Water Wheel March/April 2020: Climate Change

Abstract

South Africans’ support help pull Northern Cape farmers through devastating drought After headline grabbing droughts over the past years, near-, to above-normal rainfall fell over most of South Africa again this year. Yet, prolonged drought is still continuing in certain parts of the country. According to the latest map of the Standardized Precipitation Index (a widely used drought index that can be calculate over different time resolutions) most parts of the Northern Cape is still extremely dry (as well as a significant part of the Eastern Cape). Here, the ongoing drought has wreaked havoc. Head of disaster management for Agri-SA, Willem Symington, himself a farmer from Kenhardt in the Northern Cape, says that they are well familiar with drought and they have learned to manage it well. Yet, the unusual conditions of this drought have brought many farmers to their knees. Their plight has rallied South Africans across the country to help. A drought like we’ve not seen in a long time The Northern Cape is the largest province in South Africa.

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