National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy.

This National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (NCCAS) moves from the consideration that South Africa is experiencing significant effects of climate change particularly as a result of increased temperatures and rainfall variability, degradation of ecosystems and landscapes, increased fires; that climate change impedes the country’s ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and poses risks to opportunities for socioeconomic development, as it mostly affects vulnerable people. Therefore, this Strategy provides a common vision of climate change adaptation and climate resilience for the country, and outlines priority areas for achieving this vision, providing guidance across all levels of government, sectors, and stakeholders affected by climate variability and change and supporting South Africa in meeting its international obligations by identifying and reducing the country’s vulnerabilities. The Strategy is divided into sets of strategic objectives, strategic interventions and strategic outcomes with associated actions. The document is directed not only at national government departments, but speaks to South African society as a whole, including the key relevant sectoral institutions, provincial governments and municipalities, and non-governmental entities including the private sector, the research community and civil society.
The Strategy is structured as follows: Introduction; Context, including: International, African, National and climate change context; Strategic focus, including: vision, principles and key elements of adaptation and climate resilience, strategic objectives, strategic interventions, strategic outcomes, linkages between objectives, interventions, outcomes; Reduce vulnerability and build adaptive capacity; Climate services; Climate risk and vulnerability assessment framework; Adaptation planning and mainstreaming; Research; Awareness and capacity building; Governance and legislation; Finance; Monitoring and evaluation; Implementation framework and annexes. The Strategy provides for the definition of the following relevant terms: adaptation; adaptive capacity; climate change; climate-smart agriculture; ecological infrastructure; ecosystems; ecosystem-based adaptation; environment; Gini coefficient; greenhouse gases; mitigation; natural capital; resilience; sustainability; sustainable development; vulnerability.
The Strategy identifies the following priority adaptation related sectors: water, agriculture and commercial forestry, health, biodiversity and ecosystems, human settlements (urban, rural and coastal), and disaster risk reduction and management and for each sector related actions, including: strengthen local organisations to support individual and community adaptation; set up South Africa’s National Disaster Management Framework; manage climate related disasters; investment in knowledge and education programmes; support small-scale fishers through the use of early-warning systems and sea-safety training; support farmers to implement efficient climate-smart and conservation agriculture practices; promote the expansion of food garden programmes outside of land classified as agricultural land to reduce food insecurity; enhance the role of agricultural extension officers to support most vulnerable farmers; support ecosystem-based approaches in forestry practices; adopt approaches to natural resources management to restore and maintain ecosystem services; protect most vulnerable ecosystems, landscapes and wildlife and control the spread of alien invasive species; promote the expansion of tree cover, forests and forest plantations in order to maintain the production of wood raw materials; support farmers to use water more sustainably; create a more adaptive energy system, especially in rural areas; adopt water-wise water management.