On 24 May 2024, the Witzenberg Municipality, Civil Society Organisations and various stakeholders from across the municipality met for a workshop hosted by Democracy Works Foundation, to chart a path towards greater climate change adaptation capacity and resilience.
With increasingly erratic weather patterns and mounting environmental challenges, the ‘Witzenberg Climate Change Needs Assessment Stakeholder Workshop’ served as a platform for raising awareness about climate change, gathering insights on climate change adaptation and mitigation opportunities in the area, and building capacity within the municipality to respond to climate change impacts in an equitable and participatory manner.
Through collaborative discussions and group exercises, participants were granted an overview of the climatic shifts already underway in the municipality. This included an in-depth assessment of Witzenberg’s climate vulnerabilities – such as outdated infrastructure and inadequate disaster management systems – as well as the region’s susceptibility to extreme weather events. The stakeholder engagement sought to discuss innovative strategies to enhance climate resilience from the effects brought on by decreasing rainfall, draught and the escalating frequency of wildfires.
Socioeconomic factors, widespread misconceptions and resource constraints are some of the existing challenges that were identified as hindering effective climate action in the region. However, a diverse array of recommendations and strategies emerged – spanning from strengthening intergovernmental relations and promoting sustainable transportation initiatives, to a shared commitment towards resilience and adaptations through education, awareness and collective action.
A report outlining the findings will be open for public feedback from June 2024. Updates on the report will be made via DWF’s social media pages.
Access the report at this link: https://greenpathconnect.weebly.com/documents.html
The “Fostering Inclusive Growth through Climate Change Champions” project is co-funded by the European Union and implemented by Democracy Works Foundation and its associates. The aim of the project is to foster partnerships between local governments, civil society organisations and Independent Power Producers to support communities to continue adapting and building resilience to climate change. The Witzenberg municipality is a target municipality and key partner to this project, which is currently in its last implementation phase. The process of developing the Climate Change Needs Assessments and response plans, driven by Kelly Morkel and Janavi Jardine from Green Path Connect, has been documented and will be made available together with an implementation toolkit – please follow our channels for updates.
