Climate Change Communication Project

Climate change is a reality.

For South Africa, we need both to mitigate our emissions and to adapt to changes that are taking place in our rainfall, ecological systems in order to ensure that we can reduce our risks, build our resilience and take advantage of new opportunities.  In order to build resilience, we need knowledge ……

The Climate Change Communication Project raised awareness and built the capacity of the people of the Succulent Karoo around issues of climate change; more specifically in seven of the SKEP Priority Areas, namely the Bushmanland Inselbergs, Namaqualand Uplands, Central Namaqualand Coast, Knersvlakte, Hantam Tanqua Roggeveld, Central Breede River Valley and the Central Little Karoo.

In 2009 and 2010, we are still building on this base and working with two pilot communities, Wuppertal and Sutherland, to assist them in choosing an intervention that will help them to adapt to climate change, address their social and environmental needs, and lead to economic empowerment for the community groups.

The Succulent Karoo has a variety of stakeholders that can be affected by climate change, including those that rely on agriculture, ecotourism, natural resources such as rivers, and including those sectors of society that have influence over the response by communities to climate change, such as municipalities and government.

During 2008, we ran a series of climate change awareness workshops for local communities in the Succulent Karoo who have had little or no access to information about climate change in the past so we can help build capacity for understanding this threat to the ecosystem and how to mitigate its possible impacts. We would also like to involve local municipalities in this process so we can help build their understanding and enhance their capacity to incorporate climate change into their policies and operations.

Part of adapting to climate change is understanding its impacts and gaining an understanding of what interventions can be implemented to enable us to improve our quality of life despite climate change.

While a key part of such understanding is that we are inevitably linked to the health of our surrounding environment, we also need to use the natural environment for food, warmth, shelter. How do we balance our needs and ensure that our children will also be able to meet their needs.

Watch this space for updates on how these communities opted for in their climate adapted livelihoods.