Urban Geography in South Africa by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030253691
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

9.5 Where to from Here? Gaps in Knowledge and Recommendations

To date we have seen that vulnerability assessments of South African urban centres are sparse and lack integrated social and biophysical assessments. The assessments that have been undertaken are often done by consultants or internally to local government and so are not widely available. Despite limited vulnerability assessments, adaptation planning and implementation have gone ahead. The South African government has developed a National policy aimed at directing the country’s response to climate impacts and in some cases, this has filtered down to the city level. However, these policies lack a detailed level of guidance for local municipalities on how to adapt effectively across the country and therefore, much of the gains made at a local level are in spite of this (du Plessis & Kotzé, 2014). While efforts at adaptation planning and implementation are being made at all levels of government, there is a need to strengthen these efforts and ensure better coordination across spheres. Understanding urban vulnerability better would support this as adaptation strategies and the subsequent implementation of these strategies will be better suited to target those sectors or people who might be most vulnerable.

From the inception of vulnerability assessments to the implementation of adaptation strategies, if South Africa is to move forward to effective climate adaptation, we need a common understanding that climate change adaptation can be used to address the often favoured developmental priorities, and that the two need not be seen to be in opposition with one another (Roberts, 2010). Sustainable development seeks to promote development that is ecologically, socially and economically beneficial (Broman & Robèrt, 2017; Missimer, Robèrt, & Broman, 2017). Development that is not adapted to withstand climate impacts cannot be beneficial either socially, economically or ecologically. Therefore, for future developments to be considered sustainable, vulnerability assessments and adaptation efforts need to be promoted. The benefit of doing this will be development that promotes a reduction in risk, which in the long term is far more beneficial to society and the economy and therefore far more sustainable in the long-term.

Durban, one of South Africa’s key cities in terms local development, housing the country’s largest port, has seen the benefit of being an early adaptor city to climate change, where adaptation is cheaper than disaster response, and as such has implemented various adaptation projects (Roberts, 2010). The benefits of early adaptation should be further studied so as to understand and stress the importance of both vulnerability and adaptation planning and implementation for local governments, community based organisations and non-governmental organisations. Given that the scientific community agrees that climate impacts are likely to increase in severity and frequency, the impacts of climate change on development in South Africa will increase accordingly (ICLEI Local Governments for sustainability, 2012a). Strengthening the understanding of what adaptation is needed, how it might be better planned, financed and implemented in South African urban centres should therefore be a priority.

Prioritising this is not an easy endeavour. Given the number of vulnerability assessments

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