Deputy Minister Swarts: Statement for the opening of the session of the 20th Ordinary Session of the AMCEN

16 July 2025, Nairobi, Kenya

His Excellency, Mr Ibrahim Munir, Minister of Environment of the State of Libya President of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment;  
Honourable Ministers of Environment from African Member States;  
Your Excellency, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Ms Inger Andersen;  
Your Excellency, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Mr Claver Gatete;  
Your Excellency, the President of the African Development Bank, Dr Sidi Ould Tah;  
Your Excellency, African Union Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment, Mr Moses Vilakati;  
Heads of UN Agencies;  
Senior Officials from African Member States;  
Partners and representatives of Civil Society;  
Ladies and Gentlemen;

It is with great honour and deep appreciation that I participate in this 20th Ordinary Session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) on behalf of my country, South Africa.

We wish to congratulate H.E. Mr Ibrahim Munir, Minister of Environment of the State of Libya as the AMCEN President and pledge our full support. I also wish to express our sincere gratitude to the UNEP, Government and people of Kenya for their warm hospitality here in the beautiful city of Nairobi.

Your Excellencies, this session marks a significant milestone—four decades of collaborative action, dialogue, and commitment under the AMCEN framework. Over the years, this conference has become a crucial platform for shaping Africa’s collective response to environmental challenges and opportunities. Today, we stand at a critical juncture where the urgency to address climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, pollution, and unsustainable resource use has never been greater.

The theme of this 20th session “Four Decades of Environmental Action in Africa: Reflecting on the Past and Imagining the Future” reflects our shared resolve to accelerate transformative action for the environment, build resilient economies, and secure a just and sustainable future for all Africans without forgetting where we started.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, let us seize this moment not only to reflect on our progress but also to reaffirm our commitment to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the global Sustainable Development Goals. Let our decisions here be guided by science, equity, and solidarity. Let them empower our youth, protect our ecosystems, and champion Africa’s unique voice in global environmental governance.

Your Excellencies, we are gathered at a moment when the consequences of human activity on the natural world are no longer distant warnings—they are realities unfolding before our eyes. Across continents, drought is threatening food security, straining water resources, and undermining livelihoods.

Desertification is turning once-productive land into barren soil, deepening cycles of poverty and displacement. We are also witnessing alarming biodiversity loss, as species vanish at rates unseen in human history, weakening the ecosystems that sustain life.

At the heart of many of these crises lies climate change - a global challenge that respects no borders and demands coordinated, urgent action. It intensifies drought, accelerates desertification, and disrupts ecosystems worldwide. Compounding these issues is pollution, in all its forms—from the plastic choking our oceans to the invisible chemicals contaminating our air and soil.

The UNFCCC COP29 has brought into sharp focus both the immense challenges and opportunities we face in combating the climate crisis. As we navigate towards COP30, the message is clear: we must act with resolve and clarity of purpose. Achieving our critical 2025 and 2030 climate targets is not just a policy imperative, it is a moral obligation and an economic opportunity.

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, these are not isolated problems. They are interconnected symptoms of a world out of balance with nature. And while the challenges are great, they are not insurmountable. They require us to act with courage, to collaborate across sectors and borders, and to commit to sustainable solutions rooted in science, equity, and justice.

South Africa is hosting the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group meetings, with the overall objective to advance the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through focusing on a number of priorities and deliverables.

These priorities of the G20 Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group are aligned to Agenda 2063 and are viewed as critical enablers to address poverty, creating employment, in line with the overall theme of South Africa’s G20 Presidency of solidarity, equality and sustainable development. Today, let us move beyond awareness and into action, guided by knowledge, driven by responsibility, and united in our determination to preserve this planet for future generations.

Once again, I thank the host of this Ministerial session for its leadership and all of you for your presence and dedication.

I wish us all a productive, impactful, and inspiring session.

Thank you

For media enquiries, please contact:

Peter Mbelengwa  
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E-mail: pmbelengwa@dffe.gov.za