Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning

1) My Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (EA&DP) is responsible for the coordination of the WCG climate change response which is driven by the Directorate Climate Change. Given the constitutional responsibility around policy development, the Western Cape Government has been working at implementing the Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy. In 2016 and 2018, the Department completed the Strategy Monitoring and Evaluation reports, highlighting the sector climate change responses that have been implemented in the Western Cape since its launch. The updating of the Strategy on behalf of and with Western Cape Government Departments took place in 2022 whilst also detailing an accompanying Implementation Plan in 2023.

In June 2016, the Western Cape Government committed to responding to climate change as a regional government by joining The Climate Group – States and Regions Alliance, an international non-profit network of like-minded regional governments determined to contribute to the international response to climate change.  As part of this initiative, in April 2017, the Western Cape Government signed the sub-national Climate Leadership MOU as part of the Under2 Coalition, a commitment to contribute to reducing global GHG emissions to net zero.  The Premier of the Western Cape will be serving as the Africa Co-Chair for the Under2 Coalition until 2026; further driving the provinces commitment to address climate change at the international level. 

The major challenge of responding to climate change has been the flawed assumption that responsibility to deal with the consequences of business as usual economic development predominantly resides with the environmental sector, when in fact it should be ‘everyone’s business’. The drought in the Western Cape sent clear warning bells that new approaches are required in all aspects of decision making and mainstreaming of climate change adaptation efforts across departmental strategic plans. Similarly the recent loadshedding saga has prompted exploring alternative energy sources with a focus on renewables. Although progress is being made in the province, the picture is that we are still at early stages of climate change response, and full scale programmes, investment and commitment are required across the board for effective and real climate change preparedness and response.

The Western Cape Cabinet reached a resolution that identified climate change and water security as enterprise level risks that need to be addressed by all Departments. In response to this all Departments have been tasked to include climate change response in their annual performance plans (APPs), since 2018 and becoming more integrated until all APPs clearly outline the Departmental response to climate change risks. Work will continue with our sector departments including Mobility, Infrastructure, Economic Development, Local Government including disaster management, EA&DP and others to mainstream climate change into their action plans and strategies or to develop sector specific climate change strategies. The first regional sector plan for the agriculture sector, better known as SmartAgri, was already completed in 2016.  Further efforts to include climate change include – Growth for Jobs (G4J) that acknowledges low carbon in its vision; Provincial Strategic Plan; Provincial Land Transport Framework; and the Infrastructure Framework. Other examples are representation on various climate change and related steering groups e.g. Department of Health and Wellness (Facilities and Infrastructure Mangement); Energy Resource Team under the G4J Strategy programme ; RPG; SmartAgri. We have also supported the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) in delivering low carbon sporting events. As recently as March 2024 we hosted an internal workshop for senior management across all departments to assist in framing the Western Cape Government (WCG) approach to climate change response as the transversal agenda requires contributions from all sectors.

Key to the integration of WCG efforts to respond to climate change has been the introduction of a Climate Change Work Group with representatives from all Departments. This Work Group works to assist Departmental responses through collaborative and integrative planning and peer support. It also functions as a single reference point for climate change related information.

2) The Western Cape Government whilst undertaking a fair amount of research, strategy and implementation in certain sectors, will have to take this challenge more serious in ramping up the transversal response program to ensure a low carbon and climate resilient province.

Some of the research pieces that will inform departmental decision-making which is either planned, requiring update or concluded, include (but not limited to):

• Western Cape Green House Gas (GHG) Inventory
• Climate Change Spatial Risk and Vulnerability Assessment project
• Mainstreaming of climate change into the Western Cape Disaster Management
• Assessment of Economic Risks and Opportunities of climate change resilience in the Western Cape

The aforementioned interdepartmental Climate Change Work Group will assist in assimilating climate change response information, and smoothing out the transversal implementation of the Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy Implementation Plan. Support to individual departments is, and will be provided by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning in the form of contribution to strategic planning, capacitation of officials, and participation in implementation projects. Very importantly, climate-linked strategic plans such as related to water security, ecological infrastructure and greenhouse gas emissions mitigation have been developed to support climate change responsive planning and decision-making in other sector departments.