Citizens and government must work together to tackle climate change

• Published date: 10 May 2022
• Publication title: South African Official News

The recent devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and the North West have shown that severe weather patterns have become a significant threat to lives, the economy and the environment itself.

Climate Change has become a topical issue globally with severe weather patterns - the cost of which developing countries can least afford. Local government plays a pivotal role in addressing the effects of climate change.

These were some of the remarks made by panellists during a webinar on the impact of climate change and changing weather patterns in society.

Tuesday's webinar was hosted by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) in partnership with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment as well as the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

Speaking on the impact of climate change on the vulnerability of people, Sandile Maphumulo from SALGA said that the government adopted the National Infrastructure Plan (NIP) with the aim to transform the country's economic landscape.

The plan stipulates billions invested towards upgrading infrastructure and improving access to healthcare facilities, schools, water and sanitation, housing and electrification.

She said that the key questions to ponder on is how much of the investment is targeted at mitigating climate change and how much is allocated to building climate resilient infrastructure.

Maphumulo explained that the impact of climate change on South African human settlements arises from a number of climate change-related causes, notably sea level changes, impacts on water resources, extreme weather events, food security and increased health risks.

'It is argued that drainage systems and poor infrastructure development contribute to the vulnerability of human settlement to climate change,' she said.

She emphasised that it takes citizens and government to come together and respond to climate change.

Spaking about some of the lessons learnt from the recent floods, she said that the infrastructure and facilities that still exist today were designed decades ago without the future climate in mind.

Inequality is still a major concern, and within communities, some groups are more vulnerable than others.

'Newer infrastructure is too vulnerable to climate change due to poor tender systems and appointment of incompetent service providers, for example corruption, BEE...