ROLE OF LEGISLATORS IN CLIMATE CHANGE: THE CASE OF SOUTH AFRICA


to receive the information they need in time to carry out their oversight functions in an effective and focused manner. This provides additional grounds for summoning ministers, departmental heads and other relevant competent authorities to account when reports fail to come through.


• Climate change awareness: Legislators have a crucial role to play in shaping people’s perception of climate change and in building the political will needed to tackle it. They can help inform people by supporting public information campaigns and by reporting on the issue through personal statements and


“It goes without saying that legislators have the legal authority and responsibility to hold governments to account. It is time for


Parliamentarians to exert their power and engage in the climate debate in a manner not seen before, as this also provides new openings for more effective democratic


parliamentary and public action on climate change.”


communications. Legislators can also encourage their respective parliaments and relevant committees to share findings and reports with the public, and push for greater openness and direct consultation with citizens and key stakeholders. Strong and consistent communication on climate change is indeed crucial for citizens to see and accept the need for urgent action. For unless a critical number of our constituents are reached and awakened to the need for climate action, climate change would remain a government problem, rather than every citizen’s.


• Need for a coordinated approach to climate change oversight: the crosscutting impact of climate change requires mainstreaming of climate change across a range of sectors and departments, which in turn requires considerable coordination to ensure effective


oversight of climate change implementation. The responsible parliamentary committee needs to monitor the government department responsible for climate change, but also the relevant budget lines and activities housed in other departments. It is in this respect that the Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs in our Parliament oversees the work of the lead Department of Environmental Affairs, but also interacts with other government departments, such as the Department of Energy; Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Department of Science and Technology; Department of Rural Development and Land Reform; Department of Water and Sanitation;


and the Department of Minerals in monitoring the implementation of the South African White Paper on Climate Change.


• Parliamentary Steering Committee on Climate Change: a Parliamentary Steering Committee on Climate Change will shortly be reactivated in the South African Parliament to ensure a coordinated oversight approach to climate change to ensure that climate change response measures and actions are comprehensive and purposefully integrated. We need to ensure that all relevant gaps are closed and nothing is left to chance.


Conclusion


It goes without saying that legislators have the legal authority and responsibility to hold governments to account. It is time for Parliamentarians to exert their power and engage in the climate debate in a manner not seen before, as this also provides new openings for more effective democratic parliamentary and public action on climate change.


It is precisely in the spirit of exerting their power and engage in the climate debate in a manner not seen before that South African legislators held public hearings in Parliament on the nation’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). Holding parliamentary hearings on the INDCs could be unprecedented for many national legislatures, although for South Africa holding public hearings on climate change has been highly institutionalised in Parliament, considering the crosscutting nature of the climate change challenge.


Finally, climate change is already making the bad situation of poverty worse for many of us in developing


countries worldwide. It is in this respect that that we appeal to our colleagues in developed countries to impress upon their governments to provide predictable financial and technological support that allows the citizens of the developing world to respond more effectively to pressing socio-economic challenges and acute vulnerability to climate change. On our part, as legislators from developing countries, we should ensure that the finances mobilised both from international and domestic sources are wholly spent on climate change implementation activities. I appeal to all legislators worldwide as well as my fellow developing country legislators to legislate in a manner that boosts our abilities to adapt and hence withstand climate change, bearing in mind the unequivocal reality that unless enough of a multilateral climate treaty such as the Paris COP21 Climate Agreement is legislated domestically, effective implementation would be difficult to achieve.


References 1


Nangoma, E. (2008) National Adaptation Strategy to Climate Change Impacts: A Case Study of Malawi. Human Development Report 2007/2008. United Nations, New


York. 2


Water and Climate Change [Internet]. Available from <http:// www.gwp.org/en/ToolBox/ CRITICAL-CHALLENGES1/Water- and-Climate-Change/> (Accessed


on 5th November 2015). 3


AdaptAlp. Advance. Meeting the risk of climate change and natural hazards in the Alps. Common


Strategic Paper AdaptAlp project. 4


Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2014) Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report — Longer Report. IPCC Secretariat, Geneva.


The Parliamentarian | 2016: Issue One | 19


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