Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute Bishop Geoff Davies Liz McDaid
Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute
Bishop Geoff Davies
Liz McDaid
SAFCEI upholds the core principles of the Earth Charter, including:
• Respect and care for the community of life• Ecological integrity• Social and economic justice• Democracy, non‐violence and peace
– We cannot afford to build more coal‐fired power
stations, financially and for the health of our planet.
– We do not want to build any further nuclear power
stations, not only for safety reasons but on economic
grounds and the fact that no community wants a
nuclear station at its back door.
– The government should put all its efforts into
developing renewable energy and promoting energy
efficiency. These will bring about huge employment
opportunities and will enable South Africa to take a
leading position in Africa for rolling out renewable
energy and in doing so bring energy to the people of
Africa.
SAFCEI input in 2009 and 2010
No need for despair!
God has given us all the energy
we need from renewable
sources.
South Africa’s emissions strategy
Peak
Plateau
Decline
cut emissions 34% by 2020, 42% by 2025, from current path (conditional)
The poor and vulnerable are least able to withstand climate
change
Systems thinking
Zero waste
Entire economy and social development driven by
climate change
Finance for innovation and cc opportunities
Direct government action
Government alignment
Ecological restoration
Monitoring and data collection
LIFE SUPPORT
Human Settlements
•Scale up programmes to reduce rural vulnerability and
enhance local food security by educating subsistence and
small holder farmers on the potential risks of climate change
and support them in developing adaptation strategies,
including conservation agriculture practices and water
harvesting by means of participatory, on‐farm
demonstration and experimentation. In this way indigenous
knowledge and local adaptive responses will be prioritised
and the ownership of adaptation programmes by local
communities and their empowerment in the process of
implementation will be a key objective
• A simplified early warning system has been set up, to help the local
villagers on the floodbanks
of the Búzi
river. • Water levels along the river are also measured regularly by villagers
using straightforward gauges.
• A national radio frequency is reserved for the flood reports and
warnings.
• If there is particularly heavy rainfall or the water level becomes
critical, this information is passed on by radio. Should reports
indicate widespread heavy rainfall, the alarm is raised.
• The people living in the area undergo special training to alert them
to the dangers.
• Local disaster prevention teams have been formed in a number of
Búzi
river basin villages. • The people in the village are informed in meetings at the local
meeting points. This helps keep the awareness alive
Mozambique
ENERGY SECURITY
20/06/07Parliamentary Hearing on Nuclear
Energy
Improving quality of life through better energy services
Climate change is not an energy or economic issue
It is a deeply moral issue dealing with the future of life on this planet
WAY FORWARD