Uncoordinated work at country level, and at regional level, will deem our efforts useless and unworkable. Collectively, governments and parliaments of the region need to listen more to pressure groups and react accordingly.
Last week, the Dubai floods needed to be a stark reminder of the potential threat that climate change is to Southern Africa and the world, and the necessary interventions needed to make compulsory mitigation and adaptation.
Although the government in that country labelled reports of cloud seeding as inaccurate, it had been claimed that the flooding resulted from experiments “the UAE had been conducting with cloud seeding”. The result was unprecedented flooding that could well date back to 1949 in that region of the world.
Not far from there, towards the easterly direction, is Pakistan who encountered similar flooding in 2022 and 2023, where over 1,700 human lives were reportedly lost, and destruction to infrastructure was reported to be around $15m.
Ironically, the floods occurred in the same oil rich region that hosted the past two Conference of Parties gatherings (COP 27 and COP28), under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Dubai floods should be a reminder to all that climate change is real, and whether the world acknowledges or play politics, something drastic needs to happen by way of mitigation. Or something drastic will happen as weather events are becoming too extreme and deadly.
In 2022, KZN encountered the worst form of flooding, and so did parts of the Eastern Cape.
The interventions need not be massive or drastic to the point of disrupting the lives and operations of daily living.
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Image: 123RF/Wang Tom
The inertia among Southern Africa regional players with regards to climate change is cause for concern, as the sixth term of parliament wraps up. Even more concerning, no regional player seems to be replicating what SA is doing in this fight, both by way of legislation and meaningful interventions.
During his State of the Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the establishment of a climate change response fund. The president said this was intended to counter “the severe effects of global warming and climate change”.
This is over and above the presidential commission on climate change and many other small but significant interventions including the work on the just energy transition.
Parliament participated in various climate-change-related multinational platforms, including delegations to both COP27 and COP28 in Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates.
The lack of reports and coordinated work around this catastrophe-in-waiting in the region are a concern and something that the next portfolio committee should examine with closeness and speed.
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Uncoordinated work at country level, and at regional level, will deem our efforts useless and unworkable. Collectively, governments and parliaments of the region need to listen more to pressure groups and react accordingly.
Last week, the Dubai floods needed to be a stark reminder of the potential threat that climate change is to Southern Africa and the world, and the necessary interventions needed to make compulsory mitigation and adaptation.
Although the government in that country labelled reports of cloud seeding as inaccurate, it had been claimed that the flooding resulted from experiments “the UAE had been conducting with cloud seeding”. The result was unprecedented flooding that could well date back to 1949 in that region of the world.
Not far from there, towards the easterly direction, is Pakistan who encountered similar flooding in 2022 and 2023, where over 1,700 human lives were reportedly lost, and destruction to infrastructure was reported to be around $15m.
Ironically, the floods occurred in the same oil rich region that hosted the past two Conference of Parties gatherings (COP 27 and COP28), under the umbrella of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Dubai floods should be a reminder to all that climate change is real, and whether the world acknowledges or play politics, something drastic needs to happen by way of mitigation. Or something drastic will happen as weather events are becoming too extreme and deadly.
In 2022, KZN encountered the worst form of flooding, and so did parts of the Eastern Cape.
The interventions need not be massive or drastic to the point of disrupting the lives and operations of daily living.
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For example, the portfolio committee on forestry, fisheries and the environment successfully processed the climate change legislation – the first of its kind in the country, region and the continent.
Among others: the legislation is intended to develop an effective climate change response, and a long-term just transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.
In line with the government’s strategies to decisively deal with climate change, Ramaphosa announced that the government is planning to allow private investment in electricity transmission infrastructure. This work was supported by the tabling of the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill.
Could this be said about other regional players? The jury is out there.
The world lacks both the luxury of time, and the might to put in abeyance climate-change related weather events. The floods in Dubai better be a reminder that we neither have time to delay mitigation nor resources to start adapting.
While that is happening, the region must stand up and be counted.
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