Deshanya stressed that the informal sector supports the secondary material economy in South Africa and are the backbone thereof. The waste that we throw in our dustbins have economic value – although the sector has policies and producers in place, they aren’t supported by government and cities which needs to change. As society we need to think of how we can make the informal sector more economical viable whether it’s small steps like separating your waste. 

She mentioned that when it comes to tracking, tracing and reducing, reusing and recycling in the corporate value chain, companies can start by having metrics and measurement of data because that’s the difference between greenwashing and driving impact. Companies need to create a baseline and understand what exactly they’re tracking against.

David stressed that it’s really important to get youth involved as we need a continuity in this work for the next generation. We need a sense of ownership and that is why mainstreaming the work around ecosystem restoration is important to him and why conversations like this needs to happen every day.

He mentioned that key learning South Africa can adapt from neighbouring countries aligned to the ‘Only One Earth’ theme is that as a country we need to firstly understand what our national development commitments are. There is a large job to be done to drive policies that fit our South African context.

Cara mentioned that the role of corporate and professionals is crucial in ecosystem restoration, and we need to fix the value system around air, water and soil (the physical environment) then secondly, we need to collect data – data is king, and people don’t know how much waste they produce or how much water and energy they use which in turn relates to inaccuracies in water and building management systems.

She also mentioned that in the sustainability space, the consumer drives a lot of what businesses do and it is unfortunate that South African consumer does not have a big environmental consciousness – we have little regard for the environment and we need to shift the societal and corporate value system to value the right things and this needs to come from the top.

Following on from the Panel Q&A section, the final section of the Caucus involved an impactful action hour led by the Khuthaza Foundation team, which was a pot plant activity with all the attendees of the famous spekboom which is a small-leaved succulent plant found in South Africa. Thank you to Sipho Mabusela, Audrey Muvezwa, Laura Rubidge and Bianca Wannenburg at Khuthaza Foundation.

An extended big thank you to Deloitte South Africa, our corporate sponsor, and the EOH project team including One Young World Ambassador Maseroto Shai and Lindelwa Ngubane, Senior Conference & Events Coordinator at Deloitte.