Pretoria - The Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs has invited members of the public to participate in the public hearings on climate change.
The hearings are scheduled to take place from 25 October and expected to end early November.
Climate change is a major potential threat to sustainable growth and development in South Africa and to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
The potential risks and challenges of climate change for South Africa and future generations are potentially colossal, needing urgent mitigation and adaptation measures.
The Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs held public hearings in March this year on the National Climate Change Response Green Paper 2010 that was released for written comments.
The substantive insights offered at these hearings provided departmental officials an opportunity to incorporate substantial changes to the Green Paper and formulate an informed and improved White Paper.
The Portfolio Committee also invites all interested stakeholders to submit written comments on the White Paper, by not later than 16h00 on 20 October 2011.
All written comments with the reference as "National Climate Change Response White Paper 2011" should be addressed to Ms Tyhileka Madubela, Committee Section, Parliament of RSA, P O Box 15, Cape Town 8000.
Electronic submissions can be made to: tmadubela@parliament.gov.za or hand-delivered at Room 0/88, 3rd Floor, 90 Plein Street, Cape Town.
