The city of Cape Town has been much in the news lately, for its severe water shortage and fears that the city will soon run out of water. But officials in Cape Town have done an incredible job of halving daily water use in a few short months. I was in Cape Town to learn more and to explore ways UN Environment could collaborate on sharing some of the learnings from the city, with countries around the world. Water shortages are unfortunately, becoming the new normal, and Cape Town measures reveal that there are interesting ways in which we can better manage water resources.
At the invitation of the Environmental Affairs Ministry, I also spent some time understanding recent programmes to promote green jobs and skills development as a powerful tool to end poverty and improve living standards of the poorest people. This great example will be shared widely as part of our mandate to use UN Environment as a platform for sharing success stories and experiences.
Like many other countries in the world, South Africa is looking to take decisive action to address plastic pollution. The Green Anglicans have launched a ‘Bring Your Own Bag’ initiative and are keen on collaborating with UN Environment on developing educational tools that can help spread the message of environmental awareness amongst their vast expanse of followers. I look forward to working closely with them to take this agenda further.
Finally, I was able to participate in a recognition of the wildlife champions of South Africa at the 2018 Paradise Ranger Awards. The frontline custodians of our wildlife, we must do everything we can to protect African rangers who are vital to the success of conservation efforts. At the sidelines of this event, I was able to meet Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of the Alibaba Group and discuss a potential partnership on wildlife protection and plastic pollution.
