ENVIRONMENTAL SKILLS SUMMIT 2011

Environmental Skills Summit
2-3 March, 2011 - Pretoria

The summit was hosted by the Biodiversity Human Capital Programme (led by SANBI and the Lewis Foundation), in partnership with the Departments of Environmental Affairs, Water Affairs, and Science and Technology.

Click on the following links to download the Summit Programme, Presentations and a list of Summit Participants.

A document summarising the summit’s emerging themes, key discussion points, suggestions by summit participants and responses by the summit hosts is in the process of being compiled. We will post this document to the website once finalised. 

Introduction

In 2010, government’s Economic Cluster convened the first Green Economy Summit, to map out a green growth pathway that creates jobs while reducing pollution and using South Africa’s natural resources wisely. There is growing recognition that economic growth cannot be at the expense of ecosystems, as reflected in Strategic Priority 9 of the Medium Term Strategic Framework for 2009-2014: Sustainable use and management of natural resources. Ministerial Performance Agreements include the protection of environmental assets and natural resources. But to deliver on these imperatives, the country needs environmental skills, from entry level sorters in the recycling industry to highly qualified scientists. Without such skills, there is no green growth path. And without an enabling national skills system, the required environmental skills cannot be produced at the scale required.

DEA’s Environmental Skills Sector Plan, the HCD Strategy of the Department of Science and Technology’s Global Change Grand Challenge, the Biodiversity HCD Strategy and the capacity development initiatives of the Department of Water Affairs, all promote mechanisms for connection and coordination. Sector-wide initiatives are needed if these strategies are to succeed. Although there are many platforms for stakeholder interactions, there has not been a platform for South Africa’s environmental sector to interact in its entirety, and to engage as a sector with the country’s skills development agencies.

The 2011 Environmental Skills Summit aimed to provide this platform and focused on the progress made during 2010 in shaping this enabling skills system, on how agencies can utilize the new provisions made, and on addressing the remaining gaps and obstacles. It encouraged dialogue and actions to address collective concerns across organisations and between the environmental sector and the skills sector.

Click on the following links to download the Summit Programme and Presentations.

The summit was made possible through financial contributions by:

• The Lewis Foundation
• The National Research Foundation
• The Innovation Hub
• The Department of Science and Technology
• The South African National Biodiversity Institute