Durban - Communities in KwaZulu-Natal are been given the opportunity to raise concerns about climate change as the provincial government embarks on a series of road shows.
On Thursday, people in the Sisonke district interacted with the MEC for Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development, Lydia Johnson, about the immediate effects of climate change.
Referring to the recent cases in Duduza township in Gauteng and Ficksburg in the Free State province, Johnson said: "It is such extreme change in weather patterns that we talk about when we talk of climate change effects."
The road shows are about creating awareness and educating people about local solutions to climate change challenges.
"Climate change is considered to be one of the most serious threats to sustainable development with adverse impacts expected on the environment, human health, food security, economic activities, natural resources and physical activities," said Johnson.
The roads shows will not only focus on the upcoming COP 17 conference but also on what people can do in their communities in order to avoid hazardous climate disasters.
"We are here to seek your involvement in programmes and activities that do not only curb the effects of climate change, but enhance food security and environmental management. One good example of that is the food security campaign that we have in the province, the One Home One Garden, One Indigenous Tree and One Fruit Tree campaign.
"The campaign is practical for both rural and urban settlements. If all households in the entire district of Sisonke can have food gardens to fight hunger and malnutrition at a household level and have trees to serve as windbreakers, that can assist a lot in dealing with many issues," Johnson added.
Communities were advised to plant trees to achieve the goals of the greening campaign, which is also a key element of the South African climate change response strategy.
The Greening Project focuses on the planting of indigenous and fruit trees in economically disadvantaged communities and has a number of project outputs such as greening of low cost housing projects, greening of schools in support of the Eco-schools programme and greening of other community centers.
"Tree planting is a significant initiative which serves multiple purposes for human utilisation. It is one of the mitigation and adaptation factors to climate change that are highly recommended," said the MEC.
An appeal was made to take good care of the environment and conserve it by engaging in clean up initiatives.
"I always say that the environment doesn't need us, we need the environment. That is why it should always be in our best interest to take care of it. Through these clean up campaigns, we want to entrench a culture of responsibility towards the environment by highlighting waste minimisation," said Johnson.
With unemployment rates rife in rural areas, Johnson told communities that waste material presents job creation opportunities through recycling.
"As government, we want to get our communities in the act of managing waste and for them to seize business opportunities out of it, which is recycling and reusing."
The department dropped off waste bins in the area to ensure proper waste collection systems.
