Drowning Voices: The Climate Change Discourse in South Africa

This 8-page paper, published in Heinrich-Böll-Foundation's New Perspectives magazine, discusses the impact of climate change in South Africa and how the voices of the most vulnerable communities are largely missing from mitigation and adaptation efforts. The author proposes that governments have a significant role and responsibility to push climate change higher on the national level and international agenda. In addition to providing political leadership on this issue, the South African government needs to demonstrate the commitment to respond to the needs of its vulnerable citizens by mainstreaming climate change into the national economic and development planning frameworks, as well as committing national resources towards pro-poor adaptation.

Recognising the direct and immediate impacts of climate change on the economically poor and their livelihoods, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is increasingly highlighting adaptation as a key response to climate change alongside mitigation measures. South Africa has a number of unique features that lead to the dominance of the mitigation discourse. Among these is lack of civic engagement, which results not from weak civil society, but rather a lack of access to the right information and funding to support civil society-led adaptation interventions. According to the paper, practical implementation of climate change adaptation requires a deeper understanding of the barriers to adaptation - both by African governments and the donor community, which is currently lacking. African countries need such information in order to scale up issues for consideration at the UNFCCC negotiations and inform the growing body of knowledge on this issue.

The paper proposes that an improved understanding of the socioeconomic impacts of climate change will help to highlight the magnitude of the problem, point to policy-related barriers, and possibly lead to political will and commitment to address climate change adaptation. A better understanding of the vulnerabilities facing the urban economically poor is needed to strengthen adaptation interventions. The paper further explains that civil society organisations (CSO) work directly with rural communities and small-holding farmers. They are aware of local realities on vulnerabilities that communities are facing on a daily basis. Civil society is in a place to advocate for pro-poor adaptation strategies and climate change policies in general, and they have a potential role to play in raising awareness about climate change impacts, opportunities for funding local initiatives and, together with local communities, in designing appropriate interventions. Playing this role successfully depends on the extent to which governments, especially local government, regard CSOs as partners in tackling the challenge of climate change.

Without the involvement of local communities and CSOs, implementation of national adaptation strategies will fail at a local level. The democratic space allows for civic engagement; and, yet, climate change, particularly climate change adaptation, has not been taken up in the broader public arena. This is a result of several factorss. Firstly, public consultation during the development of the National Conservation Strategy was limited. Secondly, there is no clear communication and public awareness raising strategy. Thirdly, lack of funding presents a problem. Lastly, the level of understanding of climate change, particularly local level impacts, is limited among the members of the public. With better awareness raising, local communities will themselves begin to demand climate change adaptation policies and interventions - a pressure that would perhaps be more compelling for change than science has been so far.

The paper proposes that accountability can be promoted and improved if mechanisms can be developed to enable South African citizens and their representatives to move climate change on to the political agenda and to exert pressure on their own government with respect to climate change policies, adaptation funding, technology transfer, emissions reduction, and other response strategies. This brings into question the role of the media. Although the media cover issues of climate change quite widely, including hosting television and radio shows, a concerted media and communications strategy is needed to ensure the transmission of key messages and to enable citizens to communicate their own perspectives and demands to decision makers, as well as raise awareness on how climate change relates to people’s lives and livelihoods at a local level.

A well-resourced pro-poor adaptation agenda is required to overcome the impacts of climate change and adequately respond to the climate change challenges facing South Africa. A pro-poor agenda would require:

• an urgent review of the impacts of macroeconomic policies on the economically poor and the extent to which these policies are undermining the adaptive capacity of the economically poor to climate change impacts;
• reviving the land and agrarian reform agenda to ensure that issues such as insecurity of tenure and resource rights that present barriers for poverty and adaptation especially in rural areas are addressed;
• building the institutional capacity at local level for the implementation of climate change adaptation measures; and
• improving access to information as well as providing a forum for local communities to engage with and influence the climate change agenda at national level and international level, thereby scaling up and improving the understanding of climate change adaptation needs from a local level perspective.

The paper concludes that, furthermore, due to South Africa's research capacity, its position in the international policy arena, active civil society network, and policies that promote equity, the country is well placed to provide technical leadership and fill the knowledge gap for adaptation in Southern Africa. To play this role more effectively, the country needs to embark on a participatory process of reviewing its national climate change response strategy (NCCRS), provide a deeper understanding of barriers to adaptation at various scales, and respond to socioeconomic vulnerabilities.