Climate Change - South Africa
Seal the Deal welcomes South Africa to the campaign and looks forward to your contribution.
Why should you care and how does Climate Change affect you? What could the future consequences be?
We’ve put together some quick Q and As for you. Please help us by signing the Climate Petition and adding your voice to the campaign.
How is climate change affecting South Africa?
The temperature in South Africa is projected to increase by between 1 and 3 degrees, and the country’s rainfall is projected to decrease by 5-10%.
However, arguably more important than these aggregate statistics, is the way in which these will be experienced.
As well as average temperature increase, the daily maximum temperatures in summer and autumn in the western part of South Africa are likely to increase. That means more extremely hot days.
With regards to rainfall, the east of the country is projected to become wetter, but the distribution of rainfall within the rainfall season (summer) will also change, with the rainfall season beginning later and the annual average falling over fewer days with an increase in extreme events (which has implications for the growing season). The west of the country - the winter rainfall region - will become drier.
How much does South Africa contribute to climate change?
South Africa’s greenhouse gas emissions are very high. It is within the top 20 greenhouse gas emitting countries globally. This means that it emits well above the developing country average – and more than many developed countries. This is mainly due to reliance on coal for electricity.
This is why there is pressure for South Africa – along with other big-emitting developing countries such as China, India, Brazil and Mexico – to take on mitigation commitments at Copenhagen.
What other implications are there for South Africa?
The change in temperature and rainfall will have implications for a number of sectors. Water resources are already under pressure in South Africa, and climate change will lead to a decline in the availability of surface water resources. This will happen at the same time as socio-economic development will increase the demand for water.
Agriculture is an important source of livelihood for many rural South Africans, yet maize productivity will decrease under climate change, and the areas in which maize can feasibly be grown will decrease, forcing a shift to more drought-tolerant crops such as sorghum.
Grassland pastures will also change to shrub land and risk invasion by alien plants. The change in range for plant growth will also affect biodiversity, threatening the high number of endemic species found in South Africa such as the fynbos of the Cape Floral Kingdom.
The areas at risk from malaria (and other vector-borne diseases) will also increase. That said, if South Africa adapts now and plans for a different climate, putting green technologies in place and adapting to a low carbon economy, changes can be positive.
What can I do to stop it?
There are the day-to-day choices we can all make such as wearing your jeans three times before washing them to save water and electricity, changing to low energy light bulbs and not leaving your electric gadgets on standby. These will all help.
Do you remember the latter months of 2007 when South Africa started experiencing widespread rolling blackouts as energy supply fell behind demand, threatening to destabilize the national grid?
"Load shedding" was implemented which meant taking generating units offline for maintenance, repairs or re-fueling. Many people changed their behaviour and become more energy efficient by doing simple things like turning off geysers during the day, running washing machines on cold temperatures and at night so South Africans are well practised at mitigating activities in the domestic sphere!
South Africa is a signatory to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, although as a developing country, it is currently not obliged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. However, since South Africa is such a large emitter, government has recognised the need to plan for a future of lower carbon development, and take on commitments at the post-Kyoto negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009. The ruling ANC committed to setting a target for greenhouse gas reduction at its 52nd National Conference, held in Polokwane in 2007. In 2008 government published the Long Term Mitigation Scenarios (LTMS), which use models to explore the consequences of various policy interventions aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These will be explored in conjunction with the international policy process, with an aim of introducing a domestic policy before the end of 2010.
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