10 Apr 2016

The Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Mr Tshekedi Khama has advised that the effect of climate change require all the players in the economic, social and environmental spheres to position themselves to operate in a changing global environment.

Speaking during a High Level National Symposium on Sustainable Finance recently, Mr Khama said all stakeholders need to work together to address the social, economic and environmental objectives of the country’s national development against the backdrop of the change.

He cautioned that countries and systems that are left behind may soon find themselves irrelevant, obsolete and pushed out by competition.

He said sustainable development is critical to Botswana’s long term development, adding that the development progress Botswana has made is built on natural wealth in the form of renewable and non-renewable resources.

He stated while the welfare of Batswana would continue to depend on the resources, the nation’s future would depend on how the country manages the balance between economic development, the quality of the environment and the welfare of the people.

“Advancing one at the expense of the others risks us sliding back to under-development, and would transmit a curse to future generations,” he stated. 

The minister said scientific evidence shows that Botswana is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change with huge costs to the economy.

He indicated that climate change impacts on tourism, agriculture, water, energy, health and the mining sectors. He said the impact of the phenomenon on such sectors would then be transmitted downstream to secondary sectors such as manufacturing, trade, transport and retail with huge negative multiplier effects on the economy and the people at large.

Mr Khama said a sustainable development approach therefore enables the country to make wise use of its natural endowments to drive economic activities in a way that improves human welfare while maintaining environmental integrity.

He hailed Botswana for working on integrating sustainable development into the ongoing NDP11 process, including the District and Urban Planning as well as the preparation of Vision 2036.

Regarding the symposium, Mr Khama said it comes at a time when the world has just committed to a new development paradigm, in which sustainable development is the new pathway and approach to realising the aspirations of mankind.

He also stated that as a signatory to the global frameworks, Botswana needs to put the aspirations into practice through a well-coordinated framework that is inclusive of all actors.

He mentioned that the global development frameworks would shape various aspects of the markets, technologies, educational systems, national policies as we well as production and consumption patterns.

The event brought together high level representatives of actors in the finance sector in order to generate a shared understanding of issues, as well as to translate them into polices and operations for organisations. Ends