The fact that more than 65 heads of state are expected to attend the December 2009 United Nations Conference on Climate Change, taking place in Copenhagen, indicates that the issue of climate change is being given increasing attention at the highest levels of government. However, it remains unclear whether the conference will result in an agreement on climate change that the world can turn to in the post-Kyoto protocol period, with particular uncertainty remaining around whether such a deal will include quantified mitigation targets and adequate adaptation financing and technology transfer for the developing world.
SAIIA has done significant work on a broad range of issues related to climate change, including the politics of climate change, trade and climate change, and the governance of Africa’s resources. Some of this work is available for download below.
- The Road to Copenhagen: Climate Change, Energy and South Africa’s Foreign Policy (SAIIA Occasional Paper 47) (October 2009)
- Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Forestry Governance in the DRC (SAIIA Research Report 4) (June 2009)
- Addressing Mitigation of and Adaptation to Climate Change in sub-Saharan Africa while meeting Development Goals (Chapter from the South African Yearbook of International Affairs 2008/09)
- The Challenges of Carbon Mitigation and Implications for South Africa in the post-2012 Context (Chapter from the South African Yearbook of International Affairs 2008/09)
- Climate Change and Trade: The Challenges for Southern Africa (SAIIA Event) (October 2009)
Diplomatic Pouch
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The Congo Basin Forest Partnership: Together, Shaping the World of the Future
On 11 and 12 November 2009, the sixth plenary session of the Congo Basin Forest Partnership (CBFP) took place in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This high-level meeting brought together delegates from the Central African Forests Commission (COMIFAC) countries as well as major development partners, certain international NGOs, international organisations and private sector representatives. One month ahead of the Copenhagen Conference, these delegates gathered around an issue central to the broader climate change agenda, namely forestry. Forestry is central not least because avoided deforestation in tropical forest areas, such as the Congo Basin, has been identified as a priority option for mitigating climate change. The world seems to agree that tropical forests are important. However, how this importance should translate into action is a subject of much debate.
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Trade Policy Trajectory in South Africa
Against the backdrop of the global economic crunch and the local economy’s recession, there is a fierce debate on South Africa’s (SA) trade policy trajectory. These matters have moved into sharp relief in light of the government’s decision to raise import tariffs on certain clothing items. Clothing, long the lightening rod for these debates, sees some trade experts, economists and actors in the tripartite alliance exhibiting a desire to tightly control trade policy; others support further trade liberalisation.
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The Africa South America Summit, 27-28 September 2009
The second Africa South America summit, hosted by President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela formed the third part of a triangle of events, starting with the General Debate at the opening of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, followed immediately by the third summit of the G20 Financial in Pittsburgh.
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Do the EU and South Africa Speak the Same Language of Peace and Security in Africa?
Promoting peace and security in Africa is one of the goals of the EU-South Africa strategic partnership. Ongoing conflict in Darfur, Sudan and the crisis in Zimbabwe were high on the agenda of the 1st EU-South Africa summit held in July last year in Bordeaux, France, under the auspices of presidents Sarkozy and Mbeki. These issues were raised again this year at the 2nd EU-South Africa summit held in Cape Town on 11 September. At an academic forum held on the fringes of this summit, the question was asked whether the Zuma presidency has brought about a closer alignment of views with the EU on these most divisive cases in Africa. Are South Africa and the EU speaking the same language when it comes to peace and security in Africa?
What's New
Deputy Programme Head (Ref: SAFPADDP09) and Senior Researcher (Ref: SAFPADSR09)
The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) is an independent, non-governmental international affairs think-tank. SAIIA seeks to make the following appointments which will be based at its Head Office in Johannesburg:
SAIIA’s South African Foreign Policy and African Drivers Programme focuses on the intersection between South Africa’s foreign policy and the regional policies of key African states, or African ‘Drivers’, to support peace and security, regional cooperation and stability in the region. SAIIA is seeking experienced, dynamic individuals with established research and publishing track records in their fields for the following positions.
Deputy Programme Head (Ref: SAFPADDP09) and Senior Researcher (Ref: SAFPADSR09).
African Peer Review: A Progress Update
As published in the November 2009 edition of Growth magazine, www.growth.co.za
Seven years after it was established at the inaugural African Union (AU) Summit in Durban in July 2002, how has the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) – the continent’s voluntary home-grown governance monitoring tool – fared? Why have some states not acceded? What has been achieved? And what challenges does this process face?
SAIIA Occasional Paper, No.43, September 2009 (French)
par Tšoeu Petlane
- French [.pdf]
Ce rapport présente les faits saillants des résultats d'une étude exploratoire de gouvernance liés à des programmes dans huit universités anglophones d'Afrique pris dans le dernier trimestre de 2008, et un atelier avec des universitaires de ces institutions qui s'est tenue à Johannesburg les 20-21 Mai 2009.
The China-Africa Toolkit
A Toolkit for African Policymakers
China’s rise to global prominence, founded on its economic achievements and its growing role in Africa, has inspired debate across the continent. While much of the discussion has focused on the implications of China’s presence in Africa, especially as it relates to traditional Western interests, very little attention has been given to the potential opportunities that it may present to enhance African development.
Natural resource revenue governance – The EITI and South Africa
As printed in the Cape Times
How can we improve the lives of the more than 3 billion people living in natural resource endowed countries? The question appears paradoxical in that countries ‘blessed’ with oil and minerals have been endowed with a natural advantage in a frenetically competitive and increasingly resource-scarce globalised world. Yet with few notable exceptions, resource rich countries, particularly in the global ‘South’, have been characterised by a paradox of plenty which manifests in the so-called resource curse. In summary, the resource curse has a number of national features, including a propensity towards conflict, corrosive corruption, acute inequality, state disengagement from and unresponsiveness to civil society and environmental degradation. The concept of a resources curse is misleading, however, and would be better to be dropped from popular discourse as it masks the true nature of the pathology that besets resource endowed countries of the South, which is the poor governance of natural resources.African Economic Outlook (AEO) 2009
Press Release
Pretoria, 27 July 2009 – The 2009 edition of the African Economic Outlook (AEO) was launched today at the National Treasury.
The 2009 Outlook covers 47 African countries, up from 35 last year. The report finds the region gravely affected by the global economic downturn. Following half a decade of above 5 per cent economic growth, the continent can expect only 2.8 per cent in 2009, less than half of the 5.7 per cent expected before the crisis. The AEO’s authors anticipate growth rebounding to 4.5 per cent in 2010. Growth in oil-exporting countries is expected to fall to 2.4 per cent in 2009 compared to 3.3 per cent for the net oil importers.
National Perspectives on Global Leadership: South Africa
This paper forms part of a series of papers prepared for GIGI's National Perspectives on Global Leadership project. Click here to read more.
Economic Interests
The South African economy is heading for its first recession since 1992, after 16 years of uninterrupted, albeit somewhat anemic, growth. Consequently, the first priority was to ensure that the short-term agenda outlined during the Washington Summit was adequately addressed, with appropriate measures taken in the major developed countries to underpin growth. Whilst no new fiscal measures were announced in London, and the US and continental Europeans were unwilling to coordinate their fiscal stimulus packages, enough was done prior to the crisis to ensure this was not a major issue for South Africa.
Latest Publications
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Africa’s Peacemaker? Lessons from South African Conflict Mediation
South Africa has done much in the 15 years since the fall of apartheid to establish its leadership on the continent. It has been a constant architect of Africa’s new peace and security architecture and an advocate of new diplomatic norms. Whether South Africa has succeeded in meeting its goals as Africa’s mediator and the ambitious aspirations shared by African heads of state and intellectuals following its transition to democracy is debatable. -
Somaliland. An African Struggle for Nationhood and International Recognition
Co-published with the Institute for Global DialogueSomaliland has been described as an ‘inspiring story of resilience and reconstruction, and a truly African Renaissance, that has many lessons to teach the rest of Africa and the international community’. This study seeks to identify some of those lessons, particularly those pertaining to Somaliland’s sustained efforts to create internal unity and gain regional and international recognition.
Occasional Papers
SAIIA Occasional Paper, No.51, November 2009
Governance of Africa’s Resources Programme
Enhancing the Governance of Africa’s Oil Sector
by Douglas Yates
- English [.pdf]
This paper evaluates several important international governance initiatives in the African oil sector, including the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Publish What You Pay, Transparency International and Global Witness.
Policy Briefings
SAIIA Policy Briefing, No.5, March 2009
Development through Trade Programme
The Economics of Intellectual Property Rights in Developing Countries: Lessons from a Literature Review
by Tsidiso Disenyana
- English [.pdf]
Conventional economic theory asserts that inefficient markets result from a product or service for which there are no ready substitutes being provided by a single seller (i.e. a monopoly).
Research Reports
SAIIA Research Report, No. 4, June 2009
Governance of Africa's Resources Programme
Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Forestry Governance in the DRC
by Mari-Lise du Preez and Kathryn Sturman
- English [.pdf]
This case study on forestry governance in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) forms part of a three-year project entitled Strengthening the Governance of Africa’s Natural Resources, conducted by the Governance of Africa’s Resources Programme (GARP) of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).
