SA continues to face a host of interconnected socioeconomic and environmental challenges.
These include the triple challenges of inequality, poverty, and unemployment, which are further compounded by climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
These threats are not theoretical – they are realities already affecting our families and communities, especially the most vulnerable. Yet, within these challenges lie opportunities, and our department is taking bold steps to transform policy into real, life-changing action.
Over the past 30 years, we have made great strides as a nation – expanding freedom, deepening democracy and building a better life for millions. Yet we also face persistent challenges: inequality, unemployment, social divisions and a growing disconnect between citizens and institution.
In this spirit, President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for an inclusive national dialogue – a people-led, society-wide process to reflect, reset and reimagine SA’s future. The national dialogue is a chance for all South Africans, from all walks of life, to come together and help shape the next chapter of our democracy.
For the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment, the national dialogue presents an opportunity to engage meaningfully with all South Africans – particularly youth, women, and persons with disabilities – about the socioeconomic opportunities available within our sector.
We believe the outcomes of this important engagement must translate into practical solutions that enable our people to contribute and benefit meaningfully from the work we do as both a department and a government.
Under the presidential flagship “Ten Million Trees Programme”, our department has set out to plant 1-million trees in one day under the rallying call, “My Tree, My Oxygen. Plant Yours Today,” where every South African – from schoolchildren to corporates – is welcome to participate.
This isn’t just a symbolic act, it’s a movement for environmental justice and climate resilience. We are in the final year of this programme, and with renewed vigour, we’re mobilising every corner of society to ensure we meet and exceed our target.
Our oceans offer abundant resources, but for too long, small-scale fishers have been left behind. That’s why we convened the Small-Scale Fishing Co-operatives Summit in Mthatha in May. We heard first-hand about the struggles fishers face: poor infrastructure, limited market access, and lack of support.