Amid the severe weather patterns that have led to infrastructure damage, loss of lives and grazing land, calls for a more proactive approach from government when dealing with climate change and funding it have become more urgent.
Hot on the heels of the Climate Resilience Symposium recently, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the Climate Change Bill into law, which sets out a national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions.
Ramaphosa said while the law seeks to build climate resilience, it aims were also to reducing the risk of job losses, and promoting opportunities for new job opportunities in the emerging green economy.
Ramaphosa commits to green economy
“South Africa’s mitigation measures are a response to climate change impacts that are increasingly experienced across a number of sectors including water resources, agriculture and food production, forestry and fisheries.
“These impacts will disproportionately affect poor communities and vulnerable groups and could affect South Africa’s ability to meet its development and economic growth goals, including job creation and poverty reduction,” he said.
The new law also comes as the country is hosting the ninth World Congress on Conservation Agriculture in Cape Town.
Meanwhile, minister of agriculture, economic development and tourism in the Western Cape, Dr Ivan Meyer, said addressing the impact of climate change needs money.
Meyer said conservation agriculture means nothing without money and has vowed to discuss budget allocation with the Western Cape government. He cited the Citrusdal floods which has impacted citrus industry as an example of speedy implementation of sustainable agriculture.
“Conservation agriculture should be viewed as an investment for the future,” he said.
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Building a sustainable future is possible
According to environmental and water specialist Dr Anthony Turton, the climate response from the government thus far has been underwhelming.
Turton said he does not believe South Africa is sufficiently prepared in terms of research, funding and resources to combat climate change challenges.
“Our institutional capacity is unable to deal with the rate of change we are now seeing. Research is under-funded and often not well aligned with the real world needs, often because the institutions are under strain,” he said.
In response to the current water shortage challenges Gauteng is experiencing, Turton responded by saying, “The institutions are being overwhelmed by the rate of change, they are mostly unable to correctly identify the drivers that need to be managed,” he said.
The symposium resolved that the government needs to channel more funds into the fight against climate change to save jobs and lives in the country.
Some of the solutions put forward included a financial sector policy response, carbon taxes, addressing leakage through carbon border adjustment mechanisms, and alternative approaches.
“If we work together, if we understand the risks and if we appreciate the urgency, we can make our country climate resilient. In doing so, we can build a sustainable future for generations to come,” Ramaphosa said.
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