South Africa’s biodiversity should be harnessed in a sustainable way to promote jobs and economic growth, says Dion George, the newly-appointed minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment.
“My big thought (for my portfolio)... is the sustainable leverage of our natural assets for job-generation economic growth and poverty alleviation,” George said in an interview over Zoom. “This is an economics portfolio and it is a fundamentally important part of our economic environment.”
However, he added that, as the custodian of the country's abundant biodiversity, the department’s leveraging of natural resources must be done sustainably to conserve and cherish the environment: “This is crucially important.”
On South Africa’s role in the climate crisis George — one of six DA ministers in cabinet — was guarded. “The climate is important. We can move at a pace, but we can only move as fast as we are capable of moving.
“I would like to be able to move faster because we do want to be a solid citizen in terms of our ability to contribute towards mitigating climate change ...(but) South Africa cannot be bullied either. We cannot be unfairly punished because we are an emerging economy and there are legacies.”
When I look, for example, at the fishing industry and fishing licenses, I will sway on the side of the community.
— Dion George, minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment
Holding up a lever arch file as thick as a brick, George said this was the handover file that his predecessor Barbara Creecy had left, covering issues from climate commitments and fishing licences to the management of wildlife and rhino poaching.
The day after his appointment, George said he was 28 pages into the 43-page ministerial handover report drawn up for him by Creecy, now minister of transport.
“I’ve made my notes and I’m wrapping my mind around the key issues that affect the department. There is a lot and I’m taking a measured approach,” said George.
“I do bring a fresh perspective (to the portfolio). I don’t have deeply entrenched positions on a number of items that are incredibly contentious and require careful thought.”
Before MPs were sworn in, he met Creecy and “thanked her for leaving the legacy of a well-run department”, and director-general Nomfundo Tshabalala.
In flagging the contribution that natural assets can make to the economy, the new environment minister is building on her emphasis on sustainable jobs.
George, whose constituency is in Knysna, has seen first-hand the damage that poorly managed exploitation of the environment can do. “In Knysna I have learnt a bit about the impact that poor development, bad management and bad government can have on the environment, a very negative impact,” he said.
On fisheries, he suggested being open to helping coastal communities bolster their livelihoods. “When I look, for example, at the fishing industry and fishing licences et cetera, I will sway on the side of the community ...
“I’m animated by the fact we have communities who have been fishing our oceans for generations. Those economic ecosystems have somewhat broken down ... (I will look at) how it is possible to assist the communities in accessing the resources that are on their doorstep.”
George worked in finance before joining parliament in 2008 and has broad experience in the financial industry which, he said, will benefit the department’s work.
“In particular, when we look at the climate financing environment, we are going to need a lot of money for the Just Energy Transition and that money is starting to move in. But the big issue is being able to spend that money on projects that will take us towards the greener economy we are looking for.
“I will be useful in being able to attract the capital that we need to do this and also, having worked with the minister of finance quite closely for a long time, having a good and collegiate relationships, to make sure that money is well managed and also with the ministers responsible for energy and electricity to get those projects done,” he said.
He intends to establish a “virtuous cycle” for funding, donors and philanthropists so that money flows in and is well spent to create labour-intensive jobs and protect the environment.
He said: “For example, if we had sufficient money, why can’t we train a whole lot of people who will then go and protect our wildlife? Why can’t we have a world where a rhino can actually have a horn on it and walk around knowing that it isn’t going to get attacked and hacked?
“That is the world we want, so how do we then create the environment around it to achieve that? So that rather than people going to poach something, they want to protect it.”
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