Putting the brake on climate change in South Africa

Joburg.org.za (South Africa): …Municipalities across South Africa made a commitment to bring about a greener South Africa at the close of the first-ever Local Government Climate Change Summit. The summit was hosted by the City of Johannesburg in association with the South African Local Government Association.

Under the theme “All hands on deck: towards a low carbon economy,” over 500 representatives of local government, non-government organisations and private sector players, and academics thrashed out policy and practical measures to curb the growing threat of climate change. Held at the Nasrec International Exhibition Centre on 2 and 3 June, delegates deliberated on the effects of climate change on natural resources and the role it plays in energy consumption, transport, forced migration and waste, among other things…

…And since Africa has pulled the shortest climate-change straw, South African leaders may be expected in future to show the way. Experts predict that the continent will feel the brunt of global warming. "Africa is at the biggest risk because of its poor adaptive capacity and multiple stresses playing a role on the continent," said Coleen Vogel, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In particular, the northern and southern parts of Africa will be at greatest risk of aberrant climatic conditions and drought.

Vogel painted a grim picture of what to expect in the next 20 years. The most significant effect of climate change would be felt on our water resources and ecosystems, she added. With temperatures expected to increase a few degrees more in the next few decades, the world was at risk of losing one third of its species. A recent assessment report by the IPCC gives more bad news. Lower rainfall in areas dependent on rain-fed agriculture will reduce production by up to 50 percent. Combined with this, an additional 250 million people may experience greater water stress by 2020....

Lessening the effects of global warming seemed to be the magic words at the moment; however, in Africa in particular, the focus needed to be on adaptation, Vogel stressed. "We need more science. We need more science on how to best bend the [climate change] curve.”

Downtown Johannesburg from on high, shot by Zakrysant, Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation license, Version 1.2