Remarks by UN Resident Coordinator at the 2024 Green Indaba

It is an honour to address this esteemed gathering at this second edition of the Eswatini Green Indaba. 
Allow me to appreciate you, Rt, Honourable Prime Minister, both for your presence here and for your leadership in executing His Majesty King Mswati III’s ‘nkwe’ call for urgency and speed in uplifting the lives of EmaSwati. This gathering today speaks to an important part of the development puzzle: how to urgently drive our development ambition while at the same time responding to the equally urgent imperative of preserving our home, the planet.
Let me also extend my heartfelt appreciation to Minister Mkhonta-Simelane for her leadership and gracious support of this initiative.

I applaud SNG Thornton for initiating the Green Indaba last year and for working hard to convene an even bigger one for a second year with even more partners.
I want to recognise agencies in the UN family that are supporting this Indaba, including UNDP, FAO, UNFPA, WFP and WHO. 

Why we are Here
 

Our presence here today and tomorrow is a testament to our recognition that the climate crisis is a real and lived reality that is affecting every aspect of our lives, and that we owe it to ourselves and our children to act on the threats that we face even as we seek to achieve our development aspirations. 
 

Indeed, this gathering comes at a time when our region is in distress due to the drought phenomenon that has affected food security and, while Eswatini is not as harshly affected, the food deficit in neighbouring countries means that 

Eswatini has to go further out to purchase its food, which would mean higher prices on the shelves. 
As many would have noticed, Eswatini has, literally, been on fire, with devastating wildfires. So, the climate crisis is real and will likely get harsher with every passing day. Everything tells us that we are late to act.
The word Indaba is not commonly used in East Africa where I come from, so to be sure that I know what it means, I consulted the dictionaries. Definitions include a ‘meeting to discuss a serious topic’; ‘a matter of concern or for discussion.’ 
 

But the one I liked most is the one that says that an indaba is an “important meeting” that seeks “to gather the right people together at the right time to discuss the right issues.” The Indaba emphasizes “deep talk” and acknowledges that we all have something important to say.”
In addition to the idea of a gathering of the right people at the right time and right issues, I would add, ‘with the right information.’
 

I see this gathering as a marketplace of ideas, where we exchange of the right ideas based on the right information could help our efforts at overcoming the challenges of out times and seeks solutions together. 
The fact that we have called this the ‘Green Indaba’ suggests that it is not an entirely neutral or open marketplace of ideas as the destination is pre-determined to some extent – that of coming up with workable ideas about how to respond to  the climate crisis by going ‘green’, while at the same time ensuring that we continue to pursue our development aspirations at a time of nkwe. 
 

As the other part of the definition of an indaba says that everyone has something to say, please allow me to share a few thoughts:
1.    The paradox of out times
On the one hand, we are living in the age of unprecedented human progress, with better and longer lives for the greater potion of humanity. Thus, we are now over 8 billion people on the planet, partly due to improved health and living conditions. 
As noted in the 2020 UNDP Human Development Report titled ‘The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene’, despite the steep rise in the global population from 5 billion in 1990 to the current 8 billion, the number of people in low human development fell from 3 billion to 926 million—or from 60 percent of the global population to 12 percent—and that the number of people in high and very high human development more than tripled, from 1.2 billion to 3.8 billion—or from 24 percent of the global population to 51 percent. (Of course, an important caveat must be made: this was before the devastation of COVID-19.)
We have had explosions in technological and other advancements, leading author Yuval Noah Harari to describe us “Homo Deus” or Human-God because of the unlimited human possibilities that we have unleashed.  
But then, as Rob Wijnberg reminds us, “the source of our progress has become the source of our [likely] downfall.”  He asserts that we have abused and continue to abuse the planet and put lives of millions of people in jeopardy, with the poorer paying higher costs for it.
 

The UN Secretary-General has incessantly reminded us that we are galloping at full speed in the wrong direction, and has often used very vivid language to highlight the urgency of the moment:
“Humanity is on thin ice, and the ice is melting.”
“We are getting dangerously close to the point of no return The global climate fight will be won or lost in this crucial decade – on our watch.”
“Our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible.” 
“We are on a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator.”
 

But the SG’s voice has not been all about doom and gloom: he has also reminded us about our agency and responsibility. Thus, in his message for the 2024 World Environment Day, the SG implored us that “We are Generation Restoration,” reminding us that we must be the ones that turn the tide and build a sustainable future for land and for humanity.
I see this Indaba as a practical response to this call to be agents of change to turn the tide and restore the planet.
2.    Just Transitions from Polluting to Green Economies
As we grapple with efforts to save the planet while ensuring that we continue to improve the lives of current and future generations, the idea of a just transition has taken centre stage.
The ‘transition’ part means that we have to urgently move away from pollutive development processes to ‘green’ ones; ones that preserve the planet. 
The ‘just’ part speaks to the idea that countries still need to drive their economies to pull people out of poverty and build prosperity, and they need the means to do so.
In particular, the ‘just’ part speaks to the reality that countries that have contributed the least to global warming have had to bear the greatest impacts of global warming and have the greatest need for to develop their economies.
Going back to Ron Wijnberg whom I quoted earlier, we are told that: 
-    The poorest half of the world’s population is only responsible for 14% of global CO₂ emissions.
-    The entire continent of Africa, home to 1.2 billion people, only 4% of CO₂ emissions. 
-    The poorest half of the world’s population is only responsible for 14% of global CO₂ emissions.
As we share ideas in this marketplace, we must explore all facets of our options, including our energy options to power our development into the future. As we have indicated before, for us at the UN we view our responsibility as that of helping member states to navigate the energy transition choices by ensuring that we have as much information on the table as we can to ensure strategic informed choice-making. 
On the one hand, Eswatini has the pressing need for economic revitalization, job creation, and poverty reduction. At the same time, Eswatini’s commitment to environmental sustainability is evident in its alignment with global climate goals, including the Paris Agreement and the Nationally Determined Contributions which set the stage for a low-carbon, climate-resilient future. Eswatini is also developing its Climate Action Vision 2050 and Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategy, currently being developed with support from UNDP. The conversation today is about the options available and how we might navigate the trade-offs.
I want to thank all our experts within the UN system for their continued efforts to build objective knowledge on the issues around climate change and just transition choices.
3.    Climate Financing 
Climate financing has become a major conversation in climate change mitigation. It is also a complex subject that I would rather leave to our experts.  
 

The key point here, however, is that transitioning to green economies requires the mobilisation of huge amounts of resources. The unfortunate reality is that the world has not mobilised anywhere near the resources that are required in terms of the Paris Agreement and the subsequent commitments at the COP meetings, the next of which, COP29, is around the corner. Some have questioned whether the promised climate financing is real or a mirage especially for developing countries.
 

It is clear that the mobilising of financing requires strong partnerships between governments and the private sector and, indeed, a lot of the green energy transitions around the world are being funded by the private sector and commercial lenders. I must therefore applaud all the private sector partners that have helped to put this Indaba together. I trust that the indaba will explore all the available options and contribute to the wealth of information needed to make good choices.
 

The discussion about carbon credits is an important one. I trust that as we explore this option, we are alive to all the dimensions of the debates around it, and this is where the idea of ‘the right information’ comes in. Crucially, we must not let what could be a good solution to financing climate change become our new problem. In some parts of the world, the carbon market has been riddled with allegations of deceit bordering on fraud and exploitation of communities through land dispossession with minimum benefits. 
 

It has also raised questions such as whether developing regions such as Africa should continue the trend of the passive exploitation of resources for industrial development elsewhere; or whether it creates the false  illusion that we are ‘offsetting carbon’ while in actual fact net carbon emissions continue to rise.
Once again, I hope that this Indaba will be an open marketplace of ideas while all options could be put under the microscope to help inform good choice-making.
 

Your Excelleny the Prime Ministers, Honourable Ministers, ladies and gentlemen,
Please allow me to conclude with a few thoughts and suggestions.
a.    Effective partnerships are central to our efforts: We will need to continue to build strategic alliances that leverage the unique strengths of each partner—government, private sector, international partners, civil society, and academia—to achieve the transition to the green economy. In the context of sustainability, smart partnerships drive innovation, mobilise resources, and build the resilience needed to confront the challenges of climate change. Once again, kudos to SNG Thornton and other private sector partners for helping to drive this Indaba. 
For Eswatini, the potential of PPPs in climate resilience is immense. By fostering strong PPPs, we can attract the necessary investments to develop our vast renewable energy resources—solar, hydropower, and geothermal—reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels and creating local jobs in the green economy.

b.    Continued Global Presence and Advocacy: Eswatini, Africa and the developing world must unite for the common cause of climate justice. This means paying attention to, and being fully and strategically present at global forums where decisions are made. Next month, world leaders will convene at the Summit of the Future in New York. This summit has been billed as once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape our world to meet current and future challenges. Two important agendas of the Summit include renewing commitments to financing sustainable development including mitigating climate change; and the reform of the global financial architecture to level the field for developing countries. I commend His Majesty’s Government for the interest they have taken in this Summit and look forward to its outcomes.

c.    Country Level and local agency: Even as we carry out our global advocacy, we must not slip into a victim mentality and forget our own agency. Neither must we wait only for grand declarations. We have the means, though our various government institutions, strategic partnerships, community mobilisation, etc, to take action every day and invest in greening our economy. In March of this year, the Central Bank of Eswatini and the UN, led by the Governor and I, convened an important roundtable focused on how we can leverage policy tools to encourage financing of sustainable development.

We particularly learnt from the experience of India where the efforts of its Reserve Bank enabled commercial lenders to invest in priority sectors such as education, technology, agriculture and energy, among others, leading to commendable results for the country. We have local options that we can work with.

d.    UN's Value Proposition: As always, the UN family remains committed to being the best partner possible in Eswatini’s journey to sustainable development. Among other things,

o    we offer our convening power that brings to the table a mosaic of stakeholders, each contributing ideas and innovative solutions. Indeed, we strive to ensure we have the right people to discuss the right issues with the right information!

o    The UN is available to support the needed shifts across policy and regulatory frameworks to ensure a system-wide alignment to achieve sustainable development, and we have a wide range of expertise. Given our vantage point globally and nationally, we insist on and are committed to systems thinking which keeps in view the interconnections of development choices, initiatives and investments in ways that could ensure sustainability and maximise impact.

o    We can support the capacity-building at scale to support public institutions and stakeholders over time to collectively drive the acceleration needed to achieve the development vision. 
Ladies and Gentlemen, as I conclude, the road ahead is challenging, but the destination is clear: a low-carbon, equitable, and prosperous Eswatini as articulated in the NDC commitments. 
I want to leave you with a final thought. Long ago, the legal scholar Oliver Wendell Holmes said that, “For the simplicity on this side of complexity, I wouldn't give you a fig. But for the simplicity on the other side of complexity, for that I would give you anything I have.” 

We are dealing with a very complex reality that we must not underestimate. Neither must we underestimate the possibilities that lie before us if we are united, focused and dedicated to finding solutions that work for People and Planet. Dealing with complexity requires equal complexity in organising, focus, unity and patient dedication. Importantly, our solutions for today’s problems must not birth new problems now and in the future. They must be real solutions and, at times, real solutions may be painful in the beginning but bear fruits in the future.
As leaders, captains of industry and policy makers, we have the responsibility to help our people to negotiate the complexity that we face, to be the interpreters, so to speak, between the global and local realities and ensure that we are doing the best we can so that, together, we can arrive to the simplicity this side of complexity – which is better lives for our people.
It is a call to a new imagination – a moral imagination, in which we must not just shuffle the deck of cards, but change the deck altogether.
The UN remains committed to walking shoulder to shoulder with all countries in this pursuit, noting that we only have a few years remaining to 2030.
I wish you good and fruitful conversations! 
Ngi-ya-bo-nga be-ku-ne-ne!  
Siyabonga Kakhulu!