Browsing by Author "Sibiya, Nomfundo Patricia"

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    Climate variability, asset adapttation and rural livelihoods in Mtubatuba, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa
    (2019) Sibiya, Nomfundo Patricia
    Climate variability and change are real and are happening now. In fact, if climate variability and change are not addressed urgently, it will affect most if not all the subsectors of the country. The aim of this study was to investigate the ways in which poor rural people of Nkombose, Ebaswazini, and Ogengele in Mtubatuba are affected by climate variability, and to understand the ways in which these communities are adapting to climate variability using the asset-based adaptation framework. The study utilised questionnaires to gather the various weather perceptions from the communities. Parallel to the human perceptions, the study reviewed meteorological data particularly to examine whether any climate variations have taken place in Mtubatuba. Furthermore, focus group discussions, listing and ranking matrices, and mind maps were used to determine the implications of climate variability on rural livelihoods. Lastly, semi-structured interviews were conducted with local authorities from the Mtubatuba Local Municipality to understand the municipality’s role in building the communities adaptive capacity and in responding to the impacts of climate variability. The research findings indicate that Mtubatuba like everywhere else in the world has been subjected to climate variability. Climate variability has presented itself in the form of droughts and severe thunderstorms. The empirical evidence suggests that the major implication of climate variability was the lack of water, which was attributed to inadequate rainfall amounts. The findings of this study indicate that droughts have resulted in reduced agricultural practices, increased livestock losses, reduced business and work opportunities. Therefore, this study demonstrates that rural communities depend highly on rain-fed agriculture to sustain their livelihoods. However, the study also established that the three rural communities are not passive actors as they are actively involved in developing ways of adapting to the impacts of climate variability. As such, the finding of this study suggest that the three rural communities depend more on adaptation strategies which are linked to financial, human, and social asset portfolios. Therefore, the local municipality and the government need to engage with the communities and make use of local knowledge as entry points in developing climate variability and change policy frameworks. Keywords: Climate variability and change, climate impacts, rural livelihoods, asset adaptation, adaptive capacity.
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    The Role of Climate Change Governance in Community Adaptation in Kwazulu-Natal: A Study of uMkhanyakude District Municipality
    (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Sibiya, Nomfundo Patricia; Simatele, Mulala Danny
    It can be argued that, although South Africa has developed good climate change initiatives, policies, and strategies, the implementation of these policies seems to present difficulties, as those for whom they have been developed do not seem to have any knowledge of their effectiveness in helping them build resilience against extreme weather events. Additionally, the findings demonstrate the existence of structures tasked with coordinating climate change matters across all government sectors affected, comprising inter-departmental arrangements, departmental arrangements, other institutions, and stakeholders. The inter-departmental arrangements consist of forums whose purpose is to ensure inter-sectoral coordination of climate change matters. The national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment assumes leadership and coordination responsibilities in developing and implementing responses to climate change adaptation in South Africa. The findings also revealed that government officials employed at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment unanimously believe that the institutional arrangement of climate change at the national level effectively drives the climate change agenda. Conversely, government officials at the provincial and local levels exhibit diverse perspectives regarding the effectiveness of the institutional arrangements. Consequently, one can posit that there is inadequate coordination of climate change adaptation horizontally among national government departments and sectors affected by climate change impacts, as well as vertically between national, provincial, and municipal governments. This study divulged various barriers to climate change adaptation in South Africa, including insufficient financial resources, inadequate human capacity at provincial and local levels, limited political resolve at the local level, deficient comprehension of climate change adaptation issues among communities, insufficient coordination across government levels and sectors, absence of legal mandate at the local level, absence of climate change units at the district and local levels, lack of knowledge among certain staff members entrusted with environmental responsibilities at the local level, inadequate climate change plans in place at the local level, and utilisation of outdated climate change information in the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs). This study proposes that policies should be jointly designed and implemented with vulnerable groups, based on local knowledge, and tailored to the specific needs of those most affected by climate change (e.g., women, the impoverished). There is a necessity to establish operational institutions that are dedicated to fulfilling their mandate, supporting communities, and fostering robust partnerships among civil society, the public sector, and the private secto