Balancing ambition and action in South Africa's climate adaptation efforts

ON FRIDAY, the 27th June, I intently followed the 2025/26 budget vote speech by Minister Dion George of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), hoping to hear a decisive shift in how South Africa intends to confront its growing climate crisis, more critically, through climate adaptation to the irreversible impacts already upon us.

- Morwesi Ramonyai Thonga

The speech presented a vision of environmental stewardship, economic inclusion, and climate resilience. While the speech outlined commendable priorities such as biodiversity conservation, green job creation, and regulatory reforms, it sadly fell short in explicitly prioritising and funding climate adaptation measures with the urgency South Africa’s vulnerabilities demand.

While the DFFE’s commitments to mitigation and biodiversity are laudable, adaptation remains underfunded and overshadowed, a critical gap in a country where climate impacts are already destabilising livelihoods.

Just weeks ago, devastating floods ripped through parts of Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, tragically claiming a reported 102 lives at last count and displacing countless families some who had built informal homes on floodplains and below flood lines. These are not isolated incidents as floods are firmly becoming the biggest and most frequent climate threat to South Africa. These events are flashing red warning lights, signalingthat adaptation must be elevated to a national priority with the budget to match.

Great: A Progressive Environmental Agenda

In his speech, the Minister rightly emphasised several key priorities including the enforcement of the Climate Change Act, the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and Sectoral Emission Targets that demonstrate a structured approach to reducing carbon footprints. The Highveld Air Quality Management Plan is also a necessary step toward holding polluters accountable.