Climate Change

National Government acknowledges that there is undisputed evidence that climate change is occurring, and that further climate change is inevitable. South Africa needs to adapt to the impact of climate change by managing its climate and weather-related risks to reduce its vulnerability (National Climate Change Response Strategy: White Paper 2010). Climate change is a cross cutting issue and relies on a co-ordinated approach by all spheres of government, the private sector and broader public. The National Climate Change Response Strategy advocates that in addition to top-down approaches, a bottom-up approach must all be adopted which is informed by local government and their communities. From this it is evident that the Municipality has a defined role to play in the mitigation of and adaption to the impacts of climate change.

The Western Cape is particularly vulnerable to climate change and the hotter drier conditions predicted for the West Coast could have far reaching impacts. The Bergrivier Municipality’s local economy is driven by agriculture and there is concern about the negative impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector which will in turn impact on the local economy. Although there is day to day evidence of what may be climate change (fruit not ripening at the right time, increased activity of baboons in residential areas), it is difficult to predict how climate change will affect the Bergrivier municipal area and the Municipality needs to put climate change mitigation and adaption plans in place.

A Climate Change Adaption Plan was developed for the Municipality in partnership with the Climate Change Sub Directorate of the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning as part of their Municipal Support Programme. This plan was approved by the Council in March 2014.

An initiative arising from this was a Climate Change Knowledge Sharing Network which was initiated and funded by the ACDI (African Climate Change Development Initiative) of the University of Cape Town. The Bergrivier Climate Knowledge Network was established as a trans- and interdisciplinary network comprising academics from the University of Cape Town, government practitioners and local community members who focus on climate change issues within the Bergrivier Municipal Area and the Berg River. This has resulted in academic research taking place in our area and a wealth of expertise and resources being on hand when required. Further investigations are underway to put the climate change mitigation and adaptation plans in place, given that there are no budget or resources within the municipality to monitor implementation.

Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning Directorate: Climate Change, [e-mail], letter dated 8 December 2021 refers:

Climate change advisory – in preparation for the development of the Municipal 2022 Integrated Development Plan.

The following documents are underway from National and Provincial level:

• Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy (2014)

• The initiation of the development of a 2050 Emissions Pathways Exercise, that the Western Cape Government announced as their commitment to the Under2 Coalition at the Global Climate Action Summit in September 2018.

• The National Climate Change Bill

Main strategic responses that need to be incorporated in municipal planning include:

1. A strong focus on social wellbeing built on climate resilient foundations to reduce the vulnerability of society;

2. Properly pricing externalities of energy use, water use and release of polluting emissions;

3. Limiting financial risk by directing municipal finances and investments towards cleaner, low carbon energy sources in anticipation of a rapid decline in fossil-fuel use;

4. Restoration of ecological functioning as a way of capturing carbon in the soil, improving agricultural land and restoring water quality and quantity;

5. The empowerment of women and correcting gender discrimination in spatial patterns;

6. Addressing specific spatial climate risks, either by reducing vulnerability or by avoiding hazards, to reduce the long-term burden on municipal resources;

7. Rectifying spatial patterns that may have resulted in vulnerability and greenhouse gas intensity, thereby improving resilience and municipal functioning;

8. Anticipation of continued urban growth and urbanisation of society and how to ensure that this includes sustainability and climate change considerations in planning for it;

9. Avoiding land uses incompatible with a 2035 climate compliant world, as these will become financial and physical risks or liabilities for the municipality e.g. allowing development in 1:100 year flood lines or coastal high water zones, or incentivising development that can’t be decoupled from coal, gas or liquid fuels; and

10. Embracing innovation, technology and less consumptive technologies (such as non motorised transport).

Municipal planning cannot be fully informed on climate change unless it has ascertained the following:

• Water availability in future, both in terms of quality and quantity, given the trend towards a drier climate;

• Climate envelope constraints to human and economic activities (e.g. temperature extremes, rainfall, frost that impact on agricultural production, outdoor labour, indoor conditions);

• The future location and severity of climate hazards such as flooding, coastal erosion and heat islands;

• Economic susceptibility to

  • Carbon taxes (border taxes, transport costs, energy costs)

  • Climatic drivers compromising agricultural productivity;

• The availability or potential for generation of renewable, zero emissions energy for household and commercial use, as well as the ability of the local distribution grids to collect, balance, store and redistribute electricity generated by a range of sources;

• How spatial patterns disadvantage women and other vulnerable groups, making them more susceptible to the direct (physical conditions) and indirect (economic hardship) impacts of climate change;

• Availability of capital and investment finance and factors limiting the use of existing municipal funding for sustainable (climate change compatible) procurement; and

• Whether proposed new development will perpetuate inequalities (therefore increasing the social support burden on government) or improve the well-being of vulnerable groups (to make them more resilient in the face of climate change).

Spatial planning:

The Bergrivier Spatial Development Framework was approved in February 2019 and valid until 2024. The IDP refers to the need to develop and provide sustainable bulk and community infrastructure in support of the spatial development framework, with specific mention made of the need for regularly updating master plans for bulk infrastructure as well as innovative methods of service delivery. The MSDF includes climate change as a key consideration throughout the document, which an emphasis on the need for resilience to climate change within municipality.

Disaster management:

The Bergrivier Disaster Management plan was approved by Council in 2015 and it is not clear when this plan will be reviewed or updated. In reviewing the information included from the disaster management plan, there is little linkage made to climate change and it is not clear whether this is considered a key risk for the municipalities. Extreme events, including droughts with are exacerbated by climate change are mentioned in this section.

Sector Planning

• Water and flooding (Storm water management plans to be updated with relevant and up to date flooding information and changes in rainfall patterns, Local Water Sector Plans – to be aligned with the Western Cape Integrated Drought and water Response Plan of the Department of Local Government and the Sustainable Water Management Plan of DEADP, Water Services Development Plans, Water and Sanitation Master Plans and Demand Side Management Plans should be up to date and inclusive of climate change information);

• Energy (The Bergrivier municipality IDP mentions the need to look at alternative energy supply for low-cost housing, although funding remains a challenge as well as the need to develop innovative methods to manage energy supply, particular for new developments; to look at renewable energy);

• Human settlements (Low-income housing, green energy, solar geysers and energy efficiency measures, to ensure sustainable Human settlements);

• Roads and Transport (decrease in private transport and commensurate increase in public transport, zero-emissions vehicles and non-motorised transport; electric vehicle charging infrastructure, alignment between transport and spatial planning objectives);

• Agriculture (support of urban agriculture is encouraged, facilitation of food gardens and small-scale agriculture, protection of well-located urban agriculture properties, must form part of a municipality’s social resilience programme);

• Waste Management (The Integrated Waste Management Plan for Bergrivier Municipality was approved in 2014/15, this document is due for a review and updating to ensure alignment with the Provincial IWWP, which is currently being reviewed. The Western Cape Province has committed to a zero waste to landfill objective, starting off with no organic waste and a 50- % reduction in the volume of overall waste going to landfill by 2030);

• Air Quality management (promoting alternatives to the use of coal as a primary energy source for industrial and commercial purposes; support transport programmes around clean and alternative fuels, promote technologies that reduce GHG emissions from industrial processes);

• Biodiversity (SDF includes climate change risks into the planning tools, Ecological infrastructure investment framework from DEADP);

• Coastal management (Coastal erosion will turn costly for municipalities that need to protect infrastructure and properties from rising water. This will increasingly lead to liabilities related legal action from private landowners. The most cost-effective response is to plan for, and institute a programme of managed retreat – i.e., does not approve any further development or construction in at-risk zones, and bit-by-bit move infrastructure away from the contact zone).