WW March - CLIMATE CHANGE AND AGRICULTURE

Abstract

South Africa is recognised as being vulnerable to climate change impacts (World Bank Group, 2021). The country is warming by c. 0.2°C per decade, contributing to climate impacts including extreme heat, drought, sea level rise and flooding (Johnston et al., 2024). Climate change predictions for parts of the Western Cape foresee increased minimum and maximum temperatures, more hot days and heat waves, reduced average rainfall and more evaporation from soil and water surfaces by 2030 compared to the current climate (Midgley et al., 2021). This is disconcerting for a province which relies on rainfall and surface runoff as its main water source and where 75% of all the water used (government schemes, own surface supplies or groundwater) is for agriculture (World Bank, 2030 WRG, Pegasys, EDP , 2022). According to the Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy (Birch et al., 2023) the agricultural sector will address the challenges posed by climate change by implementing the SmartAgri plan (WCDoA, WCDEA and DP , 2016).

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