Media Release: Immediate. 6 February 2009 (Mossel Bay Tourism)

IMAGE: Mossel Bay’s executive mayor, Alderlady Marie Ferreira, signs the Eden Declaration at this week’s Eden District Municipality / PetroSA Climate Change Summit. IN the background: the district mayor, Clr Rudi Laws, the Mayors of Hessequa and George, Chris Taute and Flip de Swardt, and the deputy Mayor of Knysna, Rev. Donald Kemoetie. Download here: Mossel Bay Mayor Alderlady Marie Ferreira Signs the Eden Declaration on Climate Change )

Mossel Bay Tourism Welcomes Signing of Eden Climate Change Declaration

Mossel Bay Tourism has hailed the signing of the ‘Eden Declaration’ – the local District Municipality’s response to the global climate crisis.

The Declaration was signed at the end of a three-day-long summit held in the town earlier this week.

“Tourism is one of the industries that has already felt the effect of climate change, so we’re excited and proud that our District Mayor, Rudi Laws, and his colleagues in all the towns of the Garden Route and Klein Karoo have decided to bind themselves to addressing the problem,” said Mossel Bay Tourism’s chairman, Neels Zietsman.

By signing the ‘Declaration of the Eden District Local Government Response to Climate Change,’ the mayors of George, Knysna, Bitou (Plettenberg Bay), Mossel Bay, Hessequa, Oudtshoorn and Kannaland joined Clr Laws in recognising “that climate change is an urgent, global problem that requires a coordinated, collaborative response to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the benefit of present and future generations.”

The Declaration further recognises the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, the G8 Plan of Action and other resolutions – such as those taken in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Johannesburg in 2002, Bali in 2007 and Poznan in 2008 – and commits the signatories to setting “achievable short and long-term targets and objectives” for reducing carbon emissions.

It envisages other green outcomes, too – like collaboration towards the commercialisation of clean technologies through initiatives such as the implementation of procurement policies “that encourage and create greater demand for the uptake of climate-friendly technologies.”

Awareness, education and building “stakeholder capacity” are also important aspects of the Declaration.

In his closing address to the Summit (which was presented jointly by the Eden District Municipality and PetroSA), Clr Laws said that, “With the signing of this declaration, we pledge to find all forms of capacity and resources to ensure that the learning outcomes of this Summit will produce tangible deliverables to uphold the integrity of the natural and receiving environment; and in doing so, ensure that our social and economic dimensions are sustained and strengthened.”

The Mayor of Mossel Bay, Alderlady Marie Ferreira, said that, “I’m very concerned about the problem of climate change because, as we’ve seen in the last few years, it has an influence on our town, too.”

She said that in Mossel Bay itself, “we need to look at recycling, at alternative power – wind for instance – and, very importantly, we must see that we don’t develop along the sea-front any more.”

Referring to the effects of flooding and unusually high seas, she said that Mossel Bay had. “Seen the effects of climate change on our sea-front” during the last few years.

Mr Zietsman said that Mossel Bay Tourism would make an immediate contribution to raising awareness by loading as many of the conference documents as possible to its web site – www.visitmosselbay.co.za.

“We all have to tackle the challenges of climate change – in as many ways as possible,” he said.

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