By Francis Hweshe
Cape Town - Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has called for serious global talks on climate change.
The minister believes the upcoming and critical COP 17 talks in Durban should yield better results compared with the previous Kyoto Protocol Agreement and Copenhagen climate change conference.
Given the current rate of gas emissions into the atmosphere, Sexwale warned that cities such as Cape Town and New York could vanish in the next 100 years.
The minister made the warning after meeting with former US Vice President and environmental activist Al Gore two days ago, who shared with him "frightening" insights into global warming issues.
Gore has been accredited for making the acclaimed climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."
Sexwale was speaking at the opening of the 12th International Housing and Home Warranty Conference in Cape Town on Monday.
He urged the more than 300 delegates from around the world to include climate change in their discussions and debates.
He said the meeting should be a workshop and not a just a "talk show" and should culminate in tangible results.
He said he expected the conference to discuss matters such as eco-friendly technologies, deracialisation of housing and ensuring affordable homes.
On Wednesday, the minister is expected to host the "Each One Settle One" campaign at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
This, he said, was a call to all South Africans, including business, to contribute towards building homes for the poor through the People's Housing Process project (PHP). - BuaNews
