation index in the former
  homelands is twice the value for the former RSA

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Country Challenges (Cont)

• Limpopo Province has the highest level of
  combined soil and vegetation degradation,
  followed closely by KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern
  Cape.
• When wetlands are lost, catchments collapse.
  River runoffs change from a sustained flow to
  flash floodswashing top soil away. The town of
  Ladysmith has bee a victim of catchment
  degradation.

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Country Challenges (Cont)

• SA has a brittle environment, meaning it has
  low resilience and low recovery potential, and
  soil loss worsens this problem, destroying
  agricultural production base.
• Experts now regard alien invasive plants to be
  the greatest hazard to all land resources.
  However, there is clear scientific evidence of
  accelerated bush encroachment owing to elavated
  atmospheric carbon dioxide, a trend highly
  dependent on how veld fires are managed.

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Addressing the Challenges Policies, Legislations
and Programmes

• NEM Biodiversity Act promulgated in June 2004
• NEM Protected Areas Act into force on 01 Nov
  2004
• Regulations to give effect BA and PA being
  developed.
• National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment
  developed draft action plan developed and
  circulated for comment
• National Research and Development Strategy (2002)
  to harness the entrepreneurship of the science
  and technology to better serve national needs.
• SANBI established and launched on 2 Dec 2004

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Addressing the Challenges Policies,
Legislations and Programmes

• National Indigenous Knowledge Systems Policy
  (2005) a framework for the recognition,
  affirmation, development and promotion of
  indigenous knowledge in South Africa.
• National Action Programme was endorsed by the
  Cabinet in November 2004
• The NAP document published in Government Gazette
  for public information.
• Private Sector Forum to co-manage resources for
  implementation of NAP was launched by the Deputy
  Minister in November 2004.
• People Conservation Programme launched by
  Minister

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Addressing the Challenges Policies, Legislations
and Programmes

• COMMUNITY BASED NATURAL RESOURCE MAGEMENT
  TRANSFORM Programme of the Department of
  Environmental Affairs and Tourism in partnership
  with GTZ.
• COMMUNITY FORESTRY Department of Water Affairs
  and Forestry
• Working for Water Department of Water Affairs
  and Forestry
• WORKING FOR FIRES Department of Water Affairs
  and Tourism
• WORKING FOR WETLANDS Department of
  Environmental Affairs and Tourism
• DESERT MARGINS PROGRAMME University of North
  West and the Department of Environmental Affairs
  and Tourism

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Addressing the Challenges Policies, Legislations
and Programmes

• WaterCare targets Limpopo Province, management
  and restoration of irrigation schemes
• VeldCare targets Northwest Province, promoting
  sustainable grazing systems that improve
  production
• SoilCare targets KZN, Eastern Cape and
  Mpumalanga, promoting sustainable production
  systems addressing depletion of soil fertility
  and soil acidity.

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Addressing the Challenges Policies, Legislations
and Programmes

• JuniorCare promotion of food security at
  schools, awareness of sustainable agriculture,
  formation of youth clubs and small projects and
• Community Demonstration Projects improves the
  ability of resource-poor communities to manage
  land, water sources and vegetation in a
  sustainable and self-reliant manner.
• Land Care Implemented by the Department of
  Agriculture in terms of the Land Care Programme
  Policy whose objective is to optimize
  productivity and sustainability of natural
  resources and food security.

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Addressing the Challenges Policies, Legislations
and Programmes

• Agri-Tourism Development Project to assess
  apparent potential, making of recommendations to
  exploit potential, plus planning of pilot
  projects
• Green Lungs / Urban Agriculture Project will
  assess the potential, scope feasibility of
  promoting the sustainable production of
  agricultural products in urban and peri-urban
  areas.
• Alternative Source of Energy (SHELL SOLAR) (2004)
  project based initiative to reduce dependency
  on fuel-wood.

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Addressing the Challenges Policies, Legislations
and Programmes

• Solar Distillation to Provide Potable Water and a
  cost effective solar geyser.
• The objective of the project is to
  demonstrate the effectiveness of a household
  managed solar distillation apparatus to provide
  potable water in areas of saline groundwater and
  to design a cost effective hot water geyser where
  there is no pressurised household connection

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Addressing the Challenges Policies, Legislations
and Programmes

• Technologies for Conservation and Development in
  Southern Africa (t4cd).
• This project aims to identify, introduce,
  adapt, deploy and report on information and
  communications technologies (ICTs) e.g. mobile
  phones and their integration with other
  technologies in support of conservation and
  sustainable development.

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APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY, KNOWLEDGE AND KNOW-HOW
IN THE EXPANDED PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME

• The ProjectDevelopment of Appropriate Farmer
  Eco-technologiesIdentify, adapt, demonstrate and
  spread such technologies.
• Understanding thatFarmers while rich with
  Indigenous Knowledge Systems, often these need to
  be complemented with access to modern
  technologies and techniques to reverse the
  scourge of desertification.

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Components of Technology, Knowledge, and know-how
NATURAL RESOURCES
INFRASTRUCTURE
LAND UTILIZATION
Resource Inventory
AGRICULTURAL
DEMOGRAPHICS
ENVIRONMENTAL
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The Conventional GIS
What is at?
Which place and where?
Driekoppies Dam
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GIS Applications Trends
1995
What has changed since?
2001
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GIS Applications Database for Development
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GIS Applications Climate Suitability
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GIS Applications Environmental Conditions
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Online Information www.mpu.agric.za
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Challenges

• Expanding Network
• Equipment/Quality Internet Service with Skills
• User Interface
• Capacitate people
• Data needs
• GIS personnel

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EMERGING FARMER INTRODUCING THE CD DEVELOPED
FOR BEGINNER FARMERS IN SOUTH AFRICATOWARDS
APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY, KNOWLEDGE AND KNOW-HOW
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What is Imparted Appropriate Technology,
knowledge and know-how
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Current content

• Brochures and information created by development
  scientists in the Rural Livelihood programme
• Information packs Leaflets to provide basic
  information on various topics
• Information packages, called INFOTOONS
  (Information Cartoon), which translate
  scientific knowledge in easily comprehensible
  pictures and language format developed in SA
• Information on best practices from WOCAT

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Challenges

• The current CD is far from comprehensive
• Need to ensure additional funding to expand on
  the current content
• Test mechanisms to ensure that content is demand
  driven and relevant inclusion of local
  indigenous knowledge
• Content must be validated by extension
  officers/development facilitators.
• Closer link with rural ICT developments must be
  established MPCC

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Challenges (Cont)

• Content
• Critical sets of information needed
• Packaged according to needs
• Modelling and Decision Support Systems
• Grazing Capacity
• Impact of climate on livestock
• Risk Management

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Challenges (Cont)

• Institutional arrangements
• Buy in, active support and ownership to develop
  AGIS as the digital information repository and
  library for the South African agricultural sector
• Access funding
• Develop business models
• Public goods
• Subscription

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Strengths

• Strong political will and commitment
• Strong interest and participation from the
  private sector, NGOs, research institutions and
  academia.
• Good, enabling and supportive legislation
• Weakness
• Less awareness and capacity building programmes.
• Inter-departmental communication and coordination
• Alignment of provincial ordinances to national
  legislation, duplication, overlaps and
  contradictions
• Inadequate budgets at provincial and local
  authority levels.
• Inter departmental roles and mandates
• Complexities of a 3-tier government system.

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Sustainability of Initiatives

• DBSA in partnership with government to Strengthen
  local institutions through funding and capacity
  building.
• Review of all policies that or impede technology
  transfer.
• Agreements and partnerships with Universities,
  NGOs, Private sector for the effective
  mobilization, generation and delivery of the
  knowledge and appropriate technology required to
  support sustainable land management.

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Sustainability of Initiatives (Cont)

• SA seeks its appropriate technology wisdom from
  the work of one Dr Fritz Schumacher, British
  economist and author of the book Small is
  Beautiful Economics as if people mattered
  which is still the foundation text on sustainable
  futures.
• SA understands technology as one that fits is
  suitable for and adapted to the circumstances or
  purposes, and is capable of being maintained at a
  steady level without exhausting natural resources
  or causing severe ecological damage.
• SA accesses technology, works with knowledge and
  know-how from bottom-up and attempts to make
  genuine grassroot solutions to social and
  economic needs.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

• The golden thread to run through these
  technologies should be the ability to take care
  of and make sure that things are done.
• Bringing about technology, knowledge and know-how
  that does not impose on prevailing circumstances,
  but rather adapts to same in order to resolve
  infinite social and economic challenges of every
  day life.
• Appropriate technology should embrace the concept
  of traditional/indegenous knowledge, local
  technology, knowledge and practices.

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HOW DO WE DO THIS?
We Practice Religiously, the Principle of 1
1 3
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WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

Let us endeavor to live so that when we come to
die even the undertaker will be sorry. Mark
Twain (1835-1910, American humorist, writer)
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THANK YOU!