Municipalities are crucial for the implementation of the new legislation, yet they face many challenges

The signing of the Climate Change Act is a milestone, demonstrating SA’s commitment to combating climate change. It sets out a national climate change response, including mitigation and adaptation actions, while constituting the country’s fair contribution to the global response.

The biggest gain with this act is the mainstreaming of climate change in all tiers of government, allowing for a co-ordinated response. However, there are still challenges, particularly at local government level, that need to be addressed for the effective implementation of the act.    

The act aims to strengthen SA’s climate policy and ensure coherence at all government levels. SA struggles with policy harmonisation, but it can be achieved through the act mandating that government policies align with its objectives, strengthening co-ordination between national sector departments. It can also assist in policy setting and decision-making to enable SA to meet the commitments made in the nationally determined contributions.   

The act makes provision for mainstreaming climate change in all government policies, laws, measures, programmes and decisions. It states that every organ of state affected by climate change or entrusted with the achievement, promotion and protection of a sustainable environment must align its efforts to mitigate risks of climate change impacts and associated vulnerabilities.   

Integrating climate change in planning and decision-making ensures that it is not a stand-alone issue and is addressed in developmental planning and budgeting processes.

The act further sets the necessary institutional arrangements for how different ministries and tiers of government should respond to climate change, setting out their responsibilities and empowering them to take action.

In a much-appreciated move it recognises and establishes the functions of the presidential climate commission as the institution to advise the republic’s climate change response. The act further recognises the importance of the involvement of all stakeholders in strengthening capabilities in responding to climate change.

It also mandates the allocation of carbon budgets to greenhouse gas emitters and calls on the emitters to plan and set out how they intend to remain within their carbon budgets.   

Assessing vulnerability

SA has increasingly been experiencing climate-related effects, necessitating that planning, responding and adapting is now more urgent than before. The act emphasises the need to ensure that relevant disaster risk assessments in terms of the Disaster Management Act are conducted in the broader effort to assess the republic’s vulnerability to climate change and related risks.

The signing of the act coincides with the review of the disaster management system in the 2024/25 government financial year, which aims to strengthen the existing framework for integrated and co-ordinated disaster management.

Disaster management is also a function of local government through municipal disaster management centres. The Disaster Management Act has not been effectively implemented due to municipalities failing to comply. Most municipalities lack the means to implement disaster management strategies, including prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and rehabilitation.

The vulnerabilities in the disaster management framework, such as risk-informed urban planning for resilient cities, were exposed by the flooding in KwaZulu-Natal in April 2022, among other recent disasters. Heavy rains claimed more than 400 lives, displaced 40 000 people, and destroyed homes and infrastructure.

The most recent wave of flooding in KwaZulu-Natal in January 2024 caused further irreparable damage to infrastructure. The report on the efficiency and gap analysis of the National Disaster Risk Management Framework (2005) stated that the National Disaster Management Act and framework had not been satisfactorily implemented since its promulgation.    

At the provincial and local level, the MEC, mayor or district municipality must assess climate change needs and response as stated by the Climate Change Act. This is crucial, particularly for local government as they are the closest to the victims of climate change.

Local governments are key for the implementation of the new legislation and disaster management, yet they face many challenges, including lack of capacity and resources, as well as corruption.

There is no escaping that a well co-ordinated, effective response to manage climate-related disasters hinges on the functionality of local government. SA needs to urgently address challenges faced by local government for the successful implementation of the act.   

Written by Dr Nqobile Xaba, Researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA)