New publication on climate change adaptation in South Africa

Adaptation cannot be addressed without linking it to South Africa’s national development objectives. This statement comes from a recent publication on climate change impacts in South Africa authored by several leading South African climate change researchers. They furthermore state that many opportunities to achieve this already exist in South Africa. One should however aim for multiple synergies, meaning that one should try to fullfil many important objectives where climate adaptation is one.

The research group also points to the importance of building close cooperation between academics and practitioners in small local projects. These should later lead to multi-disciplinary and multi-scalar work that will require new kinds of partnerships and funding. To decide what types of projects that are most needed, it will be important to involve the perspectives of different groups of people and organizations, local, regional and national. Examples of such projects are emerging but the challenge remains on how to expand these innovative approaches to scales that will make a significant difference to South Africa’s resilience in the face of climate change.

More detailed information can be found in the publication:

Ziervogel, G., New, M., van Garderen, E.A., Midgley, G., Taylor, A., Hamann, R., Stuart-Hill, S., Myers, J. and Warburton, M. 2014. Climate change impacts and adapation in South Africa. WIREs Clim Change 2014, 5:605–620. doi: 10.1002/wcc.295

It can be reviewed or downloaded at:

http://www.egs.uct.ac.za/downloads/Ziervogel%20et%20al%20Climate%20change%20impacts%20and%20adaptation%20in%20SA%20WIRES%20Sept%202014.pdf