Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
in vector- and waterborne diseases and increases in the frequency and
intensity of fl oods and droughts. Climate impacts also encompass pro-
jected extinction and changes in the distribution of plant and animal
species, infrastructure damage due to extreme weather events, threats to
human safety, increased insurance costs, erosion of coastal areas, heat
stress, changes in energy consumption, economic losses due to property
damage, as well as decreases in tourism revenue, food security, and water
availability.
In sum, these trends suggest that climate change will pose a signifi cant
threat to Durban and to the municipality's long-term objective of ensur-
ing broad-based, sustainable, and equitable development. This vision is
outlined in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP). The IDP is a central
strategic planning document for local policymakers and is meant to guide
and inform all planning, budgeting, management, and decision making
in the municipality. Refl ecting the long-term goals of eThekwini Munici-
pality, the IDP also seeks to outline an integrated vision by balancing
social, economic, and ecological pillars of sustainability without com-
promising the institutional capacity required in the implementation, and
by coordinating actions across sectors and spheres of government. The
IDP is organized around eight core plans: (1) sustaining the natural and
built environment; (2) economic development and job creation; (3)
quality living environments; a (4) safe, healthy, and secure environment;
(5) empowering citizens; (6) celebrating cultural diversity; (7) good gov-
ernance; and (8) fi nancial viability and sustainability.
Climate impacts in Durban pose a signifi cant threat to achieving the
goals outlined for the city in the eight IDP plans. In the following sec-
tions, we examine the IDP plans that best exemplify how climate impacts
are further exacerbating sociospatial inequities and exclusion in Durban
by looking at how they play out across three different scales: individuals,
communities, and municipal policies and goals.
Individual Sociospatial Inequities
The IDP outlines the need to sustain and protect ecosystem services (Plan
1), and secure good health systems and conditions (Plan 4) for Durban's
residents. However, at the individual level, disappearing ecosystem
services due to climatic changes, as well as more acute health and
humanitarian emergencies, will impact the living conditions of poorer
residents and their families. In the near future, such impacts will likely
amplify already existing sociospatial inequities in Durban and pose new
challenges for local institutions and planners.
