Abstract
New climate change realities are no longer a doubtful phenomenon, but realities to adapt and live with. Its cogent impacts and implications’ dispositions pervade all sectors and geographic scales, making no sector or geographic area immune, nor any human endeavor spared from the associated adversities. The consequences of this emerging climate order are already manifesting, with narratives written beyond the alterations in temperature and precipitation, particularly in urban areas of semi-arid region of South Africa. The need to better understand and respond to the new climate change realities is particularly acute in this region. Thus, this chapter highlights the concept of adaptation as a fundamental component of managing climate change vulnerability, through identifying and providing insight in respect of some available climate change adaptation models and how these models fit within the premises and programmes of sustainable adaptation in semi-arid region with gaps identification. The efforts of governments within the global context are examined with households’ individual adaptation strategies to climate change hazards in Mopani District. The factors hindering the success of sustainable urban climate change adaptation strategic framework and urban households’ adaptive systems are also subjects of debate and constitute the concluding remarks to the chapter.
Highlights
Adaptation to climate change hazard is attracting growing international attention as confidence in forecasts for climate change is rising [1]
Our findings revealed that many models on climate change adaptation, apart from being highly mathematical in nature, are based on methodological ideas that originate from the advanced economies [45], limiting their applicability in local African communities’ context
Through our interactions with the households in the selected towns, the key informant and other stakeholders, buttressed by the findings from the planning instruments (IDPs) of the five local municipalities in Mopani District, several inhibiting factors clogging the successes of urban climate change adaptation in these municipalities were uncovered
Summary
Adaptation to climate change hazard is attracting growing international attention as confidence in forecasts for climate change is rising [1]. Several models incorporate mitigation, as an anthropogenic intervention to the changing climate [3] and has rapidly escalated, while models that incorporate adaptation are still in their various stages of development, advancement and yet to reach maturity [13]. This chapter aims through a holistic approach, to provide the highlights of the South African governments at several levels and scales of governance to advance adaption and mitigation urban household practices and interventions. This analysis and discussion is conducted within the global context of existing adaptation framework that incorporate the local level and individual households’ (private) adaptive practices, efforts and initiatives. The chapter places in perspective, the basic steps necessary for a more participatory urban management for sustainable households’ adaptation to climaterelated hazards in the semi-arid region of Mopani, South Africa
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