To mark World Environment Day, Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister, Barbara Creecy, will reflect on 25-years of the department’s cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“Over the last 25 years, the Department Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and the UNDP have teamed up on over 26 projects to address critical national priorities relating to the protection of the natural environment,” said the department on Friday.
The focus of the projects has been among others on climate change and energy to better the lives of South Africans as well to conserve the country’s rich biodiversity.
World Environment Day is celebrated annually on 5 June.
“The UNDP has provided, in partnership with other stakeholders, the much-needed technical assistance and grant finance, as well as operational and management support.”
While the theme for World Environment Day 2021 is “Ecosystem Restoration”, the marking of 25 years of cooperation between DFFE and UNDP will be under the theme: Financing the Future of Nature, Climate and the Environment, and hereto, the role of development cooperation.
“This theme has a wide scope, encouraging wide interest and buy-in required to crowd in support for the DFFE budget agenda, and the wider national environmental agenda associated with COVID-19 economic reconstruction and recovery, inclusivity, and a just and socially equitable carbon transition.”
UNDP Resident Representative in South Africa, Dr Ayodele Odusola, will join the Minister in commemorating the day at an event to be held at the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) in Pretoria. –SAnews.gov.za
