Local authorities have a long way to go in coming to grips with the causes and effects of climate change, experts in the field have warned.
Asked this week to identify those with the most advanced policies and practices, they chose the eThekwini (Durban) and Cape Town metros, and ranked the Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth) and Johannesburg metros second. Municipalities such as Theewaterskloof in the Overberg district and Chris Hani and King Sabata Dalinyebo in the Eastern Cape were praised for their efforts but, like all municipalities, they suffer financial constraints.
“All municipalities are way behind and have very little knowledge, understanding or response strategies in place,” said one expert, who asked not to be named.
Local authorities are closest to the communities who will be most directly affected by climate change, such as extreme weather, droughts, floods and gradual changes in temperatures and rainfall. June Josephs-Langa, the chief executive of the environment department’s Indalo Yethu legacy project, said voters in next week’s municipal elections should ask about candidates’ environmental management plans and climate change strategies. “Integrated development plans set out their commitments and, if there is no reference to sustainability or climate change, they don’t take it seriously,” she said.
Jessica Wilson, of the EnvironÂmental Monitoring Group, recommended examining candidates’ economic policies and budgets “to sort the truth from the rhetoric”. Important issues included city planning, energy, public transport and water management.
“Does your local authority promote economic growth regardless of the consequences?” Wilson asked. “For instance, ask if it encourages only coal-powered electricity or includes renewable energy sources.” Saliem Fakir, of the World Wide Fund for Nature, said the four major metros, home to more than 38% of South Africans, had put climate change policies in place and done high-level risk assessments.
But although they generated 65% of all economic activity, they lacked the financial resources to roll out mitigation infrastructure such as solar geysers. “It’s a financing issue. The metros are doing pilot schemes but they’re still largely subsidised by civil society,” he said.
eThekwini was singled out by experts as the first metro to convert landfill gas to electricity. Cape Town was the first to adopt an integrated environmental management plan in 2001 and its climate change strategies were described as consistently progressive. Its roll-out of solar geysers and retrofitted ceilings in poor households were also praised, but its water demand management strategies took flak. Nelson Mandela Bay’s detailed biodiversity plan was praised, as well as its plans to implement a payment for an ecosystem services programme to save its water catchment areas.
Johannesburg scored for its efforts to encourage public transport on the Gautrain and the Rea Vaya buses and for its roll-out of solar water heaters at Cosmo City. “Some municipalities are doing forward-thinking projects around green energy and creating green jobs but many are struggling,” said Josephs-Langa.
She praised King Sabata DalinÂyebo municipality’s ambitious 30-year plan to create green energy from the waste that plagues towns such as Mthatha but said it was far from implementation. After adopting a 2030 green strategy, the Theewaterskloof municipality in Overberg has participated in a large wind farm development and installed 8 000 solar geysers in poor households.
One expert singled out Chris Hani municipality, for working on a climate change strategy and appointing a dedicated environmental health manager despite its shoestring budget. It recently won a climate change leadership award in a national competition.
“This is a small, rural, under-resourced municipality but it has achieved a lot. The process has woken up local politicians and officials to take climate change and environmental management far more seriously,” she said.
Local authorities worldwide face the unfunded burden of developing resilience to climate change and natural disasters, according to the World Bank Institute’s Climate Change Practice. In the run-up to the COP17 climate change summit in Durban later this year, the institute and local municipalities are hosting a series of dialogues aimed at enabling towns and cities to bounce back from climatic disasters. The first takes place in Pretoria on May 26.