Climate fact sheets for councils

Wits and Sanbi have launched fact sheets, helping local governments plan for a climate-stressed SA

- Sheree Bega

South Africa's municipalities are on the frontline of climate change — facing heatwaves, floods and droughts that are intensifying in a rapidly warming world.

Yet, until now, local governments have lacked credible, policy-relevant climate science to inform responses at sub-national level.

This gap has spurred the launch of innovative climate change fact sheets, co-developed by the University of the Witwatersrand's Global Change Institute (GCI) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi).

Developed for all nine provinces and each of the 44 district municipalities, they translate complex science into practical, locally-relevant information for municipal decision-makers.

"These sub-national fact sheets can be used to understand how climate hazards such as extreme rainfall and oppressive temperatures will affect South Africa in a warmer world," said the GCI and Sanbi.

"They provide overviews of observed and projected changes in rainfall and temperature at provincial and district levels. By distilling multiple lines of evidence, they offer actionable messages for adaptation at smaller spatial scales."

The fact sheets are unique in the South African context, offering high-resolution climate information at a district level and "providing sub-national actors with accessible, credible science to guide climate adaptation planning and implementation.

"Once contextualised to the vulnerabilities and exposures unique to each province and district municipality, they become valuable tools for the climate adaptation actions the country urgently needs."

IPCC-style assessments

Municipal managers face a myriad challenges, said Francois Engelbrecht, director of the GCI and holder of the Wits-Nedbank Chair in Climate Modelling.