Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
marginalized communities to climatic changes necessitates that adaptation
be regarded as an urgent developmental and human rights priority in the
city. This need to place adaptation at the forefront of municipal policies
has been acknowledged through the preparation of a Headline Adapta-
tion Strategy for key municipal sectors. As part of this process, eThekwini
Municipality is developing detailed Municipal Adaptation Plans (MAPs)
for high-risk sectors such as water, health, and disaster management.
Local action is also being undertaken to initiate community-level
projects that will address the adaptation needs of poor, fragile communi-
ties in terms of risk management, improved food and water security, and
protection of ecosystem services with potential positive additional spin-
offs such as job creation and capacity building (Roberts 2008). For
instance, working in collaboration with the NGO Wildlands Conserva-
tion Trust, eThekwini Municipality has been implementing the Indigenous
Trees for Life (ITFL) program as a platform for the development and
implementation of the Buffelsdraai Community Reforestation Project in
the north of the city. The objective of ITFL is to establish sustainable
livelihoods that contribute to the restoration of the region's forest ecosys-
tems and the sequestration of carbon dioxide. The program draws on a
network of “tree-preneurs,” often orphaned and vulnerable children, who
grow indigenous trees and then trade the trees for food, clothes, bicycles,
and other necessities that the Trust secures through corporate donations.
The trees are then replanted in urban greening projects or forest restora-
tion carbon sinks (Diederichs 2008).
Climate adaptation projects that are sensitive to the needs of poor and
vulnerable residents allow cities such as Durban to tackle the ethical
dimensions of climate justice. As Adger et al. (2006, 6) suggest, “There
are both ethical and instrumental reasons for ensuring that adaptation
to climate change does not further amplify existing vulnerabilities. The
ethical reason is that climate change justice requires the consideration of
principles such as precaution and the protection of the most vulnerable
because of the uncertainties and irreversibilities inherent in the climate
system and climate science.” However, despite all of the evidence of
potential impacts, and inroads that representatives from municipal
departments in Durban have made to ensure climate justice, in the recent
Draft Risk Based Audit Plan, climate change was rated as a “low” risk
because it is not seen as a threat in the short term. This is a clear indica-
tion of the signifi cant amount of work that still needs to be done to
mainstream an understanding of climate change and its risks to the city
and its residents. This need is probably the greatest challenge that lies
